Grown Ups 2 Crews Spent Millions in Marblehead

Columbia Pictures Location Manager Mark Fitzgerald attended the Board of Selectmen's meeting at Wednesday night to thank town officials, residents and local business owners for their continued support over the last few months.

"We are glad that the task was achieved and that the mountain was climbed but there is also a little bit of sadness," Fitzgerald said. "We've met so many genuinely nice, sweet, kind people who have opened up their doors, their businesses and have allowed us to come into town and capture the essence of Marblehead on film - and when it comes out next year you guys will see a lot of your streets, a lot of your buildings and you'll be proud of it."

In addition to expressing his gratitude, Fitzgerald said he wanted to provide board members with a ballpark figure for how much money film crews spent locally while the Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups 2 was filmed in town.

"I asked the accounting department to do a computer search of our Marblehead checks using the Marblehead zip code and the last time I looked that figure was at $4,364,000 and climbing," Fitzgerald said. "Some of our bills are still owed and we still owe the a good chunk of change, which will be paid."

The majority of that $4.4 million, Fitzgerald said, was spent renting out local homes for crew members, businesses for filming and on day-to-day needs including furniture and food.

"I think a lot of business owners had a better June and July than usual due to our stay and I think that one of the things that we really tried to do is get in and out of the business district before July and August hit," Fitzgerald said. "We probably gave them a bump in June that they normally don't get."

Following Fitzgerald's presentation, board members took turns thanking him for selecting Marblehead to be the "Stanton" Grown Ups 2 needed, including James Nye, who said it was "an honor" to have film crews in town.

"There were minimal disruptions from what I heard and you guys did a great job," Nye said. "It was excellent."

So when can Marblehead expect Hollywood to return town?

"Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before we come back," Fitzgerald said.