Having trouble deciding what to watch tonight? Why not explore the range of films made right here in Michigan? Between 2010 and 2012, the Michigan Film Board reported 46 film productions in the state. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! According to online sources, at least 143 films have been shot and produced in Michigan.
Why is Michigan so popular for film production? For starters, it’s cost-effective. Low labor costs, zero extra taxes, and affordable accommodation draw film companies in. Here are just a few great films made in Michigan that you can stream right now:
1. **Somewhere in Time**: Featuring Christopher Reeve as Richard Collier, a playwright who becomes obsessed with a picture of a young woman displayed at the Grand Hotel. He travels back in time to 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna, played by Jane Seymour. Filming took place at the Grand Hotel and Mission Point Fine Arts on Mackinac Island.
2. **Oz Great and Powerful**: This film follows a small-time magician who arrives in a magical land and must choose between becoming a good man or a great one. Filming for Oz the Great and Powerful began in July 2011 at Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac, Michigan.
3. **Sparkle**: Set in the 1960s, this film follows three sisters who form a girl group and become local sensations. However, their fame starts to tear their close-knit family apart.
4. **Spy Kids All the Time in the World 4D**: A retired spy is lured back into action and invites her new step-children along for an adventure to stop the evil Timekeeper from conquering the world. Post-production work for this movie was done in Birmingham, Michigan in the Spring of 2011.
5. **Margarine Wars**: During the “Summer of Love”, an aspiring Afro-Jew hippie from New York tricks the son of a Swedish dairy farmer into smuggling illegal margarine into butter-rich Wisconsin.
6. **Dogman**: Hanklin Purvis, who loves hunting and the outdoors, lives with his wife, Dorothy, on a farm in the rural midwest. But strange things start to happen in the season before autumn.
7. **Hoffa**: Few stories intrigue people more than the disappearance of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. This movie, released in 1992, explores the story of the infamous American union figure and his alleged dealings with the Detroit mafia
