From: Stuff.co.nz
By DAVID WILLIAMS
Government grants are essential for hooking big budget movies into coming back, the producer of the latest Hollywood blockbuster to film in New Zealand says.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine producer Ralph Winter, who cut his teeth on the Star Trek films and has produced the other three X-Men movies, told The Press from Sydney that the New Zealand Government's grant of 15 per cent made a huge difference.
"Particularly when the US dollar is taking a beating around the world and you're spending $15 million to $20m in New Zealand.
"We keep track of those things very, very carefully in our accounting department because those are big dollars."
Economic Development Minister Pete Hodgson said the Large Budget Screen Production Grant ensured New Zealand remained internationally competitive in the film sector.
"Since 2003 the Government has paid out just over $100m, which means that an additional $800m has been brought into the New Zealand economy."
Film New Zealand chief executive Judith McCann said the grants, introduced at 12.5 per cent in 2003 and lifted to 15 per cent last July, were crucial and had been hugely effective.
"Essentially it's to attract production here which generates more than 15 per cent of expenditures - it means you're attracting 85 per cent you wouldn't have had anyway."
McCann said the X-Men blockbuster was the first to be based out of Fox Studios in Sydney and filmed on both sides of the Tasman.
Location shooting in New Zealand for Wolverine finished at Easter. Filming will continue in Sydney until June, when post-production will move to Los Angeles.
Winter said he would love to work in New Zealand again.
Before filming, he talked to Wellington-based visual effects companies Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, co-owned by Peter Jackson, about working on Wolverine after using them on Fantastic Four and Rise of the Silver Surfer.
However, the companies were busy making Avatar and The Lovely Bones.
The producer said he could tell why the Narnia movies and Lord of the Rings were shot in Kiwi landscapes.
"The stuff in New Zealand is just extraordinary - it is unlike any other place on the Earth," he said.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be released in May 2009.
Showing posts with label ralph winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ralph winter. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Wolverine Goes to the Carnival
From: 
Ahoy,squirts! Quint here. WOLVERINE is shooting in Australia at the moment and now they're doing some location stuff... you know what that means! Spy pics and reports will start flowing in!
Let's start with the report and that'll be followed by some pics! Enjoy!
Hey Harry
Long time reader, first time contributor. I have a small tidbit about the Wolverine prequel coming up that you may be interested in.
An article ran in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this week that said they would be doing an overnight shoot for Wolverine in Federal Park this Friday night and that fans should beware because security would be tight. Taking this as somewhat of a challenge my mate and I decided to tool up and see if we could sneak onto the set. We arrived at the location just after nightfall dressed in suitably dark attire and proceeded to try and sneak in past security.
The set was pretty cool. They had sealed off a fairly large section of the park and done it up as a carnival with lots of bright lights, some rides and a Ferris Wheel and various attractions. There were a lot of extras milling around in typical carnival attire such as mimes, clowns etc.
We made it past security and into the restricted area and were wandering around through the trailers and such but couldn't really get close enough to the set to see much, although we did go past Ralph Winter and John Palermo's trailers. We doubled back around and discovered there was an area where we could get quite a good view of the set and that was actually open to the public with security letting us stand quite close. Unfortunately all of the lights really messed up my camera and none of the photos turned out very well.
We saw someone who looked like Will.i.am from the Black Eyes Peas wearing a purple jacket and sporting an afro walking around the carnival set and conferring with the director, but what I found most interesting was the set dressing of the sideshow attraction. There was one that had a picture of a man with a beard in a top hat called Dr Freak advertising his freak show with a woman called 'Elastina' who I assume is going to be a mutant. There was also a three headed baby. It'll be interesting to see how this ties in to the film.
If you run this you can call me 'The Man Who Japed'.
And then we have a series of pics taken by another spy, known in the talkbacks as "hallmitchell." No actors are in them, but you can get a feeling of this carnival atmosphere. Enjoy!
Ahoy,squirts! Quint here. WOLVERINE is shooting in Australia at the moment and now they're doing some location stuff... you know what that means! Spy pics and reports will start flowing in!
