Malta Attracting Big-Budget Shoots With Aggressive Incentives and Adaptable Locations
variety.comTodd Longwell Located in the Mediterranean Sea, 50 miles south of Sicily and 176 miles east of Tunisia, the island Republic of Malta has a long history as a filming location stretching back to the 1925 silent “Sons of the Sea.” Its picturesque ports and historic sites have made notable appearances in swashbucklers (1995’s “Cutthroat Island,” 2002’s “The Count of Monte Cristo”), sword and sandal epics (2000’s “Gladiator,” 2004’s “Troy”) and more recent titles like Apple TV+’s “Foundation” and last year’s “Jurassic World: Dominion,” shot in 2021, in which dinosaurs chase Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard through the streets of St.
George’s Square in its capital city of Valletta. In 2022, the country hosted 24 projects — including Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix — employing more than 900 Maltese and 1,000 foreigners, generating $94 million in economic activity, giving the production community its best year in a decade.
It’s on track to do even better in 2023, with Scott returning yet again this summer to shoot “Gladiator 2,” starring Denzel Washington, which is expected to employ hundreds of local below-the-line workers.
As the number of visiting productions has increased, so has Malta’s crew base, growing from 400 registered local production workers in 2018 to more than 1,500 today. “[Production work] went from seasonal to back-to-back,” says Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech. “Unemployment is very low” — 2.92% as of December 2022 — “so what we’re doing is generating interest from people who have been working in more traditional, conservative jobs to come to the film industry and be part of the success story.” To that end, the film commission held workshops for 2,500 locals in
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