According to the official site for the Ohio city, it seems Marvel Studios have come to an agreement with Cleveland officials, in booking the city for filming of their highly-anticipated
The Avengers film. This news comes as progress, as the studio dropped Michigan, due to tax credit loss.
Gov. John Kasich made the announcement before Mayor Frank Jackson's State of the City address this afternoon at the City Club.
"I'm really pleased that the city is going to get this movie," he said. "It's fantastic. It required quick and hard work between the community here and the state of Ohio, something that hasn't always happened. We won another one from Michigan. I'm thrilled we are going to have this here. I'm just bucking for a part as Governator 2."
The news was also confirmed by Katie Sabatino, publicist for the Ohio Film Office, who said the agreement was made with Marvel Comics after negotiations. "We have been in dialogue with Marvel Comics all week and we finally reached an agreement," she said. "We're very excited about it."
Wayne Hill, chairman of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, said the Avengers movie will be the largest film ever made in Ohio and that filming is expected to start in the fall. Reportedly, people associated with the film are already in Cleveland scouting out locations.
Anyhow,
The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Clark Gregg, Jeremy Renner, Kevin Pennington, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston and the recently revealed Stellan Skarsgard. And the team assembles in theaters May 4, next year!
(Avengers art (right) by Torsor)