How will the global credit crisis affect next summer’s selection of Hollywood block busters?
“As paradoxical and absurd as it sounds, it’s cheaper for a Hollywood studio to make a big-budget action movie than to make a shoestring art film… Consider Paramount’s 2001 action flick Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. On paper, Tomb Raider’s budget was $94 million. In fact, the entire movie cost Paramount less than $7 million. How did the studio collect over $87 million before cameras started rolling?
First, they used the German tax-shelter gambit. Loopholes in Germany’s tax code are responsible for a good portion of Paramount’s profits—an estimated $70 million to $90 million in 2003 alone. Best of all, there’s no risk or cost for the studio (other than legal fees)…”
http://www.slate.com/id/2117309
Categories: Tax Shelters Tags: affect, block, Busters, Credit, crisis, Global, Hollywood, next, Selection, summer's
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