Quentin Tarantino movie about Manson era set to receive an $18-million California tax credit

The latest movie by Quentin Tarantino — which Sony will release following the director’s departure from the beleaguered Weinstein Co. — is set to receive an $18-million California film tax credit.

Tarantino’s new movie will film in the Los Angeles area and is set against the backdrop of the Charles Manson murders of 1969, though the film is believed to focus on fictional personalities working in the movie and TV businesses.

Manson, who masterminded a string of bizarre murders in L.A. that riveted the nation, died Sunday of natural causes.

The $18 million that the untitled Tarantino project will receive represents the largest amount of credits in the latest round of allocations for feature films, according to the California Film Commission.

Other selected projects include two features from 20th Century Fox — “Call of the Wild,” an adaptation of the Jack London book that will receive $17.1 million, and a project titled “Girl With a Gun,” at $11.6 million.

The commission awarded a total of $62.8 million in credits for 11 films in the latest round, out of an applicant pool of 54 projects.

Dan Gilroy’s new movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo will receive $2.5 million in credits while a new movie from indie auteur Noah Baumbach will receive $1.7 million.

Other selected projects include “Destroyer,” an indie police drama starring Nicole Kidman, that will receive $2.5 million in credits, and “Russ & Roger,” a movie about the relationship between critic Roger Ebert and filmmaker Russ Meyer, at the same sum.

The final amount that each production receives can vary from the allocated figure depending on how much the production ends up spending.

California’s expanded tax program went into effect two years ago and features funds specially earmarked for big-budget movies. In the previous version of the state’s program, movies with production budgets above $75 million were ineligible for tax credits.

Under the program, major movies can receive up to a 20% tax credit for the first $100 million in a title’s qualified expenditures, which don’t include star salaries or other above-the-line costs. Production companies use the credits to offset business tax liabilities they have with the state.

Movies that shoot outside the L.A. area, but still are in California, are eligible to receive additional credits.

The program has successfully lured some big-budget productions to California, including Disney’s upcoming “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Captain America.”

The biggest tax credit awarded to any single movie is Paramount’s “Bumblebee” — a spinoff from the “Transformers” franchise — at $22.4 million. The movie, which has been filming in Northern California and the L.A. area, is set to be released next year.

david.ng@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT