Death Wish remake films in Chicago

Location filming is scheduled for Chicago over the next few days but the production will reportedly be based in Montreal, Quebec.

Illinois offers a 30% tax credit as a filming incentive but Chicago does not attract studio features for very long – just five studio movies shot in the city for less than eight weeks between them through 2014 and 2015, official figures show.

The city has had a lot more success with high-profile TV production over the past few years and will host eight different shows this autumn.

Producer Dick Wolf bases Chicago PD, Chicago Fire and Chicago Med at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios and the series contributed to nearly 1,700 TV filming days in the city through 2014 and 2015.

“We owe an incredible debt to Chicago, especially mayor [Rahm] Emanuel for giving us the proverbial ‘keys to the city’ and to governor [Bruce] Rauner for giving us the economic means to produce these shows in Illinois,” said Wolf recently. “Chicago and its people are an integral part of the success of these shows.”

Television shows can be more valuable to a local economy than films as they tend to shoot for longer and can last multiple seasons. A single season of a US show can spend up to $40m locally.

Illinois made $330m from production spending in the last financial year but in terms of is feature appeal faces stiff competition from Ontario and Quebec across the border in Canada.

For more on filming in Illinois see our production guide.