Film flops still pay off in Mass.

R.I.P.D. MADE UP nearly three-quarters of 2012 tax expenditures for the film industry in Massachusetts, garnering $26.6 million in tax credits. / COURTESY UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
R.I.P.D. MADE UP nearly three-quarters of 2012 tax expenditures for the film industry in Massachusetts, garnering $26.6 million in tax credits. / COURTESY UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

BOSTON – Movies filmed in Massachusetts collected big money under the Bay State’s film tax credit even when they flopped at the box office, the Boston Business Journal reported.
Universal Studios sci-fi cop film “R.I.P.D.” failed in theaters but made up nearly three-quarters of film industry tax expenditures by Massachusetts in 2012. With $26.6 million in tax credits, it was the single biggest project in two years of disclosures by the tax credit program.
That figure is more than double the movie’s opening weekend box office draw of $12.8 million, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Another flop, “That’s My Boy,” an Adam Sandler vehicle from Columbia Pictures, also generated significant tax credits in the Bay State. That film earned $16.6 million in 2011 film tax credits but grossed $13.5 million during its opening weekend, according to the Boston Business Journal.
A number of projects took advantage of the tax credits as well, including work by WGBH, which garnered $6.2 million in tax credits over two years for filming programs like “Nova” and “Frontline.”

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