Behind the scenes at Sydney's big-screen fun park.

By COLIN MOORE

When it comes to maximising profit, no industry does it better than the film industry.

Think films and then think books, toys, videos, restaurants, clothing - and theme parks.

Hollywood's Universal Studios is the top of the list - though, unless you're a movie buff, it doesn't match the ingenuity and fun of Disneyland. Warner Bros Movie World, on Queensland's Gold Coast, tries hard and is fun for youngsters but is not really in the same league.

Nor, alas, is Sydney's Fox Studios Australia, set on a 24ha site at Moore Park, the old Sydney Showgrounds and home of the city's Royal Easter Show from 1882 to 1997.

The show has now moved to Homebush and the historic inner-city site has been preserved as an entertainment centre which includes working film studios, in the manner of Universal's Hollywood model, and a backlot theme set for the daily punters.

The working studios, which take up half the site, are leased, and the tenants won't let you get a squiz at what's going on inside.

Had you been able to, you might have seen the making of some of the footage for Babe: Pig in the City, The Matrix, Mission Impossible II and episode two of the Star Wars saga.

The largest of the studio stages is the former Manufacturers' Pavilion completed for the 1938 Royal Easter Show and now a listed heritage building.

Bent St, the main thoroughfare at Moore Park since the 1880s and the road that traditionally circumnavigated the central showring, has become a colourful and complex pot-pourri of Hollywood, old Sydney and the showgrounds.

You can get New Zealand ice cream, hot dogs or fancy Italian meals.

There are shops selling music or streetwear and students earning a few dollars by parading up and down in Homer Simpson costumes.

The best feature of Bent St, however, is that it leads to the Commemorative Pavilion, the former pride of the showgrounds.

Thanks to the film of the sinking of the pride of the White Star Line, the historic pavilion survives as the home for Fox Studios' main interactive attraction. The hall has been fitted out as a set for James Cameron's Titanic, and includes the ship model used in the filming.

On the half-hour, a cast of part-time actors, relishing their roles, take visitors into steerage on a Titanic lookalike which manages to flood with water and tilt alarmingly, forcing the passengers into lifeboats - women and children first - in the dark, cold and mist of the North Atlantic.

Whether you think it is worth the $A37.95 admission to Fox Studios ($A22.95 for children aged 6 to 12) will likely depend on whether you're a movie fan.

Fox Studios Australia is open daily.