NHNZ’s Big Pacific comes home to Prime
NHNZ’s latest and greatest blue-chip series, Big Pacific, will air in New Zealand on Prime beginning this Sunday 25 November at 7.30pm. Filmed in cinematic 4K, Big Pacific breaks the boundaries between land and sea to present the Pacific Ocean in way never seen before. The five-part series
was created by award-winning production company NHNZ alongside co-production partners PBS and CCTV9, in association with
ARTE, Channel 9, Discovery Networks Europe and ZDF Enterprises.
Big Pacific has enjoyed resounding international success. In 2017, the series premiered to prime time free-to-air audiences in the
USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan and China. The show had an audience of around 450 million people in its
first four weeks of broadcast globally. It is being distributed internationally with initial sales to Italy, Spain,
Denmark, Sweden, Poland, South Korea and Australia. Now Big Pacific comes home to air in New Zealand, with narration by Nathan King.
NHNZ’s Managing Director and series Executive Producer Kyle Murdoch says, “This is the biggest series NHNZ has ever
produced. It has performed exceptionally well around the world, and now it’s New Zealand’s turn. It’s fantastic to see
this series play at home and along with our amazing team based in NZ, we are all looking forward to watching it with
family and friends.”
Four 60-minute episodes explore different themes of the immense Pacific Ocean; Passionate, Voracious, Violent and
Mysterious. The series presents a broad range of locations, species, natural phenomena and behaviours. The fifth episode
is a fascinating insight into the behind the scenes magic of the series.
Amongst the multitude of species showcased in Big Pacific are iconic animals found in our own backyard. “Other countries may border the Pacific, but few hold it as central to
their identity as New Zealand does. So it was natural that when the world wanted to see and hear the greatest nature and
wildlife stories of the Pacific Ocean, they turned to New Zealanders to tell them on the grandest scale. After all, the
big Pacific is our kōhanga. Big Pacific presents our ocean world, stretching from the US coast to China, from our Catlins forests to the coral reefs of Samoa.
We are proud to deliver this showcase of New Zealand’s Pacific home,” says Craig Meade, Showrunner of Post Production
for Big Pacific.
Approximately 120 people worked for NHNZ on Big Pacific including camera operators, producers, directors, writers, production managers, editors, sound designers, colourists
and more. Around two years of filming took place in 70 different Pacific locations, and ranged from shoots 300 metres
above the ocean to 300 metres below the surface.
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