Dora the Explorer to film in Australia

Paramount Pictures’ live-action film adaptation of the animated children’s series Dora the Explorer is set to film in Australia following a last-minute intervention from the Queensland government.

Although a precedent had previously been set whereby the standard location offset of 16.5% had been topped up by a cash grant to 30% - a move that benefitted high-profile projects including Aquaman and Thor: Ragnorak – the Dora film had been refused the extra funding.

However, amid fears that Australia would lose the project as a result, the Queensland government stepped in and confirmed the extra cash uplift, recognising the amount of jobs the production would create.

James Bobin (pictured) will direct the film, based on the Nickelodeon series. The production base will be at Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said of the decision: “This isn’t only for our film industry workers - it’s for all the other businesses we know benefit from big productions in Queensland.

“Over the past three years my government has committed $30m attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $350m of direct expenditure in our state.

“We will keep on pushing for screen jobs for our local crews and creatives and for productions that inject hundreds of millions of dollars into our economy and take our creative talent and our stunning Queensland locations, to screens around the world.”

James Bobin photo via Getty Images Ent/Pablo Cuadra.