Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan will be high-kicking his way around Albuquerque soon. Gov. Bill Richardson announced Chan’s new flick, “The Spy Next Door,” will film in and around the city in November and December. The production expects to hire about 150 local crew members and more than 600 actors, including principals and extras. Chan plays a man who is asked to baby-sit for his neighbor’s children and winds up having to protect them from secret agents after one of them accidentally downloads a code. The film will be produced by Relativity Media and directed by Brian Levant, who directed “Are We There Yet?” “Snow Dogs,” “The Flintstones,” and “Beethoven.” Mayor Martin Chávez recently announced that over the past five years, film productions in the city have produced a direct economic impact of about $300 million. In June, he said the industry was on track to bring in $150 million this year alone. The film industry has exploded in New Mexico over the last several years, due in large part to the state tax incentives that encourage film production and were put in place by the Legislature and Richardson in 2003. Since that time, more than 100 major film and television projects have shot in the state with an economic impact of more than $2 billion. source: asianbite credit: bizjournals
