Category: Movies

North Carolina filmed movie production entertainment news from NCFilmNews.com

Filming Resumes in North Carolina with Five New Productions

Matt Artz

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced today that five new productions have been approved for North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants and will start production in the state by the end of October. Combined, these productions are projected to generate a direct in-state spend of more than $107 million while creating 8,671 job opportunities including 650 well-paying crew positions for the state’s highly skilled film professionals. With the help of public health officials, industry trade associations and alliances have developed protocols to aid in preventing the spread of COVID-19 at…

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‘Words on Bathroom Walls’ Awarded NC Film Grant

Matt Artz

The new feature-length film Words on Bathroom Walls began principal photography in Wilmington earlier this month, recently awarded funds from the North Carolina Film Grant along with a set of five Home Depot commercials. Read on for the official press release from NC Gov. Roy Cooper regarding these new 2018 productions and their financial impact on the state. Two projects have been awarded North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants to support productions in Wilmington and the High Point area, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The awardees include the feature film “Words…

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NC Budget Includes Recurring Film Incentive Grant

Matt Artz

North Carolina’s newly adopted budget that went into effect on July 1 includes $33.6 million in funding available to television and film productions through the state’s Film Incentive Grant. The best part is that starting on July 1, 2018, the grant will have $31 million in yearly recurring funding, a big step toward rebuilding North Carolina’s film industry. EUE/Screen Gems Studios Executive Vice President Bill Vassar, has commented, “This is really hopeful. As this has been developing with the legislators and word has gotten out that something was going to change,…

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‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ Release Date Announced

Matt Artz

Filmed in Jackson and Buncombe counties among other locations in western North Carolina, following the release of the first official foul-mouthed red band trailer, we now have a confirmed theatrical release date for the all star drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film tells the story of a mother, played by Frances McDormand (Fargo), whose daughter was murdered, after which she goes to war with the police, thinking that they are not interested in pursuing justice. Infuriated because the sheriffs in her hometown are more interested in persecuting black people…

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‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ Trailer Revealed

Matt Artz

Filmed in Jackson and Buncombe counties among other locations in western North Carolina, the first official foul mouthed red band trailer for the all star drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has arrived online. The film tells the story of a mother, played by Frances McDormand (Fargo), whose daughter was murdered, after which she goes to war with the police, thinking that they are not interested in pursuing justice. Infuriated because the sheriffs in her hometown are more interested in persecuting black people than finding the killer, she then pays for three…

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Gov. Cooper’s Proposed Budget Includes Return of NC Film Incentives

Matt Artz

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes a return to the state’s film incentive program, anticipated to begin in January 2018! Star News reports that the governor’s proposed budget would return the state’s funding for film projects to an incentive-based format, as was the previously successful program that brought huge productions (Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games, Sleepy Hollow) to the state, until 2015 when the General Assembly cut the program’s budget to $10 million and converted it to a grant-based program. While the grant program’s…

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‘Masterminds’, ‘Disappointments Room’ Netflix Lawsuit Continues

Matt Artz

The $1.5 billion lawsuit filed from Relativity Media against Netflix over two movies that were filmed in North Carolina was significantly slimmed down late last week when a judge removed part of the complaint. According to Deadline, in a February 24 hearing, Santa Clara County Judge Theodore Zayner cut Relativity’s claims that the consequences of Netflix’s actions in a dispute over the streaming of two NC-filmed movies (Masterminds and The Disappointments Room) amounted to “trade libel” and a breach of the covenant of good faith. “While statements disparaging Plaintiff’s ability to…

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North Carolina Announces Three 2017 Film Grants

Matt Artz

As we previously reported, three 2017 productions have been awarded film and entertainment grants from the state, including Season 2 of the TNT series Good Behavior, the feature film American Animals, and a national car company commercial. North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland and the Economic Development Partnership of NC announced three new productions are receiving North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grants. “Our state’s film professionals have an opportunity for work once again,” said Secretary Copeland. “I look forward to catching a glimpse of their talent as well as…

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‘Masterminds’ Comes Home on Blu-ray

Matt Artz

The much-delayed, renamed, and rescheduled comedy filmed in and based on a true story that actually happened in Charlotte, North Carolina, Masterminds arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week, starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Ken Marino, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Formerly titled Loomis Fargo the film tells the story of a real life robbery that took place in Charlotte, North Carolina  in 1997, when David Scott Ghantt, the driver of a Loomis Fargo & Company armored car grabbed $17 million, stuck it in a company van, and drove…

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Zach Galifianakis Film ‘Democracy For Sale’ Takes on NC’s “Regressive” Politics

Matt Artz

Actor and Wilkesboro, North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis stars in a new documentary, Democracy For Sale, which discusses how his home state went from being “a beacon of light and generosity in a sea of red state reactionary politics” to what the film’s website refers to as “one of the most regressive and intentionally belligerent states in the union.” The documentary is currently being screened for free across North Carolina, continuing through February, with more screenings are still being scheduled. Galifianakis, who was born in Wilkesboro and attended N.C. State University,…

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