Let's start with the report and that'll be followed by some pics! Enjoy!
Hey Harry
Long time reader, first time contributor. I have a small tidbit about the Wolverine prequel coming up that you may be interested in.
An article ran in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this week that said they would be doing an overnight shoot for Wolverine in Federal Park this Friday night and that fans should beware because security would be tight. Taking this as somewhat of a challenge my mate and I decided to tool up and see if we could sneak onto the set. We arrived at the location just after nightfall dressed in suitably dark attire and proceeded to try and sneak in past security.
The set was pretty cool. They had sealed off a fairly large section of the park and done it up as a carnival with lots of bright lights, some rides and a Ferris Wheel and various attractions. There were a lot of extras milling around in typical carnival attire such as mimes, clowns etc.
We made it past security and into the restricted area and were wandering around through the trailers and such but couldn't really get close enough to the set to see much, although we did go past Ralph Winter and John Palermo's trailers. We doubled back around and discovered there was an area where we could get quite a good view of the set and that was actually open to the public with security letting us stand quite close. Unfortunately all of the lights really messed up my camera and none of the photos turned out very well.
We saw someone who looked like Will.i.am from the Black Eyes Peas wearing a purple jacket and sporting an afro walking around the carnival set and conferring with the director, but what I found most interesting was the set dressing of the sideshow attraction. There was one that had a picture of a man with a beard in a top hat called Dr Freak advertising his freak show with a woman called 'Elastina' who I assume is going to be a mutant. There was also a three headed baby. It'll be interesting to see how this ties in to the film.
If you run this you can call me 'The Man Who Japed'.
And then we have a series of pics taken by another spy, known in the talkbacks as "hallmitchell." No actors are in them, but you can get a feeling of this carnival atmosphere. Enjoy!
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Will.i.am is John Wraith in Wolverine
From: 
20th Century Fox has cast Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am in his first film role as John Wraith in X-Men: Wolverine.
He'll be joining Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) in the film opening May 1, 2009.
Wraith is a mutant who has the power to teleport, and is another test subject of the Weapon X program that created Wolverine and other mercenaries.
Gavin Hood is directing the "X-Men" spin-off in New Zealand, Australia and New Orleans. David Benioff wrote the script.
Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter are producing with Jackman and his Seed Productions producing partner John Palermo. Marvel's Kevin Feige executive produces.
20th Century Fox has cast Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am in his first film role as John Wraith in X-Men: Wolverine.
He'll be joining Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) in the film opening May 1, 2009.
Wraith is a mutant who has the power to teleport, and is another test subject of the Weapon X program that created Wolverine and other mercenaries.
Gavin Hood is directing the "X-Men" spin-off in New Zealand, Australia and New Orleans. David Benioff wrote the script.
Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter are producing with Jackman and his Seed Productions producing partner John Palermo. Marvel's Kevin Feige executive produces.
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Qtown to 'add impact' to X-Men film shoot
From: 
Scenes in action blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be shot in Queenstown will be some of the most important in the film, according to the team behind the movie.
"There's not a huge portion of the movie being shot in New Zealand," Wolverine publicist Victoria Buchan said. "But the scenes that are being shot here will have a huge impact on the film. Queenstown will definitely be the backdrop to the movie."
Ms Buchan said the region's outstanding scenery was the reason it was chosen as a location for the film.
"The movie's producer John Palermo was quoted the other day saying how the natural beauty of the area had attracted him to Queenstown. I believe that there are around 250 local people working on the film between here and Dunedin," Ms Buchan said.
Mr Palermo co-owns production company Seed Productions with Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who is set to star in Wolverine.
The movie is the fourth instalment in the X-Men series, which has grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide.
Details of the film's scheduling are being kept top secret by 20th Century Fox in Hollywood.
Sets have been created at several Wakatipu locations, including Deer Park Heights and Arcadia Station, as well as in Dunedin, but the official cast list has not been released.
