Australia Is Putting Up $280 Million To Attract Hollywood Productions

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a new Location Incentive program, with $280 million in cash grants intended to attract big international productions to film down under, Variety reports. The new program has been added in addition to Australia’s Location Offset program, which provides tax rebates for productions and post-work carried out in the country.

The new program follows $175 million that was announced for Australian arts and entertainment industries last month, as both struggle to recover from the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around $34 million of that will go towards insurance guarantees for the TV and film industries, enabling productions to restart after COVID-19.

The Australian government is no doubt hoping to capitalise on Australia’s low rates of coronavirus, while other production hubs in the US and UK are still virus hotspots. However a recent outbreak in Melbourne resulting in extended lockdowns and closed borders proves the threat is still very much present.

Australia was a production hotspot in the late 90s and early 2000s, with big-name films such as the Matrix trilogy and parts of the Star Wars prequel trilogy filmed in Sydney. Now, the government is hoping to attract that industry back with similar tax incentives. Hollywood films including Aquaman, Thor: Ragnarok and Alien: Covenant have filmed in Australia in recent years, with upcoming productions Thor: Love and Thunder and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also set to film in Sydney this year.