While yesterday was an exciting time in Wellington with the premiere of The Hobbit, there was a huge cost to the New Zealand taxpayer.
Listen to October 8th 2012 to hear more about this.
The total is about NZ$100m.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister reminded us that making the movie helped the NZ economy. He gave these figures yesterday:
• 3,000 people worked on the movie in New Zealand
• 6,700 domestic air line flights were taken
• 93,000 hotel beds were filled
• 1,800 rental cars were used, and
• $383,000 was spent on coffee
Although the main roles in the movie were played by overseas actors, most of the other actors were New Zealanders. Weta Workshops in Wellington worked alongside Peter Jackson to make the masks and special effects. The movie brought a lot of other business too if actors dined at restaurants or went shopping.
The government hopes also that the movie will bring many overseas fans to New Zealand to visit the places where the movie was set. After the last Lord of the Rings movie, fans who came to New Zealand in 2004 spent about $33m according to Tourism New Zealand.
Vocabulary
• huge – very big
• role – a part played by an actor in a movie or play
• mask – made of rubber, they covered the face (except for eyes and mouth)
• set (verb and noun) – place where the movie was filmed, the background e.g. mountains
Listen to the numbers given by the Prime Minister, write them down then check the text to see if you were correct.