Thor, Wolverine, Silver Surfer in Aussie raid

AUSTRALIA will soon be swarming with superheroes.

AUSTRALIA will soon be swarming with superheroes.

One of Hollywood's top producers, Avi Arad, whose credits include the Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, said he would shoot several big budget films in coming years in Australia based on comic book superheroes.

Arad had a taste of filmmaking in Australia with this year's hit, Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, which was made in Melbourne.

The producer said he was impressed with Australia's talented film crews and special effects house.

"Some of the bigger projects I am working on now inevitably will end up in Australia," Arad said in Los Angeles.

Arad has more than 10 films based on comics on his production slate, including Captain America, The Avengers, Thor, The Punisher 2, Ant-Man, Iron Fist and two spin-offs of the X-Men films, Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, and Magneto.

Arad would not name the films he planned to shoot in Australia, but he did reveal he was attempting to hire an Australian director for one of the movies.

He declined to say the director's name, but there has been speculation Australian director Alex Proyas was being wooed to direct the film adaptation of another Arad project, Silver Surfer.

Proyas directed the small budget Australian movie, Garage Days and is best known in Hollywood for his 2004 sci-fi film I, Robot, starring Will Smith.

Ghost Rider cost $US110 million ($125 million) to shoot in Melbourne, but made $US230 million at the global box office and tens of millions more in DVD and video sales.

"I love working in Australia," Arad said.

"It's such a fun place with great technical talent and some amazing special effects houses."

The 57-year-old recently left his post as chairman and chief executive of Marvel Studios to form his own production company.

Arad's next project is the Bratz movie, based on the popular girls' dolls, to open in Australian cinemas on September 20.