Scarlett Johansson's latest film, Ghost in the Shell, is having a rocky time at the global box office, but Wellington has already reaped big benefits from it.
Turning Wellington into a stylised version of futuristic Hong Kong was no mean feat. When the production took to the city streets, the five-day shutdown became the largest inner-city filming ever done in New Zealand.
Ninety percent of Ghost in the Shell was filmed in the capital and the five-month-long shoot pumped around $85 million into the local economy.
Most of the crew were Kiwis and central to the production was Weta Workshop. Weta Workshop is no stranger to big budget productions, having worked on films including the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Avatar.
But having Stone Street Studios and the filmmakers just a couple of blocks down the road has been a formative part of this process.
"We were five minutes down the road from Weta Workshop," producer Michael Costigan said.
"The fact we could keep examining things, working to make these things so unique, that was a giant boon to the production."
Weta's vast collection of skilled creatives worked on the project for an estimated 71,000 hours.
"There's no doubt for the Wellington film industry and us here at Weta Workshop, the more diverse and extraordinary the array of opportunities are, the more we will be recognised for an ability to work across a broad spectrum of genres," Sir Richard Taylor said.
While the film has had a mixed reception from critics, the stunningly immersive visual experience has been greeted with universal awe.
It was the most expensive set built there and so it should be, being home to one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
Scarlett Johansson added to her growing resume of action roles with her part as the Major.
"We've got a really nice crew, and not just a crew from New Zealand, which has been awesome working with everybody here on set, and then everybody over at Weta, which has been really cool also," she said.
Johansson said with crew members from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, there was a "melange of nationalities".
That melange extends to the cast too, of course. Central to the story as the Major's right-hand man is Batou (Pilou Asbæk).
"I've really enjoyed being here. I'm 100 percent Danish, but right now I feel 80 percent Māori and 20 percent Kiwi," he said.
"What Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor have created down here is just incredible and as a young Danish actor I feel blessed just being a part of it."
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