Aquaman, a blockbuster movie about the DC Comics character, will be filmed on the Australia’s Gold Coast next year with subsidies from government.

The movie, starring Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa as the superhero Aquaman, will also feature Amber Heard as his wife. Heard will return to Queensland after the furore caused when she and husband Johnny Depp smuggled her pet terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia.

Heard and husband Johnny Depp, who have since separated, were earlier this year forced to record a video apology to Australia for smuggling in the dogs, which Barnaby Joyce, now the deputy prime minister, threatened to have put down.

Film studio Warner Brothers reached a deal with the state and federal governments. The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who says she personally negotiated the deal, said the film production would bring more than $100m into the state and create at least 600 jobs. “This is another huge win for our local industry and testament to the international reputation of our people,” she said.

The shoot will begin at the Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast in the first half of 2017 and comes on the back of a string of Queensland-made blockbusters including Thor: Ragnarok, Pacific Rim 2 and the next Pirates of The Caribbean film. Palaszczuk said Queensland had attracted $233m investment in film production in the last financial year, the highest figure since 2002-3.

The Courier Mail in Queensland reported that the federal treasurer, Scott Morrison, agreed to pay $22m to secure the film.

Aquaman, due to be released in 2018, will be directed by Australian James Wan, whose past credits include horror franchises Saw and The Conjuring and action flick Fast and the Furious 7.