Today, France's national film commission, Film France, confirmed that 19 projects from international studios are being developed in their country, including seven from the U.S. The studios are taking advantage of the recent laws passed that offer government tax rebates for film and television projects that are based in France. As such, it's becoming an increasingly attractive destination for studios from abroad as a cost-cutting measure.
France's two-tier rebate system was introduced in 2009 and revised in December 2014 to be even more attractive to international studios, but did not go into effect until January 1 of this year. Among those measures include an increase in the rate from 20% to 30%, as well as the ceiling cap from €20 million to €30 million (roughly $22 to $34 million USD). Two other changes had already previously gone into effect, bolstering the attractiveness of France's rebate package. Under France's old TRIP (Tax Rebate for International Production) measures, productions had to spend at least €1 million ($1.2 million USD) in France. The new measures, however, state that a production can qualify for the TRIP rebates if at least 50% of the entire production budget is spent in France. Likewise, it's now easier for VFX work to qualify for the international rebate.
Among those making the project jump overseas are a handful of animation studios including DreamWorks Animation, Disney TV, Marvel Animation, and Paramount Animation. DreamWorks' Captain Underpants, joint Paramount and MGM project Sherlock Gnomes, and Disney TV series Elena de Avalor have all applied and been approved for tax breaks, confirmed Film France. Marvel Animation is also on the list of international productions with two new shorts in development, Ant-Man and Rocket and Groot. French directing team Ugo Bienvenu and Kevin Manach will be handling duties for Ant-Man while Arnaud Delord will be working on Rocket and Groot.
It's not just animated projects that have been approved for the tax breaks, however. Universal's Fifty Shades Freed, the third and final movie in its Fifty Shades trilogy is on the list, along with an untitled Christopher Nolan film, which we can assume is Warner Bros.' Dunkirk, currently filming in France.
While these aren't the first U.S.-based projects to move their operations overseas, it's another indicator that France is quietly becoming a destination powerhouse for production.
