Ken Ziffren Says Cinemas Are "Perhaps on the Up" as a Film Tax Credit Bill Moves Through Congress
Ken Ziffren told a ballroom full of entertainment lawyers that "the state of the theater industry is perhaps on the up." He made the remark in his annual industry address, which also covered artificial intelligence, tax credits, the creator economy, mergers, YouTube, the NFL and the state of moviegoing.
Ziffren is a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer who has been the city's film czar, its official film adviser, since 2014. His optimism rests on box office figures. Deadline reported that box office takings are projected at $10 billion in the United States and near $36 billion worldwide. If that holds, it would be the best year since 2019.
He also said wide releases, films that open on large numbers of screens at once, are essential to keep audiences going to cinemas steady and growing. Outside of horror, he said, studios tend to lose money on films that cost less than $70 million to make. Horror is the exception he named.
Mergers were on the agenda too. Ziffren described the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery merger, a deal in which two companies combine into one, as a $111 billion transaction.
The biggest policy item was the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, known as the MPTER Act. A tax credit is a government rebate on certain spending, and this one would reward productions for money they spend. It is now before committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Under the proposal, film and TV productions would qualify where total cost exceeds $1 million and 75% of the production takes place in the U.S. The bill includes support for post-production and visual effects work, the editing and digital stages that often happen after filming wraps. It leaves out news, live sports, talk shows, daytime dramas, social media content, advertising and corporate videos.
Ziffren argued that passing the bill would bring a surge in production jobs in the United States and $10 billion for the industry.
He also pointed to a sports story. Ziffren noted that plaintiffs in the lawsuit over the NFL's Sunday Ticket package can file a new case, because the package has moved off DirecTV and onto YouTube.
Off the screen, a court hearing in the Buss family dispute over a stake in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team is set for November 15, 2026, in downtown Los Angeles. Bob Iger and Josh Kushner bought a stake in the team in August, a purchase valued at $12.5 billion.
For crews, the tax credit question is the one to watch. Film and TV work depends on a few hundred people on every set, and a credit that tips the decision on where to shoot can change where those jobs land. The committees have not yet voted, so the bill's path is still open.
