Auck-wood’s turn – city closes gap
Watch out Wellywood, Auckland is closing in as the country’s premiere film production location.
In figures released by Stats NZ this week, Auckland’s share of New Zealand’s annual film production revenue increased to 43 per cent in 2017.
Wellington still led the way with 55 per cent as New Zealand’s overall film production revenue increased by 15 per cent to $1.1b.
Stats NZ business performance manager Laura O’Leary said Auckland’s film production revenue was estimated at $489 million last year, an increase of 37 per cent from 2016, while the Capital’s revenue was slightly down.
Jason Statham’s latest vehicle, The Meg, Shailene Woodley’s thriller, Adrift, and New Zealand family comedy Kiwi Christmas were among the feature films to shoot in Auckland last year, while Wellington-based production and postproduction companies contributed to the making of Ghost In The Shell, Thor: Ragnarok, Blade Runner 2049, Justice League, and War For The Planet Of The Apes. Mortal Engines was also shot there.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) chief executive Nick Hill said 2017 was the fourth straight year of significant production venue growth.
‘‘With the two new sound stages at Kumeu Film Studios about to be completed and a major international production ready to move in for the rest of the year, and a number of other key television productions such as The Power Rangers – in town again at Studio West and on location – this year is another strong one.
‘‘The local industry is in a very good place, with confidence as a result of the pipeline of international and domestic productions and the new infrastructure coming on stream,’’ he said.
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (Wreda) business growth and Innovation general manager David Jones said it was good for New Zealand that screen sectors were doing well.
‘‘Auckland has a strength in the TV and commercial production and Wellington excels in feature films. If both destinations do well, New Zealand will grow its reputation as a place to get world-class screen productions made – whether for the big screen or small.
‘‘But for both regions to continue to be successful, the industry can’t concentrate on TV and film alone – we need to focus on new types of more immersive entertainment.
‘‘Wellington is growing expertise in virtual, augmented and mixed realities, which are tipped to be at the forefront of a revolution in how we experience entertainment.
‘‘The capital’s gaming sector is also thriving, with industry leader PikPok’s game Into The Dead 2 hitting 6 million downloads across Google Play and the App Store in its first week of release last year.’’
Stats NZ spokesman O’Leary said the overall gross revenue for New Zealand’s screen-industry businesses, which includes those working on the production and post-production of commercials, TV shows, online-only programmes and other media, as well as movie theatres, increased by 8 per cent to $3.5b in 2017.