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Queensland has secured yet another major international feature film with the announcement a romantic comedy starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts will be shot in the sunshine state.
A $6.4 million Federal Government grant attracted the upcoming film called Ticket to Paradise, which will see the two Academy Award winners in the lead roles.
Directed by Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) and produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, alongside Sarah Harvey and Deborah Balderstone, Ticket to Paradise is set to be filmed in The Whitsundays and Southern Queensland in November.
George Clooney and Grant Heslov will also produce the original screenplay for Smokehouse Pictures, alongside Red Om Films' Julia Roberts, Lisa Gillan, and Marisa Yeres Gill.
Minister for communications, urban infrastructure, cities and the arts Paul Fletcher said the production was expected to inject $47 million into the Australian economy and create more than 270 jobs for local cast and crew.
"I'm so pleased to support Ticket to Paradise with a $6.4 million grant as part of our highly successful Location Incentive Program," Fletcher said.
"To date, we have distributed more than $216 million under the Location Incentive to attract 22 productions to Australia, providing more than 12,700 employment opportunities for local cast and crew, and generating work for over 13,500 businesses that support these big productions."
Tim Bevan from Working Title said he was thrilled to be bringing Ticket to Paradise to Australia.
"We have worked in Australia before and found the local crews to be extremely professional. We are looking forward to collaborating once again on this exciting project," Bevan said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has also welcomed the announcement, saying Hollywood is turning to the state because of its strong health response to the pandemic and its robust film industry.
"We already had a strong reputation as a screen destination before the pandemic but we've definitely had more interest from international productions to film here than ever before which is great because it means more jobs for Queenslanders," Palaszczuk said.
"Queensland is the place to be because of our health response, the range of locations, the weather, our competitive incentives, and world-class talent and crews.
"This latest announcement is further proof that Queensland's production boom isn't stopping anytime soon which is great because it means a pipeline of work for our local industry."
Baz Luhrmann's Elvis project recently wrapped at Village Roadshow Studios, this month Academy Award-winner Ron Howard starts production on Thirteen Lives about the Thai soccer team cave rescue, and Amazon Original The Wilds S2 also films on the Gold Coast from next month.
Meanwhile, reality TV juggernaut Australian Survivor is heading to Cloncurry in outback Queensland, Universal Studios Group's Joe Exotic moves on to the lot at Screen Queensland Studios in April, and Fremantle's new teen series Taylor's Island will also film on the Gold Coast.
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