Hollywood film and TV productions pulling out of Australia

Australia had a brief, glittering glimpse of Hollywood during the first Covid wave, but now our strict rules have ground productions to a halt.

It seems the Hollywood golden goose may have flown its Aussie coop.

After 18 months reaping the rewards of the movie and TV business being shut down overseas, ongoing border restrictions and strict lockdowns are damaging Australia’s reputation as a desirable location to shoot.

Chris Hemsworth in a scene from his movie Extraction. Picture: Jasin Boland

Production of a TV show starring Melissa McCarthy has also been halted. Picture: Richard Dobson

Tom Hanks was the first major celebrity to catch Covid while filming an Elvis biopic in Queensland.

The complicated state and local government border restrictions have seen productions move overseas or be cancelled, including Netflix blockbuster Extraction 2, starring Aussie Chris Hemsworth.

Hollywood industry bible Variety recently reported that the attraction of filming Down Under had “waned in recent months” due to “a sprawl of localised logistical complications”.

“Juggling border restrictions, authorised worker lists and changing local rules is becoming too troublesome for large film crews,” it reported.

Screen NSW and other industry bodies, however, claim the future is bright despite the ongoing stresses.

“Contrary to the claim, there is no exodus of international films from NSW because of the current Covid-19 situation,” a spokesman said.

Producer Ian Sutherland said the uncertain nature of lockdowns could be a “turning point” for the industry.

“From the outset of this pandemic when the world was in lockdown, Australia and New Zealand were seen as the darlings of the film world and to be on top of the virus,” he said.

“But now, I have colleagues in Hollywood, seeing our ongoing lockdowns and slow vaccination rollout asking, ‘What’s going on?’ There is a definite frustration.”

Screen Producers Australia boss Matthew Deaner said the NSW restrictions risked up to $200 million of work.

“Our workforce is project-based moving from production to production. They are being caught up in … border closures, jeopardising millions of dollars of production activity and with that thousands of jobs,” he said.

Natalie Portman left the set of her movie for personal reasons. Picture: AFP

A film directed by Russell Crowe was shut down after some of the crew got Covid. Picture: Getty Images

But Australia Film chief executive officer Kate Marks and Screen Australia boss Graeme Mason pointed to a raft of big-budget productions shooting locally including Sigourney Weaver’s series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart; Love Me starring Hugo Weaving; and George Miller’s next Mad Max film.

Ms Marks said: “We always knew that the global environment at some point would even out and it would become as competitive as it was pre-Covid so this is not a surprise to us to see other territories opening up and coming back online and making it competitive.”