The Australian government alongside Thor’s Chris Hemsworth have officially announced that Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten and Thor: Love and Thunder will be shot back-to-back at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

This confirms previous local reports from April that Shang-Chi would be filming in Australia after previous fan speculation suggested it could be a Black Panther sequel, which was revealed recently by Kevin Feige as not even having an outline for a script completed.

The news cementing Marvel’s commitment to keeping up productions next year in New South Wales comes via TheHollywoodReporter.

The fourth installment of Marvel’s ‘Thor’ franchise will shoot at Fox Studios Australia, now owned by parent company Disney.

Marvel Studio’s Thor: Love and Thunder will be filmed in Sydney, with the Australian and NSW governments providing over $16.7 million (AUS$24.1 million) in incentives to lure the production down under. The fourth installment of the Thor franchise, directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson, will shoot at Fox Studios Australia, now owned by Marvel parent Disney, from August 2020, with pre-production starting in March, once production on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has wrapped, Australian arts minister Paul Fletcher and Marvel’s vice president David Grant said Friday.

It’s not terribly shocking as Thor: Ragnarok was shot at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland.

Marvel’s David Grant also made a statement.

“Following the recently announced Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel Studios is pleased to announce our third tentpole feature to be produced in Australia and follows our highly positive experience from Thor: Ragnarok. Shooting Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder back-to-back will provide local crews with sustained, continuous employment opportunities. We will be working with local educational institutions in creating internship opportunities and would like to thank the Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher and the New South Wales Arts Minister Don Harwin for their invaluable support.”

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings will be directed by Destin Cretton with a script by Dave Callaham (The Expendables) along with a cast that includes Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as the real Mandarin, and Awkwafina in an unnamed role.

There is also an expectation that the film will begin filming this fall (October/November) if it’ll wrap around March of next year.

Shang-Chi has a release date of February 12th, 2021.

Taika Waititi returns to write/direct Thor: Love and Thunder which stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman as the female mantle holder of Thor.

Love and Thunder is said to kick-off production next August and set for release on November 5th, 2021.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER