Archived News 2006
New Zealand ranks in top 20 globally, says Cannes 2006 European Cinema Report
19th May 2006
In its annual report Focus 2006: World Film Market Trends released this week at the Cannes Film Market, the European Audiovisual Observatory ranks two major features from New Zealand among the top 20 in the 2005 global box office. The Chronicles of Narnia:The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong, released only in December 2005, are ranked #7 and #8 respectively with a combined total of USD $816m.
The two movies were filmed on location and in studios in New Zealand by two of the country’s acclaimed directors, Andrew Adamson for ‘Narnia’ and Peter Jackson for King Kong, in 2004/05.
"This achievement for New Zealand’s screen production industry illustrates the range of advantages New Zealand offers as a filmmaking centre – from diverse locations, highly skilled crews and effects capability and the Large Budget Screen Production grant as an additional critical incentive," said Film New Zealand’s CEO Judith McCann. "All top 20 movies involve US studios, and the only partnering countries involved in the other 18 titles are the UK in 4 plus Germany and Canada with 1 each".
"Even more significant are the number of admissions or tickets sold in the European market these two movies achieved during their initial month in release: the report positions the two in the top 10 with a combined audience of just over 32 million moviegoers throughout Europe," Ms McCann noted. Film New Zealand’s CEO is attending the Cannes Market meeting with producers interested in bringing productions to New Zealand.
European admissions tracked by the European Audiovisual Observatory also rank New Zealand’s filmmaking achievements highly with The Lord of the Rings trilogy featuring among the top 5 in European admissions since 1996 with a total of over 160 million seeing New Zealand on screen.
Speaking from Auckland Film New Zealand’s Chairman David Madigan commented: "I think all of New Zealand from the creators to the communities involved should take enormous pride in the global audiences New Zealand has attracted through filmmaking. As the national film office facilitating filming in New Zealand, Film New Zealand’s role in attracting screen production from overseas to build employment within the industry is enhanced by this demonstrable proof of the quality of our screen productions … and the brilliance of our cinema storytellers."
In February this year, the Minister of Economic Development Trevor Mallard announced the Government's decision to continue the Large Budget Screen Production grant incentive. "This incentive has proven critical to the making of the two feature films identified in the European report and to the strong slate of feature and television productions that have been keeping the industry busy in 2006," said Mr. Madigan.
As the national film office, Film New Zealand is an industry-led organisation supported by the Ministry of Economic Development and working in strategic partnerships with Investment NZ and the New Zealand Film Commission through a range of initiatives including international markets like Cannes.
For additional comments: Judith McCann +64 4 385 0766
Download the Focus 2006 Backgrounder (PDF, 84.5KB).
The complete Focus 2006: World Film Market Trends report can be downloaded at http://www.obs.coe.int/online_publication/reports/focus2006.pdf.en
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