·January 23, 2026 IF magazine
‘Ground Up’.
IF takes a look at the feature films and scripted series in production right now around the country.
Have we missed anything, or want to add and update any changes? Email us at publicity@if.com.au
Feature film
Untitled Amazon MGM Studios/Navy Seal Mike Thornton Project
Patrick Hughes has just rolled camera on the Gold Coast on his (as yet untitled) Amazon MGM Vietnam War thriller, which centres on Navy SEAL Mike Thornton, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Alan Ritchson, who co-wrote the script with Jason Hall and Mark Semos, stars as Thornton, with the cast also including Joe Cole and Australian Hoa Xuande. Production is underway at Village Roadshow Studios, with the film lured Down Under by the Location Offset and Screen Queensland’s Production Strategy. The project is expected to create 260 jobs for local cast and crew and inject an estimated $50 million into the Queensland economy. Sylvester Stallone and D. Matt Geller are producing under Balboa Productions, alongside Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman and Alex Young, Ritchson’s AllyCat Entertainment, and Alan Rautbort.
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Gerard Butler-starrer Empire City is still underway Melbourne. Directed by Love and Monsters‘ Michael Matthews and written by Brian Tucker and S. Craig Zahler, the film centres on a hostage crisis that erupts inside New York’s Clybourn Building. Butler is firefighter Rhett, who with his squad and NYPD wife Dani (Hayley Atwell), must fight and navigate his way through the building to rescue captives. Filming is taking place at Docklands Studios Melbourne and on location throughout the city, with Swanston and Collins streets dressed as downtown Manhattan earlier this month. The film is supported by the federal Location Offset and the Victorian Screen Rebate. Australian Paul Currie is among the producers, who also include Marc Butan and Alan Siegal.
Production remains underway in Brisbane on the world’s favourite blue heeler’s big screen debut, the CG animated Bluey: The Movie. Written and directed by the series creator Joe Brumm, the film features the show’s regular vocal cast, including Melanie Zanetti and David McCormack. Amber Naismith is animation producer with Richard Jeffery co-director, while EPs include Justine Flynn for BBC Studios, and Ludo Studio’s Charlie Aspinwall and Daley Pearson. Cosmic Dino is providing end-to-end CG animation services for the project. Disney has worldwide theatrical rights, with the film to be released in August 2027.
Brisbane’s Like A Photon Creative are the lead producers on animated feature Neverending Pillow Fort, an adaptation of the hit children’s novel of the same name by Will Taylor. A partnership with MIMO Studios and Crayola Studios, the film follows lifelong best friends Maggie and Abby as they go through their first growing pains of adolescence, uncovering a secret world that connects in mysterious and wondrous ways. Like A Photon previously worked with MIMO Studios on The Pout Pout Fish, which is currently in cinemas and has earnt, as of yesterday,
Independent family feature Big Sister, written, directed and executive produced by Andrea Belmonte, is, per Instagram, on its last week of filming on the Gold Coast. Belmonte stars as Andy, a UK medical exchange student who loses her passport the night before her flight and is pulled into an unexpected adventure by her Australian host sister Mia (Chloe Haraldson). The project is the first from Belmonte’s production company Cinemonte.
Director Matthew Holmes has shot three block of The Sundowner, with filming to finish early this year. Set in 1934, it follows a traumatised WW1 veteran living as a swagman gradually becomes a desperate and dangerous fugitive. The cast includes Joshua Jaeger, Arthur Angel and Jacob Junior Nayinggul. Holmes wrote the script with Aidan Phelan, and produces with Felipe Teplitsky, Russell Cunningham and Joshua Little.
Horror/thriller Heritage, written and directed by Les Zig, is still filming in Melbourne, looking to wrap around April. Ana Isabel produces the film and leads the cast as Sara, a charlatan clairvoyant with a family history of paranoid schizophrenia who begins experiencing visions. The cast also includes Scott Major, Carmelina Di Guglielmo, Diviya Mahto, Day Straube, Greg Pandelidis, Seth Kannof, Fiona Crombie, Sophie Alice, Loren Lennox, Antonios Baxevanidis, Marty Rhone, Kashmala Burney and Divi Mahto.
