August 19, 2018 2:00pm by David Farrar

No movie museum for Wellington

The pin has officially been pulled on a joint convention centre and Sir Peter Jackson movie museum in Wellington.

On Tuesday, his company, The Movie Museum Limited (TMML) and Wellington City Council jointly announced the “mutually-agreed parting of the ways” for the venture that was revealed in 2015.

However, Jackson said he was not ruling out a capital-based museum in the future and was considering other options.

It would be great to have a museum that can showcase the incredible collection Jackson has. But I prefer one which has less reliance on the ratepayer.

The project was first budgeted to cost $134 million, increased to $165m but Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said the envelope of money was closer to $180m.

Too much money, but I’d rather it did go on a movie museum that a second classical concert venue.

The council would now move forward with the convention centre plan, replacing the movie museum with a 1500 square metre exhibition space that looks set to be run in partnership with Te Papa.

Exhibition spaces around the world were undergoing a renaissance and the council expected it to be a revenue earner – on par with the movie museum estimates, he said.

Really? If is it such a good revenue earner, can’t a private company be found to rent the space and they run an exhibition business there?