"Hugh is the only cast member that has been confirmed so far," Ms Buchan said.
"The main unit filming has not started yet. All that I can say about the schedule is that we will be here for another few weeks. "
Other people confirmed to be involved with the filming are director Gavin Hood, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, who also produced the first three X-Men films, and Marvel Comics' Kevin Feige as executive producer.
Scenes in action blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be shot in Queenstown will be some of the most important in the film, according to the team behind the movie.
"There's not a huge portion of the movie being shot in New Zealand," Wolverine publicist Victoria Buchan said. "But the scenes that are being shot here will have a huge impact on the film. Queenstown will definitely be the backdrop to the movie."
Ms Buchan said the region's outstanding scenery was the reason it was chosen as a location for the film.
"The movie's producer John Palermo was quoted the other day saying how the natural beauty of the area had attracted him to Queenstown. I believe that there are around 250 local people working on the film between here and Dunedin," Ms Buchan said.
Mr Palermo co-owns production company Seed Productions with Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who is set to star in Wolverine.
The movie is the fourth instalment in the X-Men series, which has grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide.
Details of the film's scheduling are being kept top secret by 20th Century Fox in Hollywood.
Sets have been created at several Wakatipu locations, including Deer Park Heights and Arcadia Station, as well as in Dunedin, but the official cast list has not been released.
"Hugh is the only cast member that has been confirmed so far," Ms Buchan said.
"The main unit filming has not started yet. All that I can say about the schedule is that we will be here for another few weeks. "
Other people confirmed to be involved with the filming are director Gavin Hood, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, who also produced the first three X-Men films, and Marvel Comics' Kevin Feige as executive producer.
Sunday, 6 January 2008
We're back!
After a very long hiatus and one or two changes we're back in business.
This will again be the place to come for the new information regarding the X-Men movie magic and all it's spinoffs, including Wolverine and Magneto, both of which are movies we are looking forward to a great deal.
This will again be the place to come for the new information regarding the X-Men movie magic and all it's spinoffs, including Wolverine and Magneto, both of which are movies we are looking forward to a great deal.
I'll start of easy with a few of the bigger headlines, before the flow of information will once again open.
From 
Spoilerific Details Emerge Regarding 'Magneto' Spin-Off
The word is right there at the beginning of the headline, but I'll go ahead and say it again. This post includes spoilers. Do not read this post if you don't want to know the plot of Magneto. Fans of The X-Men beware or enjoy. Yes, over at Obsessed With Film, they've learned the entire plot of the X-Men spin-off, written by David S. Goyer, who will also direct. Deciding not to reveal every plot point, OWF's Will Reynolds provides the basics, including the fact that the film will have... (continue reading)
'Wolverine' Gets New Title, Release Date and Mutant Co-Stars
Talk of a Wolverine movie have been ongoing since (I think) right after X2 came out, and the project has been moving forward (slowly but surely) since that time. Now comes word from Variety that the Hugh Jackman spinoff project has claimed a release date, changed its title (slightly), and promises some new mutants that we haven't seen yet ... as well as some old young friends. (continue reading)
Wolverine Starts Filming Soon.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Hugh Jackman has completed filming on director Baz Luhrmann's Australia, co-starring Nicole Kidman, and will begin shooting X-Men Origins: Wolverine in just three weeks! Leading up to the events of X-Men, "Wolverine" tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe. The Gavin Hood-directed spin-off hits theaters on May 1, 2009.
The X-Men Origins: Wolverine Synopsis
In this announcement at ComingSoon.net about 20th Century Fox's 2009 tentpoles, the studio has revealed the official synopsis for X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set to star Jackman and will be directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition). The producers are Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter (who produced all three previous "X-Men" films), along with Jackman and his Seed Prods. producing partner, John Palermo. The film will be executive produced by Marvel Films' Kevin Feige.
Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine – written by David Benioff (The Kite Runner, Troy) – tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.
Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine – written by David Benioff (The Kite Runner, Troy) – tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.
More news will follow.
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