The movie was probably a bad example and I don’t understand movie accounting - so you’re right in the sense that when you spend capital on an existing thing that capitalized item is on its own depreciation schedule that starts from the in-service date of the new item. However, the number Josh threw out when talking about the write-off implies that they’re going to shut it forever and probably bulldoze it.
The tax implication is secondary to the real purpose of a write off, which is to remove the asset from the balance sheet all at once instead of slowly on the normal depreciation schedule. While there’s a lot that’s been capitalized that will be worthless if the hotel was repurposed (costumes, all of the WDI labor to come up with the story, probably the tech backbone of the choose your own adventure bit, etc.), there’s a lot of expensive stuff that wouldn’t be worthless - the foundation, the driveway, the earthwork to prep the site, the walls, roof, etc. You can’t write that stuff down to zero if you’re going to reuse the building. That’s why I referenced the number that Josh threw out a few weeks ago - based on the rumored
overall cost of the hotel, it sounds like a scrape to me.
But I could be wrong - they could just paint it green and let it sit there instead of paying to tear it down.