Mortal Kombat post-production keeps SA effects firms at work

While filming in SA has shut down, the Hollywood action blockbuster Mortal Kombat is still keeping vital work rolling in for local movie companies.

• More than a thousand extras sought for SA-based Mortal Kombat film

Hollywood blockbuster Mortal Kombat is proving a lifesaver to the South Australian film industry, keeping five special effects companies in work while the pandemic cripples film production elsewhere.

Based on the infamous video game series and featuring a cast of villains and heroes with super powers, the film began a three-month Adelaide shoot in September, wrapping just in time for stars to make it home.

South Australian Film Corporation Kate Croser. Picture: Matt Turner

“Everyone got safely home, they wrapped production well in advance of these restrictions,” South Australian Film Corporation chief executive Kate Croser said.

While most of the five South Australian companies awarded visual effects work, including Mill Film, Resin and Kojo, were working fully from home, Rising Sun Pictures was keeping open a limited, socially-distanced office because of the heightened security requirements – including a physically-secure environment not connected to the internet – needed to handle major Hollywood films.

“Our clients are highly sensitive around security as there is usually a great deal of interest in large upcoming movies,” Rising Sun Pictures managing director Tony Clark said.

The other issue is the need for bandwidth, as special effects artists handle hundreds of gigabytes of data in a day.

“We have had to find a solution that enabled a productive workflow over limited bandwidth, and satisfied the studio security requirements,” Mr Clark said.

Ms Croser, who is working at home with two young children, said the companies were grateful for the critical flow of work which would take them through to September while other parts of the creative economy were shuttered.

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“Mortal Kombat is going to get us through this critical period,” Ms Croser said. “It all couldn’t have happened with better timing because it has already delivered us a bumper year of production.”

Two television productions, the ABC series Yes Chef starring Port Willunga actor Erik Thomson, and Outback thriller The Tourist were in early pre-production and have been forced to stop.

But Ms Croser said the SAFC was working with the producers of stalled projects to see what work could continue, including casting actors.

Skills and Innovation Minister David Pisoni said it was crucial the film sector and creative industries were supported during the pandemic.

Gallery: South Aussies fight for Mortal Kombat roles

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