On June 26, 2000 filming started for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones at Fox Studios, Sydney. Fox Studios, Sydney (which occupies the site of the former Sydney Showground) is a major movie studio located in Australia. Since opening in May 1998, the studio has been involved in the production of a number of blockbusters, including the final film in the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, as well as The Matrix trilogy, Moulin Rouge, Mission Impossible II, and Superman Returns.
Producer Rick McCallum stated that filming for the never-produced Star Wars live-action TV series would take place in Sydney.
Located ten minutes from the Sydney city center, the 132,000 square meter (32 acre) site on the site of the old Sydney Showground, includes eight stages, production offices and heavy industrial workshops, and a community of over sixty independent businesses. These businesses provide services such as equipment hire, travel and freight, casting, postproduction, and explosives/pyrotechnic factory, adjoining residential properties.
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; however, it has since been renamed The Entertainment Quarter.
Fox Studios Australia is owned by the media conglomerate News Corporation, under the terms of a ninety-nine-year lease from the New South Wales State Government.
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Scrapbook