Jelder.
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. You meet anyone overseas and say New Zealand. The first thing they bring up is Hobbits. Lord of the Rings was a crowning achievement for film production in Altieroa and opened the door for more movies to be filmed here.
A Minecraft movie is just the latest.
Overseas blockbuster to be produced on our shores, and that's hitting cinemas around the world this weekend, while local film Tina has been.
A box office sensation.
But as the cost of film production saws around the world, what does the future hold for New Zealand and can we break out of the shadow of Middle Earth? Today on the front Page, we're off to the movies with the Chief Executive of the Enzed Film Commission, Annie Murray. Annie, can we start with what exactly the Film Commission is? Where does it set in the production, commissioning, promotion side of our local film industry.
The New Zealand Film Commission does all of those things in relation to film. So we fund New Zealand film on the cultural side of our mandate and we are funded by the Lottery's Commission and the Ministry for Culture inherited to fund film, promote it and participate in its production. So that's wonderful. New Zealand films like Tina are which is out at the moment. And then on the economic side, we administer the New Zealand screen Production Rebate and we
attract production into New Zealand. And that's the likes of Minecraft, which just came out this week, or Sweet Tooth or the Brad Pitt movie that's shooting in the South Island soon. So we do both the economic and the cultural.
So there are two big things to celebrate with local movies at the moment. Hey, you mentioned Tina as being a box office sensation.
Basically, when you walked in, I thought, here's someone that can offer my kids something different.
The other schools say, we're to Ridget.
You're probably the first Polynesian woman we've ever had, though.
Congrats.
According to Flex, it has made four point two million dollars since it came out in February. What do you think has led to that success.
Tina is a beautiful story. It's an authentically told story. It's really wonderfully acted. It's well written. It's just a premium film and it has really resonated with a broad audience. It is about a Sarmon mum who loses her daughter in the christ Church earthquakes and burries herself in her work, which is to be the mum of a school choir. And it's a really beautiful emotional story. But it's also a coral film, so the music in it is fantastic.
It's really hard to watch Tina without crying. I think everybody who's seen it has had a cry but also a laugh. And it's just a really fantastically warm New Zealand film. So it's currently sitting at number six of all time New Zealand films. So it's taken a four point two million at the box office, which means two hundred and seventy five thousand people have been to see it so far in its first month, so I think
we're just into week five now. What that means is that that has filled Eden Park more than five times over with people who've gone to see Tina. Not even Coldplay did that. So this is an incredible success and it's the biggest New Zealand film since Hunt for the Wilder People. Back in twenty sixteen. We're absolutely delighted with the team who've put this together and we're asking them, what are you doing next?
You mentioned Times for the World of People and Tina is the highest grossing local movie since then. We seem to have a box office hit every few years. But it's a little irregular, isn't it. So why do you think we are kind of reluctant to celebrate our own movies.
I don't think we are reluctant to celebrate them. I think New Zealanders really do love New Zealand stories, and you know, you can see it in ten r. The difference, I think is that, you know, if we look back over the history of New Zealand film, going to the cinema to see it was everything back in the day, So Hunt for the Wilder People was probably coming in at the tail end of that kind of golden age of cinema going ben COVID hit, and we've had a
complete change in behavior, not only as a result of COVID but also the rise of the streamers. So there's so many more ways in which to see films. So the box office is just the beginning of the story. And I really want to emphasize that it's while TENR has been a fantastic hit, we haven't yet seen how it's going to play around the world, how it will sell into various platforms around the world, as all of
our films do. So we need to stop being so focused on that first two, three, four weeks at the box office and focus more on the long life cycle of films, which means, you know, there might be a film that is a quiet release locally, doesn't you know, make a big noise at the box office, but sells fantastically well around the world and is seen by an awfully large number of people, and that's also a success. So we need to look at how we judge the success in a different way.
And of course the other thing we can celebrate is that Minecraft is hitting cinemas after being filmed here last year.
Who are you I am, Steve.
Ok?
What does it mean for our local film economy that these big blockbusters are still coming to shoot in New Zealand.
