“Hollywood elites are taking New Zealand taxpayers for a ride, with film subsidies costing them hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” says ACT Deputy Leader Brooke van Velden.
“Avatar sequels have been allocated $148,374,065 to date until March 2022. $140m of this was from August 2018 until March 2022.
“With production on sequels expected to be ongoing until 2028, taxpayers could feasibly end up dishing out an extra quarter of a billion dollars by then.
“Avatar was the highest grossing movie of all time with $2.84 billion in ticket sales, there’s no possible explanation for why they need New Zealand taxpayers footing the bill for more movies.
“People in Hollywood are getting rich while Kiwis get poorer. It’s not right.
“I’ve got nothing against Alvin and the Chipmunks, but did Alvin and the Chipmunks 4: The Road Chip really need $12 million dollars of funding from New Zealand taxpayers?
“Every dollar spent on subsidies for television and movie productions is a dollar that can’t be spent elsewhere. We would be better off scrapping the Screen Production Grant, and other corporate welfare, and allowing taxpayers to keep the money.”