Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and Julia Roberts have reportedly left Australia, putting their current movie project on hold to wait out Queensland’s COVID-19 spike.

The Courier-Mail reported the big-budget Universal rom-com the pair has been filming, Ticket to Paradise, has been on hold as the number of COVID cases continues to rise in southeast Queensland.

Filming commenced in November, with locations across Hamilton Island, the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Clooney and Roberts, who had a tight filming schedule, reportedly left Queensland late last week.

Production will be on hold for at least three months, with two more weeks of filming left in the schedule.

There had already been a number of positive COVID cases reported on set in the first week of January, which caused delays.

Directed by Ol Parker, Ticket To Paradise stars Roberts and Clooney in the story of a divorced couple who team up and travel to Bali to stop their daughter making the same mistake they made 25 years ago.

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It is the pair’s first project together since 2016’s Money Monster, with the production expected to generate $47m and more than 270 jobs for Queenslanders.

Screen Queensland chief executive Kylie Munnich told The Courier-Mail that “screen productions are facing some challenges, as can be expected.”
“Some productions have decided to take a short break and others have delayed starting production by a few weeks,” she said.
“However, the Queensland screen industry remains in a very strong position with an enviable slate of local and international productions scheduled for 2022 and demand to film in the state continuing to be high.”
Queensland originally became a popular filming location due to low COVID numbers, accounting for almost half of the $1.9 billion spend in Australian drama production in 2020-21.
Season two of Young Rock is continuing to film on the Gold Coast, while preparations are underway for Disney’s Nautilus at Village Roadshow Studios.
Tim Minchin’s series Upright is also expected to commence filming in coming weeks.

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