Wednesday, July 12, 2006

ROSEAU, Dominica: The release of Disney’s latest blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which features images of Dominica’s most beautiful spots, has thrust the eastern Caribbean Island of Dominica into full international glare, with the country receiving massive exposure on the big screen and several newspaper inches as a result of the early spectacular success of the sequel to the original Pirates film.

The movie which was largely shot in Hampstead, Portsmouth, Vieille Case and Soufriere in Dominica, took an estimated US$132 million in its first three days, beating the previous best debut of US$115 million set by Spider Man in 2002.

The breathtaking images of Dominica in the movie, which stars Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley, has spawned favourable comment and praise for Dominica from some of the world’s major media organisations.

The July 4, 2006 edition of the New York Post Online carried an interview with Rick Heinrichs. In the piece, the Pirates production designer explained why Dominica was the chosen to film large sections of the movie.

“We liked the island for its rainforest look-everything is alive and green, full and lush... take a rainforest hike, one of the most popular activities for visitors on the island. You’ll be heading right through the film set which consisted of the hills on the rugged northern coast, and the cliffs of the south-western coast between Pointe Michel and the town of Soufriere.

“Or go snorkelling and diving. The cast did. There’s amazing marine life.”

In a feature which appeared in Britain’s Guardian Newspaper on Saturday, July 8th 2006, and written by Polly Pattullo, producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained why most of the scenes of the movie were shot in Dominica.
“We selected Dominica because it’s beautiful and virtually untouched-and totally undiscovered by film-makers.”

The filming of the movie in the early part of 2005 was a major boost for the Dominican economy. Well over 400 Dominicans were employed for several months in 2005, yielding significant economic benefits for the hotel, transportation, security and catering sectors.

In the last two years Dominica has attracted international acclaim from travel writers writing for international publications. In 2005, Dominica was given a two-page spread in the world renowned newspaper The New York Times.

In early 2006 Dominica was named in the Top 10 eco-tourism destinations in the world. Dominica is now ranked in the top 5 dive destinations in the world.

Earlier this year, Dominica was described by the Smithsonian Institute as a ‘giant plant laboratory”.

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