A lot of mainstream films are shot in Australia (Where the Wild Things Are, Knowing, Wolverine, just to name a few from 2009) because of the favorable exchange rate.  But the Australian dollar, which was worth about 55 cents when I lived there in 2003, closed at 95 cents on Friday, and some say could hit $1.10 by next year. And all because of a secret coalition of Jew bankers.  WB had planned to shoot The Green Lantern in Sydney, but now they’re pulling out after the dollar dropped 30% just in the six months since the production was planned.

The NSW government announced in April it had secured the “Green Lantern” shoot at Fox Studios and production was to have started in November. Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) is set to direct Ryan Reynolds (“The Proposal”) in the big screen comic book adaptation, which is set for a summer 2011 release.  Industry sources here suggest “Green Lantern” will move to Mexico or Canada. [THR]

So what does this mean for you the moviegoer?  Nothing, really.  I just thought you guys should know.  I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else.  Reached for comment, Paul Hogan pointed to Mexico on a map and said, “That’s not a movie studio, THAT’s a movie studio,” pointing at Australia.  When I pointed out that both were just places on a map and not movie studios at all, he just cut off a slice of the salami he was holding and put it in his mouth and started chewing, staring right at me.  It was as if he hadn’t heard me at all.

It’s officially time to scrape the bottom of the comic-book barrel.  WB has announced that The Green Lantern will shoot in Australia with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell and a $150 million budget. Besides a favorable exchange rate, the government of New South Wales also provides a 15% “location rebate.”  The lead hasn’t been named yet, but rumors thus far have included Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin, Sam Worthington, and Ryan Gosling.

To put the budget in perspective (and these are all estimated numbers…), Fantastic Four was $100M, Iron Man was $140M, Watchmen was $150M, The Dark Knight was $185M, X-Men: The Last Stand was $210M and Spider-Man 3 topped $258M. [/Film]

Keep in mind, The Green Lantern gets his superpowers from a magic ring.  No, really.  An alien named Abin-Sur crash lands on Earth, meets a young man, and likes him so much he puts a ring on him.  And the ring inspires the him to put on a full-body spandex suit and knee-high green F-me boots.  What that has to do with lanterns, I have no idea.  Maybe when he’s not fighting crime, he’s really into shabby chic.

Under pressure from Fox, Baz Luhrmann has altered the ending of Australia after “disastrous reviews” from test screenings.  Keep in mind, Baz Luhrmann is the critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated director of Moulin Rouge and Fox is the movie studio responsible for The Happening, Babylon A.D., Meet Dave, X-Files 2, Mirrors, Space Chimps, Max Payne, Jumper, and The Rocker.

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In this new poster for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia (click to enlarge), Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman take “mindf-ck” too literally, while an Aborigine hangs out nearby to make sure you know they’re in Australia.

[via Filmonic]

This is the second full-length trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, in which Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman strike up an unlikely relationship that teaches us all how to love again.

A romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, Australia centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country’s most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier. [AOL]

Man, before tentacle porn came along, the Japanese were kind of dicks.  Also, I liked the whole stodgy English people meet wild-eyed Aussies angle better in Sirens, when it was accompanied by Elle Macpherson’s bush (NWS, obviously).  In conclusion: Dear Baz Luhrmann, Needs more bush.  Sincerely, FilmDrunk.

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