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The annual reports for the government-supported elements of Victoria's screen industries paint a "steady as she goes" picture for 2014-15, with some minor causes to be aware of but not yet alarmed.
Total attendances at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image were 1.257 million in 2014-15, down from the record 1.368 million the previous financial year (including visits at Federation Square and offsite).
The drop was attributed to the fact that only two months of attendances at the DreamWorks Animation exhibition fell within this financial year, and it was the museum's sole Winter Masterpieces show (the previous year had DreamWorks and Hollywood Costume).
ACMI did, however, send overseas two major exhibitions it had curated: DreamWorks and Game Masters. "The impact of this significant expansion … cement[s] our positioning as a major player in Melbourne's reputation as a city of creative innovation and excellence," said ACMI board president Peter Lewinsky.
Film Victoria, meanwhile, reported the local industry had operated in 2014-15 "at close to capacity", with the feature film, television and games sectors "all experiencing high levels of activity", according to chief Jenni Tosi.
The production activity in the sector was valued at $173.4 million in 2014-15, marginally down from the previous year's $179.6 million and $185.5 million in 2012-13.
Ms Tosi hailed the contribution of local visual effects houses, which contributed to the post-production of Hollywood films Ted 2, Gods of Egypt, Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron. "These four projects accounted for $27.3 million of activity, signalling the global awareness of the talented VFX artists working here in Victoria," she said.
Melbourne's Docklands Studios had a good year, with operating revenue of $3.79 million. After allowances for depreciation of its assets (primarily its sound stages), the studios recorded a nominal loss of $1.34 million, despite an operating profit of $955,283 in 2014-15.
It noted that Channel Nine, now in its final year of a five-year occupancy contract, remained the studio's "most consistent source of revenue", and added that "international production remains a critical component of the company's long-term financial performance".
The mini-series Childhood's End was the only foreign production shot at Docklands in the last financial year, but the directors' report noted that a significantly weaker Australian dollar relative to the US dollar could help attract other international, and especially US, productions to the facility.
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