How far is Disney prepared to push this sequel lark? “If it’s based on a great set of literature – Harry Potter is a good example – then it can clearly go beyond it. Narnia has seven books. But how many movies are in those seven books? We’re not sure yet. But we’re in production on the second – we’re very much thinking of the third and we’re hoping that it can go beyond three.” Pirates may also keep running, dependent on scripts.
Disney filmed the $120m-plus swords-and-sorcerer saga King Arthur in Ireland back in 2003. It was the last real big-budget production to be filmed here, before soaring costs and dithering over tax breaks made Ireland as attractive to producers as a hippo in suspenders. So will Disney come back or is Ireland now too expensive? “We would absolutely do it. Our production people are obviously trying to get as much on screen as they can for the dollars they have. Right now we’re shooting Prince Caspian in New Zealand, the Czech Republic and Poland, with post production and visual effects in the UK. Each one of those was a strategic decision based on finding the right locations but also with having the right tax measures and production incentives to go there,” he says. “It comes down to the cost. If we can do it here and if it’s cheaper than somewhere else, then the money is going to flow back to Ireland.”