It's everything to our local industry. They are coming in spend big money, so Minecraft will spend by the time it's finished well over one hundred and fifty million dollars in New Zealand's economy. So that is benefiting businesses accommodation what calls all the crew who work on it. It's fantastic for developing careers. So the experience that our crew gain on a project like Minecraft is phenomenal and they get a credit like that on their CV and they
go on to bigger and better things. Also, the work for our post production industry, so Wetter Affects did a lot of the visual effects for Minecraft. It's fantastic work for them. And we're talking highly skilled, very well paid jobs. These are jobs that set up our people for a career in a creative, rewarding, fantastic industry that actually will pay them quite well.
I understand that this is a risk averse industry. I get it, But at two hundred million dollar movie are also a risk, you know, and it doesn't always work out, but you take the risk anyway, and instead of making one two hundred million dollar movie, try making twenty ten million dollar movies or fifty fifty right, fifty four million dollar movies.
There have been global concerns around the rising cost of film production. It's been a topic of conversation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas just this week with President of Warner Brothers Global Distribution Jeff Goldstein, raising concerns around production, marketing and turning a profit. Are we seeing those same concerns impact New Zealand.
I think rising costs are a concern across the board, not just for the film industry. Inflation has affected every facet of our economy, so film is no exception to that. What we are doing here at the Film Commission about that is we are taking a fewer and bigger mantra to the way that wes. We're seeing a similar mindset out of Hollywood two. So there has been a global reduction in the number of new titles being commissioned, so
a bit more money being spent on fewer titles. What that means is that we're able to focus on fewer things doing them really, really well. What I see there is a real uplift and quality. So rather than sprinkling money, you know, a little bit across a lot of things, consolidating into spending more money on fewer things.
Our our tax credits enough to entice studios to come make their movies at the bottom of the world. I know a lot of horror movies like ex Perl and Meghan filmed here during COVID and Universal did return here to film Megan two point oh as well, Hey, exactly.
Now, I just want to correct one thing. It's not a tax credit. It's a common misconception. The rebate has nothing to do with tax It's a cash rebate. So if a production comes in and spends one hundred dollars, they get a twenty dollars rebate on the spend that qualifies in New Zealand. So it's a very efficient and fast system. So we are world renowned for having an accurate, fast and efficient rebate system and one that has integrity.
So that is a real selling point for New Zealand and I'm very proud of my team that administers the rebate. So the rebate, in terms of the amount that's offered, the percentage sits around the middle of the pack. There's about one hundred places around the world as places, because they're not countries. Some countries have several, but there's one hundred odd places around the world that offer rebates ours. It's around about the middle and it's part of the
offering that we have for international production. We've also got a very flexible labor market. We've got incredible creative crew. We've got you know, Oscar winners up the Wazoo in New Zealand that we should be incredibly proud of. So they come here for premium production, really strong creative, a
favorable exchange rate. If you're coming this way from America, of course, you get very good value on screen, and the American companies that we deal with are very quick to say that they get the best value for money in New Zealand. We're not looking to attract everything to New Zealand. We are a premium filmmaking destination. We are very very good at it here in New Zealand. I think I'd really love New Zealanders to understand that this is something that we are incredibly good at and we
don't want everyone in the world coming here. We want the best, so that's what we get with things like a Minecraft movie, Sweet Tooth, East of Eden, fantastic series that Netflix have been shooting here, Heart of the Beast, which is Brad pittsfilm being shot around Queenstown quite soon. So we're premium. We do it well.
What is the process of trying to get studios to film in New Zealand. I can imagine that it just takes years. I mean, do you know something that's going to be filmed here saying five years time, Well.
We've had Avatar shooting here for a number of years and a few more years to come. So Avatar three, which I think is called Fire and Ash, will release later this year. The Avatar has put about a billion dollars into our economy. The wonderful thing about those longer running titles is that somebody can come in in terms
of career development. They can come into the first one or series one, whatever you want to call it, as a runner or an intern and they can come out at the other end of the fifth title in five, six, seven years as a head of department. So they're fantastic for career development. Wonderful four putting a spotlight on New Zealand internationally. So to have a filmmaker of the caliber of Jim Cameron now I think almost now a New
Zealand citizen. He's been very vocal about saying he loves New Zealand, he wants to make all his movies here. I mean, this is one of the biggest best filmmakers of all time, who's chosen to live in Wellington and make all his stuff there, So you know, we do
an incredibly good job. The attraction work starts years earlier, and it starts with very strong relationships that my international attraction team have built with the decision makers, mostly in Los Angeles because that is where the bulk of this work comes from. So we have a team who are frequently in the LA market. Our head of international Attraction, Philippo Mossman, is up there right now. She'll be there
for a good month or so. She's gathering intel constantly, whether she's there or here, and figuring out who to talk to, what are they doing next, where are they considering, How can we help? And we have a very quick responsive attraction team who will provide information to the decision makers, whether they want locations, whether they want to look at their budgeting, they need to talk to a local line producer, what's the crew availability. We help with all of that.
