According to a new report by FilmL.A, 17 feature films shot in Georgia in 2016, beating California as the top location for feature film production and making it the number one filming location in the world.

FilmL.A.’s annual Feature Film study revealed the United Kingdom came in second for shooting with 16 feature films, with Canada taking third place with 13. Meanwhile, California was in fourth place with 12 feature productions and New York, and Louisiana tied for fifth place.

Researchers also changed the way they analyzed the data. In fact, data scientists calculated the top 5 filming locations by analyzing the 100 top-grossing movies at the domestic box office. Aforementioned is different in comparison to previous studies, which used only films released by major U.S. film companies. As a result, Georgia’s film industry not only shot the most movies but, had some of the highest grossing movies films in the state as well.

Overall, the California shot feature films spent nearly $99.5 million in filming and received $12.4 million in tax credits thanks to the California Film & Television Tax Credit program.

“California’s incentive has returned some feature projects to the state,” the study explains. “In fact, in Los Angeles, on-location feature film production reached an eight-year high in 2016 — but the state’s film incentive program seems optimized for use by a narrow band of feature film projects, with budgets from $40 million to $100 million.”

Meanwhile, big budget productions like Passengers, The 5th Wave, Allegiant, Captain America: Civil War all filmed in Atlanta. Consequently, $2.02 billion was spent on film and TV production was spent in Georgia; while Georgia spent $606 million to fund the tax credits.

Overall, it is important to note that the film industry in the United States is on the decline. While Georgia may host to some of the biggest movies in the world, the study revealed 57% of all movies filmed in the United States. That is the lowest percentage share in nearly five years, with an average of 63 to 67%.

If you want to know how to get involved in Georgia’s film industry check this out:

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