Queensland movie locations: State missing out on guided tour dollars
THE State Government has trumpeted the multimillion-dollar benefits of attracting major Hollywood productions to Queensland - but we’re missing out on a crucial spin-off.
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AN OPPORTUNITY to use Hollywood blockbusters to promote Queensland to the world has been badly missed, according to two leading US movie tour operators.
The Queensland Government has bragged about spending $30 million to have epics such as San Andreas and Kong: Skull Island filmed in southeast Queensland, but neither featured iconic or identifiable locations.
Neither did Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and it remains to be seen if any of the state’s most recognisable locations or buildings will be promoted in the recently and currently filming Thor: Ragnarok or Aquaman when they are released.
It could be dismissed that the movies of this calibre are fantasy and superhero genres, and don’t lend themselves to current-day locations.
However that hasn’t been a problem for US city Atlanta being heavily featured in The Hunger Games Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant Man.
Carrie Burns founded Atlanta Movie Tours five years ago on the back of the success of cable TV series The Walking Dead.
The business now offers 14 Walking Dead tours and another 10 attractions, including the new Heroes tour which will incorporate Black Panther which was shot this year.
Ms Burns said Atlanta’s tax incentives lured film and TV companies to the state, and it had backed it up by including major buildings in the movies.
“We have a very lucrative tax credit of 30 per cent but if that ever ends… there is the tourism aspect that goes on… so you want them to be on location (in Queensland) and using recognisable locations,” she said.
There’s also an employment spin-off with extras from the TV shows, and movies filmed in Atlanta being employed as tour guides.
Disaster flick San Andreas was first in the recent wave of Hollywood blockbusters filmed on the Gold Coast in recent years, yet it features in San Francisco Movie Tours.
Operator Bryan Rice said he knew the film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was primarily shot outside San Francisco, but he had “no idea” it was on the Gold Coast.
“I focus on what can be clearly seen as San Francisco and San Andreas and Ant Man, of which about four days were filmed in San Francisco, are the most current movies on my tour,” he said.
“People enjoy knowing where scenes were made… it’s about the movie, who is in it, the location and the importance of the scene, and from what you have had made there (in Queensland), there’s a market for tourism.”
He said San Francisco had been promoted heavily through movies, and it was something that was missing at the moment with films being made in Queensland.
“Those are major movies (being made in Queensland) and people will want to see the locations … and you’ve got an opportunity with the movies being made there to have a tourism industry built on that phenomenon,” he said.
Rice has been running the business for a decade, and his offerings include a Dirty Harry tour and a three-hour outing that takes in the homes of Full House, Mrs Doubtfire and Ant Man, and the church used in Sister Act 2.
Queensland Premier and Arts Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk told The Courier-Mail the local Hollywood productions had enhanced tourism, but did not respond to questions about whether her Government had asked, or would ask, if iconic locations or buildings could be included in future productions.
“Queensland is effectively leveraging the success of our film industry… to an international audience, enticing more visitors to experience all we have to offer and making Queensland the ideal cultural tourism destination,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“From the Gold Coast beaches to the pristine waters of the Whitsundays, the rugged Outback, magnificent rainforests the Great Barrier Reef and the world’s largest sand island, Fraser Island, these experiences, make Queensland an ideal destination for tourists and domestic and international producers.”
Screen Queensland chief Tracey Vieira said the state had leveraged, through its deal with Thor: Ragranok, the Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, which ended tomorrow and had been a great success.
She said the company would attempt to ensure Queensland’s more identifiable buildings and locations were included, where possible, in the future as “we build on this industry”, while a new Netflix series would showcase the state.
“Tidelands, the very first Netflix series to shoot in Australia will feature Queensland locations and provide an incredible opportunity to build tourism related marketing for the Sunshine State,” Ms Vieira said.
“Screen Queensland would love to see more films shooting Queensland as Queensland or for films to have clearly identifiable Queensland locations.”
Originally published as Queensland movie locations: State missing out on guided tour dollars
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