Ausfilm welcomes the announcement on Friday by the Australian Government’s Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon. Paul Fletcher, to support Academy Award® winning Director, Ron Howard’s new feature film Thirteen Lives. 

The production is also receiving support from Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Screen Queensland, through the Queensland Government’s Production Attraction Strategy. 

Ausfilm’s Chief Executive Officer, Kate Marks is delighted this project is locating to Australia saying “we have been assisting the production team since the enquiry first came into Ausfilm’s Los Angeles office earlier this year. The project is an ideal fit for Australia and it is fantastic that Australian crews and creatives will get the chance to work with Academy Award® winning Director Ron Howard.” 

The film is based on the widely publicised rescue mission when 12 boys and their coach were trapped inside Tham Luang cave due to monsoon rains in Thailand in 2018. Production will commence in March next year and will be filmed in Queensland with the Gold Coast Hinterland doubling for Thailand.

The film is from Imagine Entertainment and MGM, and produced by Academy Award® winner Brian Grazer, P.J. van Sandwijk, Gabrielle Tana and Karen Lunder.

Thirteen Lives is supported through the Morrison Government’s AU$400 million boost to the Location Incentive which aims to create a pipeline of international projects, and generate tens of thousands of Australian jobs in the screen industry over many years.

The attraction of Thirteen Lives follows the Australian Government’s recent announcements, of Location Incentive support combined with state government incentives, for the two Netflix projects: the feature Escape from Spiderhead  in Queensland and the TV series Pieces of Her filming in New South Wales; action-feature Blacklight currently filming in Victoria; and in Queensland, NBC Universal Television’s series Young Rock; Universal Content Productions’ series Joe Exotic and Irreverent from Australian based film and television production company Matchbox Pictures, part of NBCUniversal International Studios. 

CONTACT AUSFILM

To discuss filming in Australia or assistance navigating Australia’s screen incentive programs, contact:

Ausfilm,
Erin Stam,
EVP International Production
[email protected]