“Ticket to Paradise”, a film starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts stops production due to cases of Covid-19

Directed by Ol Parker from “Mamma Mia,” “Ticket to Paradise” follows two divorced parents who rush to Bali to stop their teenage daughter from rushing into an unwise marriage, like theirs. The production would make use of the Whitsunday Islands, rather than Bali, while other locations would include Brisbane and the nearby Gold Coast.

Daily Mail Australia, which first reported the story, said Clooney had shaved off the beard he had grown especially for the film, departed on a flight to Honolulu and then caught another plane to California.

Universal had initially scheduled the premiere of “Ticket to Paradise” in theaters on September 30, 2022, but the studio has since moved it to October 21, 2022. However, a three-month production break could call the new date into question.

“Ticket to Paradise” is produced by UK-based Working Title Company, Roberts’ Red Om Films and Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures. It is funded with support from the Australian Federal Government, Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy and the City of Gold Coast.

When the state funding and Queensland locations were announced in March last year, international film and television production was booming in Australia. The country hastened to implement financial and labor measures that allowed the screen production industry to recover. Strict border controls had also kept earlier variants of the coronavirus at bay.

Now, however, the easily transmissible omicron variant has caused the number of cases in Australia to rise again, although the impact varies from state to state. Queensland reopened its internal borders in mid-December, a move that was followed by a sharp rise in infections.