New Zealand director Taika Waititi has tweeted the first picture from the set of Thor: Ragnarok, which started filming on the Gold Coast on Monday.

The photo didn't give much away: it was a shot of empty crew chairs that Waititi captioned: "Pretty sweet 1st day. Look at all these people who turned up to work. #Blessed #support".

@MrPeytonReed @louisde2 Pretty sweet 1st day. Look at all these people who turned up to work. #Blessed #support pic.twitter.com/xJQdJzyFwR— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 4, 2016

Other photos, however, have been sneaked from Village Roadshow Studios, which show the construction of a huge village set in the bush behind Movie World at Helensvale.

Ragnarok is the third instalment in Marvel's blockbuster Thor franchise, and the eighth in the Marvel cinematic universe, which also includes the Iron Man, Captain America and Ant-Man films.

The film's stars have also descended on the Gold Coast, with Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Mark Ruffalo (the Hulk) spotted in town. They are expected to be joined shortly by Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Idris Elba (Heimdall), plus new recruits Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster and Cate Blanchett as Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death.

Speaking to Fairfax Media in May, Waititi said the new Thor would have a "lot of heart and humour".

"I just want to keep challenging myself, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to do something very different and outside of my comfort zone," he said.

The movie is expected to film until the end of the year, with a scheduled release date of November 3, 2018.

Waititi comes to Thor on a roll with his charming Hunt for the Wilderpeople becoming the highest grossing locally produced film in New Zealand and expanding its screenings across the US.

Wilderpeople - starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, and written and directed by Waititi - is also enjoying continuing success in Australia six weeks after release, with a box office inching towards $7.5 million.

Not bad for a film made on shoestring budget on $NZ3 million ($2.8 million).

Stars align for Bourne

Matt Damon and Alicia Vikander at the premiere of Jason Bourne at Moore Park, Sydney, on July 3.

The promotional trail for the new Jason Bourne film kicked off on the weekend, with stars Matt Damon and Alicia Vikander walking the red carpet for the film's premiere in Sydney on Sunday night.

Speaking to Fairfax Media reporter Sarah Thomas, Damon said the franchise's first film, 2002's The Bourne Identity, saved his career.

He said before the film was released it had been months since he was offered work, with the flops The Legend of Bagger Vance and All the Pretty Horses souring his career.

"The standard rule is three strikes and you're out, and I'd had two misses at the box office and everyone was anticipating that The Bourne Identity would be the third because it was a delayed movie, it just had the earmarks of something that might not work," he said.

"And then it came out and it was a big hit and my career just completely did a 180 and suddenly I was getting all these offers and was back on that shortlist, which allowed me to get access to the directors I wanted to work with, which totally changed the types of movies I was able to make and turned everything around. Personally it was a big role for me."

Jason Bourne is released on July 28.

Fassbender keeps it local 

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in The Light Between Oceans. 

Also spotted making a low-key appearance at the Jason Bourne premiere was actor Michael Fassbender, who is in Sydney shooting Alien: Covenant with director Ridley Scott.

The 16-week shoot has taken Fassbender from New Zealand's South Island to a quarry in Sydney's west and the Fox Studios lot at Moore Park.

Fassbender has become a regular visitor to Australia, having also shot the soon to be released The Light Between Oceans in north-east Tasmania with Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz in 2014.

Based on the thriller by M.L. Stedman and due for a September release, Fassbender plays a lighthouse keeper who lives on an island off Australia with his wife, played by Vikander. After the couple lose their baby, they discover a newborn washed up in a boat and decide to raise her as their own.

Proof is in the pudding

Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving in in Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof. 

Film fans have stumped up more than $25,000 to help restore the 1991 Australian classic Proof.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia launched a crowd-funding campaign to help restore the film in May and 244 movie lovers responded to the call.

NFSA ambassador Margaret Pomeranz thanked the donors, saying they "should be proud of themselves as they have truly proven their love for Proof, as well as their passion for preserving our audiovisual history".

Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, Proof premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, launched the careers of Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving and dominated the Australian Film Institute Awards, winning best film, director, lead actor, supporting actor, screenplay and editing.

Mediation ordered in royalties dispute

Australian Writer's Guild president Jan Sardi. Photo: Steve Baccon

Screenrights and the Australian Writers' Guild and its Authorship Collecting Society have been ordered into mediation in an attempt to end a long-running battle over claims of unpaid royalties to scriptwriters.

The case, started by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) and the Australian Writers' Guild Authorship Collecting Society (AWGACS), came before Justice Jagot for a further directions hearing in the Federal Court of Australia on July 5. Justice Jagot ordered that the proceedings be referred to mediation before September 30.

Fairfax Media reported in March that Screenrights, established in 1990 to collect and distribute royalties paid by educational and other users, may have misdirected "possibly tens of millions of dollars" in royalties that should have gone to to writers in the past two decades.

The royalties include payments for educational copying and the retransmission of the free-to-air broadcast signal on pay TV.

Screenrights rejects those claims and said in a statement it is hopeful a mediation process may help provide some clarity around the case.

AWG president Jan Sardi said in a statement the guild would put its best efforts into mediation. "A fair outcome will not only be good for screenwriters, but it will be good for the health of Australia's entire screen industry," he said.

Dory still top fish

Finding Dory is still top of the Australian box office. 

Disney's follow-up to its 2003 hit Finding Nemo has topped the Australian box office for the third week in a row.

Finding Dory - which follows the forgetful blue tang fish, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, as she searches for her parents - added another $5.5 million to its box office, bringing its total to an impressive $30.5 million.

That figure, however, is small fry compared with its success in the US, where it created a new box office record for the highest-opening of an animated feature film in history with $183 million. It has now taken $513 million in its first 18 days in the US.

Back on home soil, Disney's other big school holiday hope, Steven Spielberg's The BFG, came in third with $2.7 million. It was beaten to second spot by the Kevin Hart-Dwayne Johnson comedy Central Intelligence, which racked up $4.8 million in its first week.