Sydney, Australia, is to be home to Industrial Light & Magic’s fifth production hub. The Disney-owned special effects company currently has facilities in San Francisco, Vancouver, London and Singapore.
The decision to open the Sydney outpost was announced Monday local time by executive creative director and head of ILM Rob Bredow, ILM executive Luke Hetherington, and New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian.
ILM will make its home in Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, adjacent to Fox Studios Australia, which was recently acquired by Disney.
The government said that ILM Sydney would create 500 jobs, though it was unclear how many would be directly employed by the new facility. It is expected to contribute services to the new “Star Wars” film due out at the end of the year, “The Rise of Skywalker.” Job advertisements have already been posted.
The green light for the Sydney facility follows less than a week after New South Wales announced that it would create a PDV incentive that rebates 10% of in-state spending on post-production, digital and visual effects, above a threshold of A$500,000 ($351,000). Bredow confirmed that the state’s new subsidy had been a deciding factor in locating the unit in Sydney. The rebate is additional to and cumulative with Australia’s federal PDV incentives.
Popular on Variety
ILM will also provide a digital-effects learning program, and the state government will invest A$6 million ($4.22 million) in skills training.
ILM in Sydney is expected to deliver A$333 million ($234 million) in post-production business in the first five years and an annual A$100 million ($70.3 million) thereafter.
“This isn’t just about the 500 jobs, but it [also] means Sydney cements itself as really the movies capital of Australia,” Berejiklian said. “The jobs here in digital and visual effects post-production will make us a leading light around the world.”
Read More About:
Jump to CommentsMore from Variety
‘Zone of Interest’ Backer Access Funds New Holocaust Music Doc for BBC Arts
Fortnite’s Complicated Return to iOS Is Hardly a Victory
International Oscar Race: Kyrgyzstan Proposes ‘Heaven Is Beneath Mother’s Feet’
SciTech Awards Committee Investigating 11 Areas of Innovation for Academy Consideration
Training AI With TV & Film Content: How Licensing Deals Look
‘Flow,’ Animated Feature Oscar Contender and Annecy Winner, Lands Fall Release Date (EXCLUSIVE)
Most Popular
‘Inside Out 2’ Becomes First Animated Film to Hit $1 Billion at International Box Office
Channing Tatum Says Gambit Accent Was Supposed to Be ‘Unintelligible’ at Times and He Was ‘Too Scared to Ask’ Marvel for the Costume to Bring…
Oasis’ Liam and Noel Gallagher Drop Biggest Hint Yet That Group Is Reuniting
Box Office: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Returns to No. 1 in Fifth Weekend as ‘The Crow’ Bombs and ‘Blink Twice…
Ryan Reynolds Was ‘Mortified’ to Cut Rob McElhenney’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Cameo but the ‘Sequence Wasn’t Working’: ‘I Had to Kill a Darling…
Taylor Swift Praises Charli XCX After ‘Sympathy Is a Knife’ Reignited Feud Rumors: ‘Her Writing Is Surreal and Inventive’
‘Ted Lasso’ Eyes Season 4 Greenlight With Main Cast Members Returning
China Box Office: 'Alien: Romulus' Becomes Hollywood's Second Biggest Film of 2024
Bradley Whitford Slams Cheryl Hines for Not Speaking Out After Her ‘Lunatic Husband’ RFK Jr. Endorsed Trump for President: ‘Way to Stay Silent…
‘Super/Man’ Trailer: Christopher Reeve Doc Captures the Late Actor’s Superhero Stardom and Life After His Near-Fatal Accident
Must Read
- Film
‘Megalopolis’ Trailer’s Fake Critic Quotes Were AI-Generated, Lionsgate Drops Marketing Consultant Responsible For Snafu
- Music
Sabrina Carpenter Teases and Torments on the Masterful — and Devilishly NSFW — 'Short n' Sweet': Album Review
- Film
Tim Burton on Why the 'Batman' Films Have Changed and How 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Saved Him From Retirement
- Film
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Are the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton of the 2020s
Sign Up for Variety Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Variety Confidential
ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXKFjp%2BgpaVflsCqrY6ipZ2to6m%2Fqq3LZqOin5ipeq6txqKaZqGconqmssWemq2rXZbCtMDRmqOimV2oxqW6xLJkampgaH93g5Jvbmg%3D