When Ghost in the Shell rolled in to film in Wellington, the attention was on the film's star Scarlett Johansson, but the film brought more than star power to New Zealand.
It's now been revealed the film injected around $85 million into Wellington's local economy.
The film's big ticket items included spends of $10.1 million on accommodation, $3.2m on vehicle hire and $13.5m on art and costume materials.
Wellington got transformed into a stylised version of Hong Kong for the film. Photo / Supplied
There were also smaller spends like $627,000 on buying second-hand vehicles, $1m on vehicle modifications and $485,000 on motor bike modifications.
And Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) Business Growth and Innovation General Manager David Jones says the economic benefit was even further reaching.
"It means so much more than which cafe a famous actor has been spotted in. It means jobs, spending in local businesses and crucially, a chance to build Wellington's reputation further as a hub for world-class screen production."
Scarlett Johansson plays The Major in Ghost in the Shell. Photo / Supplied
He's not wrong; Ghost in the Shell saw 718 Kiwis working on the 777-strong crew, including 30 local actors and 315 local extras.
The cast also used around 800 individual New Zealand retailers and booked 720 domestic flights during the making of the movie.
And of course, Wellington's world famous Weta Workshop was involved in creating the film's animatronics, props and set dressing, generating more than 2000 designs for the film over an estimated 71,000 hours.
Weta Workshop contributed thousands of hours to the film's design. Photo / Supplied
Executive producer Jeffery Silver said they were drawn to shoot in Wellington because of the talent here.
"First of all, the phenomenal crew here, I can't emphasise that enough, they really have very versatile, talented, gung ho-spirited group of filmmakers. I think they could wear different hats and take different roles, basically at the heart of it they're filmmakers which I really appreciate.
"Also, the presence of Weta, the workshop, the animatronics prosthetics, make-up, prop, set-decorating facility that is... led by [Sir] Richard Taylor and his incredible group of artists, that's an asset that's unique in the world. So, for those factors we really choose wisely I think in choosing to come to Wellington."
Wellington's screen sector generated revenue of $586 million for the year ending March 2015, according to data from Statistics New Zealand.
Ghost in the Shell releases in New Zealand on March 30.
