KEY POINTS:
Increased sales and large audiences watching New Zealand films on cinema screens, DVD players and television made 2006-07 a good year, the NZ Film Commission says.
In its annual report, released yesterday, the Film Commission said sales of features were up from $3.08 million in 2005-06 to $5.43 million in 2006-07, and commissions went up from $207,698 to $1.12 million.
The commission also estimated that more than two million New Zealanders watched feature films funded to some degree by the commission, over the past 12 months.
The two most successful features at the cinema box office were Out Of The Blue, the dramatisation of the Aramoana killings, and the horror-comedy Black Sheep.
These had estimated admissions of more than 114,000 and 84,000 respectively.
On DVD, sales were spectacular for The World's Fastest Indian (114,000), and good for Sione's Wedding (51,000), the latter highly respectable, considering that pirated versions of the film were available before its cinematic release.
Industry trackers said the sales from these two titles suggest about a million New Zealanders watched these films on DVD.
On local television, premieres of The World's Fastest Indian, In My Father's Den, Perfect Strangers and a repeat screening of Whale Rider were seen by a further one million Kiwis.
The World's Fastest Indian, through its television, cinema and DVD sales, is now the highest earning film for the Film Commission.
It did very well on Japanese cinema screens, where 240,000 people watched it, and it sold more than 590,000 DVDs in the United States.
"These films represent diverse and impressive examples of our storytelling and make a real contribution to our evolving cultural identity, one of the NZ Film Commission's salient objectives," NZFC chairman David Cullwick said.
"The numbers of New Zealanders who are watching these films is a strong endorsement of our investment decisions."
Also doing well was Eagle vs Shark, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, while Out of the Blue and Black Sheep were selected for the Toronto Film Festival.
Eagle vs Shark and Black Sheep both won several international awards, the latter in particular proving popular at horror and fantasy film festivals.
Projects being prepared in the next year include Niki Caro's adaptation of The Vintner's Luck, for which production is expected to start in February next year.
Its budget will be large by Film Commission standards.
Mr Cullwick said the commission met all its production targets for the year with lower than expected expenditure.
Some of the funds saved has been invested in three larger-budget features, Separation City, Under the Mountain and Dean Spanley.
"We will continue to look to invest in New Zealand productions ranging from larger-budget features down to small, low budget short films," Mr Cullwick said.
- NZPA
