Disney has really opened the floodgates for putting the Bahamas on the map as a top film production location by committing to shoot “more than 50 percent” of the movies Pirates of The Caribbean 2 and 3 in this nation.ﾠ
The Tribune newspaper reports that Paul Quigley, one of three principals behind the $76 million dollar Gold Rock Creek Enterprises film studios being built in Grand Bahama, says his studio will be extensively used by Disney to shoot both movies, which have a combined budget of $400 million.
Mr. Quigley says Disney’s decision to use the Bahamas was “wonderful” for both his production facitlity and for creating an indiginous Bahamian film industry.
Mr. Quigley said Disney executives, including Pirates of The Caribbean 2 and 3 director, Gore Verbinski, had been regular visitors to the Bahamas in the past two weeks, inspecting Gold Rock Creek’s film studio location in Grand Bahama, looking at possible shooting locations in the Family Islands and holding meetings in Nassau.
One island in the Exuma chain has already been identified as a possible location for filming of the movies, the first of which starred Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly.
Mr. Quigley yesterday told the Tribune newspaper that Disney had already drawn up a production schedule for shooting Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3.ﾠ This meant that Gold Rock Creek would have to “go gangbusters” to ensure its “shooting tanks” – the facilities where water-based and underwater scenes will be shot – are ready for the beginning of May, 2005, when Disney plans to commence filming in the Bahamas.
Craig Woods, the Bahamas Film Commissioner, previously said that this nation had barely scratched the surface of the film industry, despite After the Sunset and Into The Blue pumping a combined $20 million into the economy. Another film, Three, currently being filmed in Eleuthera, will bring an additional $940,000 into the economy.
