The matter was brought up by member of parliament for High Rock, Kenneth Russell.
Minister of Tourism, Obie Wilchcombe later told The Tribune that he was informed of the accident “about a month ago.”
“We had wanted the completion of Pirates of the Caribbean III to continue as was expected, but just as with Pirates of the Caribbean II, there were circumstances that had caused a delay,” Mr Wilchcombe explained.
“This one is on hiatus and we are told it will continue in January once the director is fine again.
“But he was apparently injured very seriously in that accident and he will be out of commission and unavailable for several months. So we are hoping that as soon as he is better, Disney will be back in the Bahamas and continue.”
In the meantime, Mr Wilchcombe said, negotiations are presently taking place with another film company.
“So you are going to see more and more business in the making of a movie in the amount of $100 million and that is what our people are discussing now with one of the film companies,” Mr Wilchcombe said.
“I think that it speaks to the fact that we are a viable destination for films. We have the natural environment. We now have a tank (a massive filming open water enclosure) in Grand Bahama and I think that is what is attracting more business.
“It allows for controlled filming. There are only three in the world.”
Mr Wilchcombe explained that the unexpected delay has minimally impacted Grand Bahamians who enjoyed spin-off employment.
“It wasn’t work that was scheduled, but there is always an impact in the economy. We did not have these in our thought process;” Mr Wilchcombe reiterated.
“The intention was to shoot Pirates of the Caribbean and start another, but the difficulty has been that the director of the movie was involved in this serious car accident and – these are situations that we did not have in out thought process.”
But while work has stalled on the third sequence, Deadman’s Chest continues to score at the box office. Filmed in Grand Bahama and Exuma, the movie has made history by breaking a Hollywood record – as the first film to ever gross more than $100 million in two days and $132 million on its weekend release.
[The staff at BahamasB2B is praying for the producer and we wish him a speedy recovery.]
Source: The Tribune
