Production on horror movie sequel Wolf Creek 2 and big-budget children's sci-fi series Resistance has been delayed, leaving the South Australian Film Corporation to redistribute the funding allocated to the projects.
Both productions were set to film at the $43 million Adelaide Studios complex, which opened in October 2011, but are now on hold with no set date for commencement.
Wolf Creek 2 was originally slated to begin production in February, with a budget of $13.2 million. However, contractual issues have caused the film to come to a halt.
In December, entrepeneur Geoffrey Edelsten launched legal action against director Greg McLean's production company, Emu Pictures, with the intention of rescinding the investment deed he had signed for the sequel. Edelsten invested $5 million in the picture, but said he would never have done so had he known he was the biggest single private investor. In an affidavit, he wrote that only $300,000 of the film's total budget was from other private investors.
ABC's children's series Resistance was set to begin a 23-week shoot last October, but in December, IF reported that the $14 million project would be cutting down its initial order of 26 episodes and filming in the first quarter of 2012. However, the SAFC has since been informed that the show will not go ahead until later this year or early in 2013.
In a statement, chief executive, Richard Harris said that the delays faced by the two projects enabled the SAFC to release the funds allocated to the film and series. SAFC has instead invested $450,000 in feature films The Babadook and The Fall – horror movies which are set to go into production in the latter half of 2012.
"These features will bring work for local crews who have had to contend with delays related to the uncertainty surrounding Wolf Creek 2 and Resistance," said Harris.
The Babadook will star Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries actress, Essie Davis, as a grieving widow who senses a sinister presence in her house, while supernatural thriller, The Fall, tells the story of an isolated Afghan desert U.S. Marine Sergeant who leads a small combat engineering team on a mission to construct security bunkers for a new Green Zone.