Film industry losing sight of big picture

Acclaimed New Zealand director Andrew Adamson is predicting the end of the golden weather for the booming Kiwi film industry.

Adamson - whose third film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was shot partly in New Zealand - believes New Zealand's great run of box office successes could be about to end.

He is also worried that Kiwis are losing sight of the big picture in terms of New Zealand's position in the international film industry.

"There's a sort of expectation building here that New Zealand is always going to be making these huge epic films," he told the Herald on Sunday in an exclusive interview.

"And they are always going to do well at the box office and on the awards circuit ... and I don't know that it will remain lucky. I hope so, but I just don't know."

Adamson, who is back in New Zealand later this month to publicise Narnia, said he hoped there was enough work to sustain the "great" talent base in New Zealand.

The country had been "very, very lucky" post-Lord of the Rings with the calibre of productions it had attracted and he was unsure how long that momentum could be maintained.

"There's a sort of expectation in New Zealand now that 'well, it's made here, of course it's going to win an Academy Award'," he said. "I think we should relax that pressure a bit."

Adamson also rejected claims in the international media that Narnia - with its themes of good versus evil, resurrection and sacrifice - had a strong Christian message. The novels of the deeply religious C S Lewis have often been held up as Christian allegory and Disney has been promoting the film to church and religious groups in the US.

"I think the religious thing is something the press is a lot more interested in than the public," said Adamson.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY