New Zealanders on Mr. Cameron's effect on the economy & the environment

Started by Seze Mune, August 04, 2012, 07:55:55 PM

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Seze Mune



Some of this is similar to what was previously posted, some is additional...

Here is a snippet:

"...Pandora, James Cameron's mythical "Avatar" planet, overflows with odd wildlife, and so does Pounui. Consider the eels. After living in a freshwater lake here, they slither to the sea and spawn near the faraway island of Tonga. In a life cycle rooted in Miocene times, their elvers — leaf-shaped offspring — ride the currents back to Lake Pounui.

"And when the next eels arrive, oddly enough, they may spot Mr. Cameron. "I'm anxious to throw on a scuba tank and get down there," he said by phone the other day.

"This year, shortly before his solo trip to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Mr. Cameron, the filmmaker-adventurer, spent an estimated $16 million to buy 2,500 acres of farmland around Lake Pounui (pronounced po-NEW-ee). Now he expects to absorb its magic while creating some of his own in a pair of sequels that will build on the story of Pandora and on an ecological mythos that helped make "Avatar," released by 20th Century Fox in 2009, the biggest-selling film of all time.

"In a country that is now strongly identified in the world's imagination with Peter Jackson and his "Lord of the Rings" films, Mr. Cameron arrives with the promise of not just an outsider's eye but also a new national brand and a next wave of employment for hundreds of New Zealanders who are expected to work on "Avatar 2" and "Avatar 3." (News media reports of "Avatar 4" are premature, although Mr. Cameron hasn't ruled it out.)

"The prospect excites New Zealand's government, which is counting on big-budget Hollywood-style filmmaking as a growth industry. Mr. Jackson is at work on "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and a sequel, "There and Back Again," but adding Mr. Cameron's professional presence permanently — he shot parts of the first "Avatar" in Wellington and completed its visual effects work there — would almost certainly "move the dial" of the national economy, said Steven Joyce, the country's economic development minister.

And here is the rest of the story from the New York Times:  Hollywood Mythmaker buys a real-life Pandora


Seze Mune

Amazing.  I didn't know they'd already completed the lowly dwelling where Mr. Cameron will be roughing it.   ;)   ;D