Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Queensland’s next big blockbuster will be the live-action version of Dora The Explorer from Paramount Pictures.

The decision to provide competitive incentives to lure the production came down to a single criteria: creating jobs:

“This isn’t only for our film industry workers it’s for all the other businesses we know benefit from big productions in Queensland,” the Premier said.

“Over the past three years my government has committed $30 million attracting movie makers to Queensland through our Production Attraction Fund, gaining more than $350 million 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.”

Recent productions include:

• Aquaman, filmed in 2017, estimated to have spent more than $100M in Queensland creating 2100 jobs.
• Thor: Ragnarok, released in October 2017, employed more than 1000 Queensland cast and crew, and injected $145.2 million into the Queensland economy
• The Chinese production At Last showcased a range of Queensland locations, and provided approximately 200 jobs and injected $10.8M into the local economy. It follows the success of previous Queensland Chinese co-productions Guardians of the Tomb (previously known as The Nest 3D) and Bait 3D.

This Dora will be a live-action update of the much-loved Nickelodeon animated series, in which Dora is now a teenager navigating the world with her cousin Diego.

Each episode of the animated series ended with the song ‘We Did It’.

After the deal was secured late yesterday the Premier felt like singing ‘We Did It’ herself.

“We could not be more thrilled to be bringing Dora to Queensland and to be able to deliver Queensland for our film,” said Lee Rosenthal, President of Physical Production for Paramount Pictures.

“In Queensland, we are able to get outstanding crew, stages and a variety of jungle topography and city backdrops in essentially one place.” – Lee Rosenthal

Dora will be filmed on the Gold Coast’s $15.5 million Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios and came after the Premier’s US trade mission in February.

The film comes from the Paramount Players division of Paramount Pictures and will be directed by James Bobin whose films include The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most Wanted (2014) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).

It’s due for release in August 2019.