Last year, consent was given for the NZ$280m ($191m USD) Silverlight Studios film studio development, located near Wanaka in New Zealand. As well as multiple sound stages, workshops, production and administration offices, a film school, screening theatres and post-production facilities, a number of smaller-scale stages will be constructed to replicate international film locations, like New York or Venice.
The new film studio also has plans to engage tourists with a theme park element, although one of Silverlight’s directors, Mike Wallis, has said that it won’t be a Disneyland-style attraction.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Wallis said that the idea is to inspire people to get into the film industry and to open up more of the country’s film industry to the public.
“It is part of the whole economic eco-system of it, yes. It is not meant to be a Disneyland, the idea is that it is a place where people can go and be inspired, creatively inspired to be a part of (the industry).”
A film-inspired tourist experience
Tilt, an architecture firm engaged by Silverlight to work on the master-planning and conceptual design for the project, says:
“A Medieval Village, Banquet Hall, Lake Village and a replica New York Central Park will all form part of the film tourism component of the development… Imagine grabbing a bagel from a New York Deli, walking through the alleys of Paris and taking a cruise on a Venetian canal boat, before heading to a Medieval banquet dinner overlooking the lake – amazing!”
The project is the brainchild of Wallis, formerly of Weta Digital, Oscar nominee Ra Vincent and film accountant Jonathan Harding.
Last year, blooloop explored one of New Zealand’s latest cultural & heritage tourism attractions, Manea-Footprints of Kupe, an interactive cultural, heritage, tourism and education centre in Opononi, Hokianga.
Images courtesy of Tilt Architecture
