'Justice League' kicked out of Australia

Rex Features

The Warner Bros superhero film Justice League will not be able to film in Australia, having been refused a government tax break.

Producers of the film, which features superheroes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, had hoped to secure a 40% refundable tax offset to reduce costs of the $200 million blockbuster.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, director George Miller (Happy Feet) said: "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking.

"If that's going to be the final decision, they're throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs."

Simon Whipp, director of equity for Australia's Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said the film was turned down because it will be performed in American accents and not viewed as an Australian film.

Miller, who now believes the film has a 90% chance of being filmed outside of Australia, added: "It feels to me like I'm not fighting for this film. I'm fighting for the Australian film industry."