Narnia: New Zealand vs Ireland

TVNZ has interviewed Walden Media’s Cary Granat, and notes that the location for Prince Caspian will be chosen in the next few weeks. You can read the whole article here at TVNZ. Thanks to Narniawebber “The Undertaker” for the heads up!

US film company considers NZ set up

New Zealand is poised to reap the benefits of yet another big budget film with the companies behind the Narnia movies – Disney and Walden Media – hoping to make their next film in the country. Prince Caspian is the latest Narnia film. It is to be directed by kiwi Andrew Adamson and a final decision on the shooting location will be made in the next few weeks.

But there’s much more at stake with Walden Media wanting to build a state of the art studio and make Auckland its permanent home. This would potentially be the largest film investment New Zealand has ever seen and would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was filmed in locations around New Zealand and an old draughty hangar at Auckland’s Hobsonville airbase. The old aircraft hangar is about to be taken over for yacht building, leaving nowhere for Prince Caspian – the latest Narnia film – to be based.

“We’re in that exploratory stage of conversation…we’re talking about sizeable films because we have six more of the Narnia films plus many others. I would have loved to have shot Charlotte’s Web here, but… the space was not available here and we had to take it to Australia,” says Granat.

But in the end it’s a commercial decision and with Ireland touted as another option Disney must make the final call in the next few weeks.