Disney’s ILM opens studio in Sydney

Industrial Light & Magic is to set up its fifth production hub in Sydney, Australia

LucasFilm’s visual effects division, ILM, has announced that it will expand its global footprint to Australia in the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, adjacent to Fox Studios Australia.

“Sydney is an ideal location for our fifth studio,” says Rob Bredow, executive creative director and dead of ILM, adding, “there is abundant artistic and technical talent in the region which are both keys to ILM’s culture of innovation. It’s particularly exciting that the first film our new studio will contribute to will be Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

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).

Gretchen Libby, ILM VP of production said: “We are always looking for ways to enhance our offering to clients and the Australian Federal PDV Offset coupled with the new NSW PDV rebate is sure to attract significant interest from filmmakers around the world. Our studio in Sydney will allow us to offer that opportunity while providing the quality effects work that is synonymous with Industrial Light & Magic.”

The local government says that ILM Sydney will create 500 jobs, though it is unclear how many will be directly employed by the new facility.

ILM already has studios in San Francisco, where it is headquartered, Singapore, Vancouver and London.