'Captain America: The First Avenger' To Shoot In London

The LATimes is reporting that Marvel Studios are packing up and flying over to London to shoot "Captain America: The First Avenger," starring Chris Evans, Samuel Jackson and Hugo Weaving this July.

Part of the movies storyline does take place in London but the overseas shooting is a huge blow to Los Angeles community, which had been banking on the project to employ hundreds of crew members at a time when relatively few big-budget features are shot locally, thanks to rising competition from other states and countries.

Marvel Studios concluded that London was the best location for "Captain America," largely because the story is set in Europe and will feature a number of scenes in London such as Piccadilly Circus, and also because of favorable tax incentives.

Though Marvel could have done the stage work in L.A. and shot exteriors in London, it wasn't economically feasible to split the production between two locations, given the heavy filming required in Europe, said Marvel Studios co-President Louis D'Esposito, who oversees physical production.

"I actually had location scouts here to see what could be done,'' D'Esposito said. "But it would have required so much visual-effects work and set construction, it didn't make sense."