Reacher star heads bush as yet another Hollywood movie comes Down Under
The movie War Machine will be filming in the regional towns of Bright and Myrtleford. Photo: TND/Getty
Rising US action star Alan Ritchson is among a host of big names headed to regional Australia for the latest Hollywood production Down Under.
Production is under way on War Machine, a science fiction action thriller film from Lionsgate and Netflix.
Ritchson, who broke though in the Amazon Prime action drama Reacher, heads a US cast that includes veteran actor Dennis Quaid, Stephan James (The Piano Lesson), Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad) and Esai Morales (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One).
The movie will also feature Australian actors Blake Richardson (Mystery Road: Origin), Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash) and Daniel Webber (The Dirt).
Filming will take place around Bright and Myrtleford in regional Victoria, and Melbourne, according to VicScreen.
Patrick Hughes – who directed the popular The Hitman’s Bodyguard series of films – is producer, director and co-writer on War Machine.
It follows the final 24 hours of “the world’s toughest selection program, as a team of army rangers encounter a threat beyond their imagination”.
Ritchson starred in this year’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Photo: Lionsgate
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks said War Machine would create an estimated 2100 job opportunities in Victoria, support 80 local businesses and inject more than $73 million directly into the state’s economy.
The project has the financial backing of the Victorian government through VicScreen’s Victorian Screen Incentive.
Hollywood Down Under
Australia’s screen industry agency Ausfilm earlier this month confirmed that “production is booming” across the country, partly due to tax incentives for local productions that were introduced two months ago.
With eight major TV series and films either completed, in production or post-production this year, streamers and studios are taking advantage of the 30 per cent “location offset”, legislated in July and now fully operational.
The Disney+ original, Last Days of the Space Age, recently wrapped up production in Perth, while in Queensland, pirate adventure film The Bluff also wrapped.
The action comedy Balls Up starring Mark Wahlberg, and new series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters are also in production on the Gold Coast.
In Melbourne, shark movie Beneath the Storm, starring Blood Diamond actor Djimon Hounsou, is in post-production, and in South Australia, the creators of the independent A24 studio horror hit Talk To Me have just wrapped filming on their latest project, Bring Her Back, starring Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water).
🎥 | Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning spotted filming “All Her Fault” pic.twitter.com/fXgyv6UPHj
— best of sarah snook (@bestofsnook) September 4, 2024
In the Northern Territory, Screen Territory says NCIS: Sydney producers are filming two episodes of the hit series, arriving in the Top End after being attracted by their production incentive program.
There is more on the way, with Screen Australia pointing to possible Australian filming of the upcoming productions: Avatar movie; Ron Howard’s Eden, staring Jude Law and Sydney Sweeney; The Bluff, starring Karl Urban and Priyanka Chopra Jonas; and All Her Fault, starring Australia’s Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning.
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