All Feature Films
Spend in Australia

Amount and proportion of expenditure in Australia by Australian and foreign features, 1994/95–2020/21

Since 1994/95, when the monitoring of this indicator began, the overall trend for expenditure in Australia, on both Australian and foreign features, has been upwards.

Annual expenditure in the second half of the 1990s averaged $186 million, and by the conclusion of the 2000s had reached $320 million (including PDV-only). In the 2010s, average annual expenditure was $492 million (including PDV-only).

Stand-out years:

• 2003/04 recorded annual expenditure of $449 million (excluding PDV-only) for all productions. Notable high-budget titles that commenced production that year include the Australian animated feature Happy Feet and the US features Son of the Mask, Star Wars – Episode III and Stealth.
• In 2008/09, there were no US productions taking place in Australia for the first time since production recording started in 1988.
• 2009/10 recorded annual expenditure of $453 million (including $10 million of PDV-only work) which can be attributed to the comparatively greater number of titles (53 including PDV-only titles) that commenced production in that year as well as those with a high budget, including foreign titles The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, as well as local titles Killer Elite and Sanctum.
• 2013/14 recorded annual expenditure of $517 million (including PDV-only), the then highest on record. Titles that commenced production that year include the high-budget domestic films The Gods of Egypt and The Water Diviner and foreign features Unbroken, San Andreas, The Moon and the Sun and The Inbetweeners.
• 2016/17 recorded a new all-time record when $876 million was spent here. Domestic films included Peter Rabbit, Mary Magdalene (Australia/UK), Hotel Mumbai, The Longest Shot (Australia/China) and Maya the Bee: The Honey Games (Australia/Germany). Six foreign projects started shooting that year, including Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman and Pacific Rim: Uprising, along with Bleeding Steel (China), Parindey (India) and Bad Genius (Thailand).
• 2018/19 was the second-highest on record, with expenditure of $607 million. Domestic titles accounted for just over half of expenditure, and included Peter Rabbit 2, True History of the Kelly Gang, Dirt Music (Australia/UK) and I Am Woman. Foreign features that started shooting that year included Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Godzilla vs Kong and Monster Problems.
• 2019/20 was notable for the global coronavirus pandemic that saw the vast majority of drama productions cease work in March 2020. Australian feature film expenditure was $205 million, down 36 per cent on the previous year. Foreign feature film spend was $255 million, down by 14 per cent.
• 2020/21 set a new all-time record with $1,009 million expenditure on Australiana and foreign feature films. High-budget domestic films included Baz Luhrmann's Untitled Elvis Project and Three Thousand Years of Longing. Foreign titles shooting in Australia included Blacklight, Thor: Love and Thunder and Thirteen Lives.