Melbourne's Docklands Studios is set for a major boost, with the construction of a massive new soundstage and the arrival of two big-budget Hollywood features in the next year.

The state government will announce today that it is fully funding a $46 million, 3700 square metre soundstage. First mooted as essential for attracting "runaway" productions in a 2011 government review of the studio, the new facility will enable Docklands to compete with Sydney's Fox Studios and the Gold Coast's Village Roadshow Studios for a chunk of the all-important Hollywood pie.

An artist's impression of the new soundstage to be built at Docklands Studios Melbourne

Design and construction will likely take two years, but the pay-off has already begun, with an independent Hollywood studio set to announce today that it will film two big-budget fantasy features there, the first slated to begin production next July.

Dick Cook Studios (DCS), an independent entity established by the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios in 2015, will receive $30 million in federal government funding through its Location Incentive Program, the $140 million fund announced in May 2018 with the explicit aim of luring foreign productions to Australia.