Disney scuttles big budget Aussie-made show that received millions in subsidies

The big-budget made-in-Queensland TV series Nautilus – which received more than $30 million in taxpayer subsidies – has been scuppered after its maker, Disney, decreed the show will not air on any of its streaming platforms.

Disney’s decision to axe the show, which was commissioned by Disney UK and filmed in Australia last year with a local spend of $96 million, is all about the company’s hard-nosed response to the stagnation of the crowded streaming market.

Disney’s Nautilus will not screen on its streaming platforms.Credit: Internet

“We’re rationalising the volume of content we make, what we spend, and what markets we invest in,” Walt Disney Co chief executive Bob Iger said just under three weeks ago, telling investors the company was on target to cut more than $US5.5 billion as it sought “aggressive cost reductions” across its sprawling empire, which includes theme parks and cruises, movies, and broadcasting.

Up to $US1.8 billion of that would come from axing or shelving content that had been destined for its streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu and Star.

But while the austerity measures might be good for the bottom line, for everyone who worked on the 10-part live-action submarine drama it’s like being struck by a torpedo.

Inspired by Jules Vernes’ 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and billed as a Captain Nemo origin story, Nautilus was announced in late 2021 as the latest big-budget Hollywood production attracted to Australia by the federal government’s $540 million location offset scheme. The story was last filmed in 1954.

The last screen version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was the 1954 film starring James Mason as Captain Nemo.

Then communications and arts minister Paul Fletcher claimed the $23.3 million the federal government was contributing would result in a $172 million injection into the Australian economy. State agency Screen Queensland put the local spend of the production at $96 million, and said it would create around 240 jobs for local cast and crew, plus 350 extras.

On top of the direct cash subsidy, Disney also had access to the 16.5 per cent rebate on local spend through the tax system (the rebate-plus-grant system has now been replaced by a single 30 per cent rebate). In addition, the Queensland government supported Nautilus through its own production attraction strategy, to which the Palaszczuk government dedicated $53 million over two years in 2021.

While the exact sum of its contribution remains confidential, state film agencies are understood to typically contribute around 10 per cent of a foreign production’s local spend.

In effect, that means Australian taxpayers probably contributed around 40 per cent of the $96 million budget – or around $38 million.

There’s nothing unusual in this. State and federal governments of both stripes have seen the value in subsidising foreign productions because of the large scale of spend and employment they generate over short timeframes, their substantial multiplier effect in the economy, and the fact that a good portion of the subsidy is recoupable via taxes on individuals and businesses employed on those productions.

But when a production is dumped by its parent company before anyone has had a chance to see it, it raises questions about whether there is any benefit beyond that short-term economic activity.

Skills training for crew and exposure for cast are key selling points for underwriting foreign productions. But it’s hard to put a ghost production on your CV or your show reel.

There is, however, some hope for the cast and crew of Nautilus, unlike those hit by Apple’s recent decision to axe its big-budget Metropolis before a frame had been shot.

An industry source who cannot be named suggested the decision to not schedule Nautilus was driven largely by concerns over the additional costs of marketing the series.

Post-production on it will, however, still be completed, with an eye to Disney selling it to a rival streamer or broadcaster.

That is in line with a shift in strategy first flagged in March by Iger. “If we get to a point where we need less content for these platforms, and we still have the capacity of producing that content, why not use it to grow revenue,” he said.

It’s worth noting this is not the first time Disney’s attempts to bring a fresh adaptation of Vernes’ novel to the screen have run aground.

In early 2013, rumours swirled that David Fincher was heading to Australia to shoot a feature film version of 20,000 Leagues with Brad Pitt set to star. By April, it was a done deal, courtesy of a $21.6 million grant to Disney, jointly announced by newly installed arts minister Tony Burke and Prime Minister Julia Gillard. By May, Pitt was off the project.

With that ship run aground, Disney lobbied to keep the grant, but reallocate it to another maritime adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. By September 2014, it had won the argument.

Screen Queensland and Disney both declined to comment on the record for this story. The federal government responded with a short statement claiming Nautilus had “created over 1600 jobs for Australian cast and crew and utilised more than 1290 Australian businesses as service providers”.

The statement added that “matters concerning the release of a production are commercial decisions for the company involved”.

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