Wickie the Mighty Viking ends filming in Malta
Filming in Malta of the feature film Wickie the Mighty Viking has wrapped and it will be released in cinemas in Germany, Switzerland and Austria next year.
Having sold millions of novels and comic books and the star of a 78-episode animated series, Wickie has been firmly established as a cult figure over the past 35 years. Filming started in August in Germany, under the direction of Michael Bully Herbig, and continued last month in Malta and Gozo. Mr Herbig's films have been seen by no fewer than 23 million cinemagoers.
Filming took place for four weeks at the Mediterranean Film Studios in Rinella, where pirate and Viking ships were built. One of the boats was also made seaworthy to sail from Kalkara to Gozo.
Some 40 Maltese extras joined the 100-strong German crew and cast. Filming included a 30-strong Maltese support team.
The producers and director said they were interested in filming on the island because of the water tanks and the studios, which provided excellent craftsmanship in its boat-building skills.
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John Grima
Nov 7th 2008, 14:58
V. Pulis is right. I think that now is a good time to build such a studio in Malta. Filming IS a great industry, worlwide. And Malta is a perfect place.
Such a studio can be built at several out-of-the-way locations on the Island,
You wanted a Maltese film industry? Well, this is a great addition.
It will definately help to devellop the local film and TV growing industry. Not to mention commercials. A huge money maker.
John Grima
v.pulis
Nov 7th 2008, 10:31
This is one more maltese industry which could be turned into a mega enterprise.
The Rinella water tankhaving a natural horizon as a backdrop is obviously the main attraction for directors and producers . But how long are we to enjoy this advantage? To film Titanic James Cameron built A 17 million gallon tank at Playa Rosarito in Mexico providing 270 degrees of ocean view. What we need here is to build a sound stage where post production could be done concurrently with the shooting of the film. That way the director would save on travelling to and fro while giving a chance for Maltese to train in this line of work. The proximity to smart city would also be an asset. With some thought and good will we could turn this industry into something big.