Michigan continues to make inroads into the motion picture industry as planned production studios in Detroit and Pontiac are expected to bring more than 5,800 jobs to the state.
The former MGM Grand temporary casino just outside downtown Detroit will be home to the Detroit Center Studios, Michigan Economic Development Corp. spokesman Mike Shore said Tuesday.
About 20 miles northwest of Detroit, Motown Motion Pictures LLC plans to invest about $70 million in a 600,000-square-foot development with nine sound stages in Pontiac.
“It makes us a 12-months-a-year film center,” said Chris Baum, senior vice president of sales and marketing at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau and Film Detroit.
“It makes us a legitimate contender — the studios on the ground and best incentives in the country.”
Michigan is one of the most financially attractive states in the nation in which to make movies. Film studios can receive a refundable credit of up to 42% on production expenses in the state.
A state tax credit of $16.9 million over 12 years has been approved for Detroit Center Studios which expects to create 700 jobs. Motown Motion Pictures is expected to bring in more than 5,130 jobs and will get a tax credit of $101 million over 12 years.
“None of these tax credits go to the companies until they meet the terms of the investment and hire people,” Shore said.
The new studios will help keep some existing jobs in a state ravaged by the troubles of U.S. automakers and an unfriendly economy, Baum said.
“It’s about retaining jobs for industries like hotels and restaurants,” he said. “The films that will come to Detroit this year will keep people employed.”
The state’s film office in Lansing has approved 71 scripts. About half are expected to be shot in Michigan this year, Baum said.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More