The one thing I left New Zealand remembering is how warm the people were, and how generous and kind and welcoming they are. Just they just are very happy people, and of course they're happy they live in New Zealand.
It's an interesting industry because it has a lot of offshoots outside of the actual movie that you're making, and it has a lot of benefits for the economy, for local economies, and especially with something like these movies, they generate tourism. You know, there's you know, I can't really think of any other industry, in any industry that has the reach and the depth.
I mean, you go overseas, you speak to anyone, they find out you live in New Zealand and they ask you about Hobbits in terms of the behemoth that the Lord of the Rings franchise is to New Zealand and how important it is to our tourism. Do you think that we're ever going to see something like that replicated?
Again?
Absolutely so. Lord of the Rings has been an incredible boom to New Zealand tourism and to New Zealand generally in terms of putting us on the map. So we're more than the all Blacks now and we have been for a very long time, and we have to acknowledge the incredible work of Sir Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyans and others in creating that phenomenon. They're now busy
making the Hobbit. So the Hobbit film is the next in that dynasty, and it will be out in the next few years, and just see what an impact that has on New Zealand tourism all over again. While you know, it's been a while between drinks, though some of you may have seen The War of Rahrem, which was the really beautiful anime Hobbit story that came out late last year. There will be another big boom around the Hobbit film,
but there also is around Minecraft. You know, the work that was done to create a Minecraft game that has specific New Zealand downloadable content. So these locations like White or More Caves, the able Tasma, National Techapal, Doubtful Sound, Kapit, the Island, those are all locations in a Minecraft game now, so any Minecraft player can download those locations and play in them. So the benefit to New Zealand tourrism of that sort of creative content is really hard to put
a value on. It's just enormous.
I don't know if you've ever sat through a Marvel movie to watch the post credits scene Annie, but it can be a surprise sometimes to see the New Zealand government logo show up there near the end, and it's usually for things like post production or visual effects work that's been done here. Is it right though, that we're offering those rebates to these multinational studios to make their movies here when they've got insane. New Zealand can't even comprehend the money behind these studios, right.
So the thing with that, the rebate, which we call it the PDV the post production and Digital visual effects rebate, that's all about creating New Zealand jobs. So there are jobs behind every one of those names that you see up there in the New Zealand section of the credits. And for every one hundred dollars that Disney or you know, Universal or whoever spends in New Zealand, they get twenty dollars back. We get eighty dollars spent in our economy
that we would not get otherwise. It's a really simple equation. If that company doesn't get the rebate, they go elsewhere. They go to Australia, they go to Canada, they go to the UK and Europe. We must offer the rebate in order for our economy to benefit from that eighty percent of their spend.
Any are you optimistic for the future of New Zealand film.
Oh. Absolutely, We've got fantastic projects coming through. I mean, just if we talk for a minute about the international side. On the inbound production side, we've got Avatar, Fire and Ash. We've got Meghan two, which you mentioned. The cool thing about that is that it's directed by a New Zealander did a fantastic job with the first one. He's going again on Megan two. We've got Spartacus, House of Asher. So those are some of the inbound productions that will
release this year. But on the cultural side, on the New Zealand film side, we've got a couple that I'm super proud of. So the Marlon Williams documentary, which will release in time for Music Month at the beginning of May. Really beautiful story, Marlon's story of recording his new album interil Maldi, where he's really vulnerable about how he found that his anxiety around being a second language learner. It's
a really lovely story. Then later in the year, we've got Pike River, profoundly powerful story with Robin Malcolm and Melanie Lynsky starring as two of the women who lost their men in the Pike River. Mine tragedy. So, you know, very diverse and interesting and powerful stories coming out of New Zealand and I'm really super proud of them.
Thanks for joining us, Annie.
You're welcome. Thank you, Chelsea.
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzdhrald dot co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer.
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.