Director Maria Isabel de la Ossa’s indie film My Inner Child, shooting in Sydney, is on a short holiday break and will return to filming next month through to April. Written by Michelle Rouady and produced by Thea O’Conor, the film follows adults questioning their life choices who meet their inner children, revealing tension between societal duties and authentic living. The cast includes Tahlia Crinis, Rouady, Ken Welsh and Clara Helms.
WA filmmaker Peter Renzullo continues to film his latest feature, The Jewel Wasp. Shooting mostly at Perth City Farm, the micro-budget psychological thriller follows an underground agency dedicated to capturing perpetrators of horrific crimes before they are caught by law enforcement. The cast includes Jay Jay Jegathessan, Kate Lloyd, Paul Cozens, Nate Garnett, Steve Kio, Laura Mac, Grace Garnett, James Broadhurst, Vipin Murikulathil and Ricky Pulko. Ian Hale is executive producing, with Halo Films to handle distribution.
Coming-of-age drama Powder Milk and Ice Cream, written and directed by Brian Jewell, just wrapped a three-day second block in Victoria at Bacchus Marsh, with a 12-day block to follow in April in Trentham. Set it a small rural town in early 2020s Australia, it follows Mandy (Stella Shute) and Joey (Devi Berends), who share a gentle, blossoming first love, nurtured by friendship and innocence, until an unexpected tragedy quietly reshapes the course of their young lives. The cast also includes Jewell, Sarah Crowle, Jessica Stanley and Caio Macdonald, while The Wiggle’s Anthony Field will make a cameo as a publican. Verdict Film Group has boarded the production.
Scripted series
ABC/Gristmill’s satirical comedy Ground Up, which centres on Tasmania’s efforts to enter the AFL, is currently underway, with production spanning both Tasmania and Victoria. Created and written by Gary McCaffrie, it follows AFL administrator Hugh Shen, played by Sam Pang. All six episodes will be directed by Gristmill’s Wayne Hope, who produces with Robyn Butler, MaryAnne Carroll and McCaffrie.
Hugo Weaving and Heather Mitchell topline Paramount+ and Roadshow Rough Diamond’s romantic drama Dalliance, which is currently in its second week of shoot in Sydney. Weaving is Billy, a former cameraman, who encounters Mitchell’s Dani on a Sydney Harbour ferry as their different worlds intersect. The cast also includes Georgie Parker, Noah Taylor and Wayne Blair. Mitchell is an executive producer alongside John and Dan Edwards, with Pip Karmel the lead writer.
High Country : What Lies Beneath
Production is still underway in Victoria on season two of Binge’s High Country, from Curio Pictures. Leah Purcell reprises her role as Detective Andie Witford, who is drawn this season into a bigger case than she could have ever imagined. New faces in the cast this season include Brendan Cowell, Ryan Corr and Nadine Garner, while Ian McElhinney, Sara Wiseman, and Aaron Pedersen return. High Country is created John Ridley and Marcia Gardner, who the second season with Kim Wilson and Beck Cole, with Lucy Gaffy and Ben Lucas directing and Jo Porter, Rachel Gardner and Angie Fielder producing. Production is taking place across Jamieson, Mansfield and Eildon, as well as in greater Melbourne.
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Media World Pictures’ 26 x 11 mins animated sitcom Happy House, for the ABC, is in production in Victoria. Co-created and written by Alix Beane and Marisa Nathar, the series is set in a world where internet-famous animals are the creators of their own adorable viral content. Directed by Kelly Lynagh, Happy House features animation from 12field Animation. Carmel McAloon is producing with executive Producers Colin South, Carmel McAloon Beane and Nathar.
The second season of ABC’s animated children’s series Do Not Watch This Show, remains in production in Victoria. The Lee Bones Production series is based on the book series Do Not Open This Book by Andy Lee, who writes alongside Jason Marion and Ray Matsen. Patrick Crawley directs, with series producer Nick Campbell, line producer Megan Brock and producers Lee and Greg Sitch. The first season has been a hit for the ABC, which reports the first episode hit an average audience of more than 2.5 million.
Have we missed anything, or want to add and update any changes? Email us at publicity@if.com.au.
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