Co-producer of Banshees of Inisherin and Valhalla receives €72.5m in tax credits
Keoghan starred alongside Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin (Jonathan Hession/ Searchlight Pictures/PA)
The co-producer of the multi Oscar nominated Banshees of Inisherin, Netflix hit, Valhalla and RTÉ crime drama, Kin last year received €72.5m in Revenue movie and TV corporation tax credits.
Metropolitan Films International Ltd and subsidiaries is the largest operator in the co-production of movies here.
New accounts show that the amount the Co Wicklow based production group received in Section 481 tax credits in the 12 months to the end of April 2022 more than doubled to €72.5m from €34m in the prior 12 months.
The €72.5m is also a significant hike on the corporation tax credits the business has received in recent years - €22m in 2019, €25.47m in 2018 and €37.48m in 2017.
The main activity of the group is that of producing films and TV series here, primarily by way of co-production of incoming European and international studio projects.
As the group ramped up production last year, its revenues increased by 93.5% from €71.9m to €139.2m.
The group’s co-production credits include Banshees of Inisherin starring the Oscar nominated Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon.
Other credits include Valhalla, Kin and Matt Damon’s The Last Duel.
One of the driving forces behind the business was distinguished producer, James Flynn who died at the age of 57 earlier this year.
Last year, Mr Flynn oversaw the numbers employed by the business’s subsidiaries increasing from 424 to 783 and its wage bill also more than doubled from €24.2m to €53.8m.
The individual tax breaks for each production are not disclosed in the accounts though figures published by Revenue show that series one of Valhalla qualified for Revenue 481 movie tax reliefs between €10m and €30m.
Underlining the increased production at Metropolitan Films last year, the firm’s production spend last year doubled from €105.29m to €211.24m.
The firm recorded a pre-tax loss of €72.6m and the corporation tax credit of €72.5m resulted in a modest €80,779 pre-tax loss.
The accounts - signed off on Monday, March 27th by directors, Morgan O’Sullivan and Juanita Wilson - show that the cash funds last year increased from €12.85m to €21.32m.
The Revenue Commissioners confirmed earlier this year that the overall value of payments made under the Section 481 film corporation tax credit scheme in 2022 was €127.3m.
The 2022 total was €9.8m down on the value of film corporation tax credits totalling €137.1m in 2021.
