Cleveland Poaches NYC's Hometown Superhero

Take heart, villains.  Our friendly neighborhood Spiderman is trading in the city that never sleeps for the city... wait, let me look this one up... for the "forest city".

*Sigh*

Take it away, Cleveland.

The producers reportedly chose Cleveland over New York because the latter had higher prices for shutting down streets. The Greater Cleveland Film Commission also offered free soundstage space at the city’s convention centre, which contributed to the city landing the deal. Because Spiderman 3 is set in New York, the city’s skyline will be digitally altered to resemble Manhattan.

Cleveland's lower skyline shouldn't be a problem in creating a New York-style look, said Alan Tuskes, who works in film special effects. The shorter Cleveland skyscrapers can be extended using computer-generated images, he said.

Now I enjoy a big-budget summer popcorn flik at least as much as the next guy.  I require neither subtle plot arcs, nor culturally important messages, nor pretty actresses made up to look ugly, fat, or abused to be entertained at the movies.  Give me 2 hours of explosions, car chases, fart jokes, and twisty endings, and I'm in cinematic heaven.  That said, isn't the appeal of the Spiderman franchise pretty firmly rooted in those exhilarating Manhattan fly-throughs?  I know it's not the awkward line-trading between Maguire and Dunst or the constant flashbacks to the simplistic morality of dearly departed Uncle Ben holding these films together.  I dare say the Spiderman movies may be the most Big Apple-beholden movie series in history.  Spidey wouldn't even be able to physically navigate any other town, save maybe Hong Kong or Tokyo.

But now, through the power of movie magic, this city will become this city.

This is just another reminder that New York can no longer count on its commercial appeal to trump any and all cost of business issues.  Kudos to Cleveland for recognizing the value in actually encouraging business activity in its town.  (That's right - this is where I make it a tax thing.)

Though it wasn't mentioned in the story, undoubtedly contributing to the filming decision was this month's expiration of New York City's 5% "Made in NY" tax credit.  The Mayor's office of Film, Theatre (c'mon, this is America, it's "Theater"), and Broadcasting celebrates the program having been "so successful that the credits have now reached the $50 million allocated for the program."  Indeed, the press release cites a $1.5 billion impact on the city in 2005, including the creation of 10,000 jobs.

Sounds like a decent return for $50 million.  So why the cap?  The "cost" of this tax incentive is obviously not a net budgetary outflow, but rather a lucrative, celebrated, high returning investment.  Why not make it unlimited?  And maybe juice it to 7.5%?

The next state legislative session will vote on any future extension of the incentive.  Let's hope they get it right.  We just lost a web-slinging sequel, unalterably set in our city, boasting a quarter billion dollar budget (i.e. the most expensive movie ever made).