Disney Studios Australia (formerly known as Fox Studios Australia) is a motion picture and television production facility in Sydney that has operated as part of The Walt Disney Company since 2019.
The 32-acre-site, which is 15 minutes from the Sydney CBD, features eight sound stages, several production offices, workshops, and around 60 independent entertainment industry businesses.
Prior to 1998, the Studio's site was host to Sydney's Royal Easter Show – the largest event held in Australia, and the sixth largest in the world. In 1881, the New South Wales Government provided land for the Royal Agricultural Society at Moore Park where the show was held for 16 years. From 1902 to 1919, the site expanded to the south and from 1920 to 1937, the Moore Park Showground expanded to the north. In 1998, the Show moved to a new showground and the former Sydney Showground at Moore Park became the home to Fox Studios Australia.
The 132,000 square metre (32 acre) site includes eight stages, production offices and heavy industrial workshops, and a community of over 60 independent businesses[citation needed]. These businesses provide services such as equipment hire, travel and freight, casting, postproduction, and explosives/pyrotechnic factory, adjoining residential properties.
Disney Studios Australia houses post-production specialists in film editing, sound re-recording and sound.
Backlot Theme Park
Fox Studios Backlot was purportedly based on Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Florida, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The $261 million park opened on 7 November 1999. An adjacent precinct provides restaurants and cafes, a retail complex, parklands, entertainment venues, and sporting facilities. The adjacent precinct was previously known as simply 'Fox Studios Entertainment Precinct'. The backlot closed down in 2001 and the entrance remains at Fox Studios Australia.
Ownership
Fox Studios Australia logo before Disney renamed the studio in 2022.
Disney Studios Australia is owned by the media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company, under the terms of a 99-year lease from the New South Wales State Government.
The decision by the Carr Government in 1995 to allow News Corporation, predecessor of 21st Century Fox, to take over the site was controversial and attracted criticism from sections of the media such as The Sydney Morning Herald and independent MP Clover Moore. It was alleged that a secret deal took place between the NSW Government and the largest shareholder and Chairman/CEO of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, involving the donation of $25 million in taxpayers' money for the new site.[1][2]
