Thanksgiving and Christmas came a little early today for Quentin Tarantino and Sony Pictures. Picked up by the studio last week, as my colleague Mike Fleming Jr exclusively reported, the director’s next feature is among the 11 films awarded nearly $62.8 million in California tax credits.
The Chris Sanders’ helmed adaptation of Jack London’s Call of the Wild, Destroyer,starring Nicole Kidman and directed by the Karyn Kusama, and an untitled Dan Gilroy project starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo were also recipients of the latest round of the hefty incentives made public Monday. The announcement this morning by the California Film Commission comes after that latest round of feature applications for some of the Golden State’s annual $330 million in incentives wrapped up on October 20.
Going with the working title of Untitled #9 and set to receive more than $18 million in tax credits, the ninth film by Tarantino is set in late 1960s L.A. and hence is a perfect fit for the revamped incentives and their goal of attracting big budget flicks back to the home of Hollywood. Touching on the violence and bloodshed unleashed by the now dead Charles Manson, Tarantino is said to want Margot Robbie to play Sharon Tate in the around $100 million budgeted movie. Tom Cruise,  Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are in the mix to portray the two main lead male roles for the 2019 R-rated release.
According to the CFC, there were 54 applications in total for this round. Here is the complete list of those given credits today and how much they got:
Under the California Film and Television tax credit program, which more than tripled in 2014, studios and producers could apply from October 16 – 20. With the state agency mandated to look for maximum economic impact from the incentives in gauging the hopefuls, snagging some big names is also a determining factor as well. That is now possible because under the legislation that Gov. Brown signed in September 2014, films with budgets over $75 million are now eligible for the program.
The 11 projects made public today are projected to employ nearly 2,500 cast and crew members and create over $320 million in qualified spending in the state.
The next feature application round runs from March 7-13. Expected to be determined in the new few weeks, the last round for TV projects ran from November 6-13. The next small screen application period is set for February 12-16 next year. There should be around $55 million for recurring and $27 million for the highly desired relocating series available for that round.
Today’s announcement of credits going to the Tarantino film is the second feature awards in a row that sees those tentpoles planting deep foundations in Cali. Back in July, the CRC said that Captain Marvel, Paramount’s Island Plaza & the Roland Emmerich-directed Midway were the eight pics that got big incentives. The Marvel movie was a particular coup for the state, who have been fighting hard behind the scenes to get the some of those Disney-owned superhero blockbusters made in California.