The Green Lantern has confirmed that it will go into pre-production at Fox Studios in Sydney in July and will begin filming in November. It comes as rumours grow that two other major films are planning to film in Australia.

The Green Lantern is an adaptation drawn from a series of comic books about a group of superheroes whose powers flow from a magic ring.

Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) is directing for DC Comics and Warner Bros. Donald Deline (Body Of Lies) is the producer and Herb Gains (Watchmen) is the executive producer. The budget has been touted as $108m (A$150m) but this has not been confirmed.

Fox Studios Australia is situated in the heart of Sydney and, as commonly happens in Australia, it was the local state government that called a press conference to announce the film was on its way.

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Nathan Rees said the production is expected to employ 500 people at any given time, including 200 performers, 200 crew and thousands of extras. There will also be positive economic flow-on effects for the transport, construction and hotel industries.

There is enormous competition between most of the state governments to secure production activity, from both overseas and onshore, particularly between the three east coast states of Queensland, NSW and Victoria. There are always peaks and troughs in runaway production, and also limits on the country’s capacity to properly service more than a few big-budget US films at the same time.

But right now, there is a good chance all three states will have a production in place by year end.

Crew is already employed on the third Walden Media Chronicles Of Narnia film which is expected to shoot at the Warner Roadshow Studios on Queensland’s Gold Coast. However, final approvals to shoot in Australia have not yet been given.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader is to be directed by Michael Apted (49 Up) from a script by Michael Petroni (Queen Of The Damned). Petroni is Australian and his presence prompts questions about whether the film, once it has finished, might have grounds for claiming Australian status for the purposes of the 40% rebate on local expenditure.

It is also known that Miramax has been scouting for the big-budget horror film titled Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark and that Victoria ‘s Melbourne Central City Studios is favoured as the base.

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