News Forum - Krabi rejects MEG 2 shark horror film request to shoot at Railay, Ton Sai beaches

[Thaiger]

The request to film the horror shark film MEG 2 was rejected by authorities in the Southern province of Krabi over environmental concerns. The foreign film producer for the Netflix movie had requested to shoot scenes at three beaches in the province along the Andaman coast, including a jet ski rescue mission scene Railay Beach and a helicopter landing at the quiet Ton Sai Beach just next to Railay. Deep Blue Productions under Warner Bros had requested to film in Krabi’s Phra Nang, Ton Sai, and Railay beaches from April 16 to May 9 and build a set near the ShellSea […]

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[Jason]

It's always the prerogative of the Government to allow or disallow these things. It's a pity that in these Covid times, the attention and income this film would bring are not allowed by authorities. These producers come from countries where having minimal, if no environmental impact, makes the difference between a production that will make a profit and a production that doesn't. 

[Cabra]

It they are not going to allow jet skis, etc. by locals and residents, then those rules should absolutely apply to anyone (including Warner Bros.). Can't fault the logic.

[Guest1]

1 hour ago, Cabra said:

It they are not going to allow jet skis, etc. by locals and residents, then those rules should absolutely apply to anyone (including Warner Bros.). Can't fault the logic.

They should just switch to Phuket beaches, then. 

They would be very supportive by helping out.

Jet skis are ok, plus no one would have anything against a Helicopter landing at a beach, too. Needs maximum a couple of Manila envelopes and photo sessions on site!

[Alavan]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

It's always the prerogative of the Government to allow or disallow these things. It's a pity that in these Covid times, the attention and income this film would bring are not allowed by authorities. These producers come from countries where having minimal, if no environmental impact, makes the difference between a production that will make a profit and a production that doesn't. 

And have stupid people think those waters are full of dangerous sharks like seen in the movie. And you will always find such people.
I  guess this is not the best advertising for those beaches.

[Vigo]

8 hours ago, Jason said:

It's always the prerogative of the Government to allow or disallow these things. It's a pity that in these Covid times, the attention and income this film would bring are not allowed by authorities. These producers come from countries where having minimal, if no environmental impact, makes the difference between a production that will make a profit and a production that doesn't. 

I don't know if you have been to these beaches but they are  fragile areas.  Railay isn't very big and the long tail boats are bad enough. Maybe if they present their movie plans differently with emphasis on how they will comply with safety and wildlife protection regulations, the objections can be managed. This is part of the problem - The  production company just presented plan and expected the filming to be accepted with open arms as if the producers were doing everyone a favor. The locals won't benefit much economically because the production crew is not local and catering  will be brought in. With some of these shoots, the actors and  key production crew are housed on boats that are hired.  They can't afford to have key personnel poisoned from bad somtam. Having the helicopters buzzing overhead for weeks will disrupt the precarious bird populations and annoy locals. Shooting would cause the beaches closed to the public and local hotels and tourist attractions would suffer.

One of the reasons why the western production companies pick locations in SE Asia is because they can pay less to workers and they are not subject to the strict regulations they would have in North America or Europe or Australia. If you look at history  of the legacy of western film making in SE Asia it is often not good.  When they finished Apocalypse Now, in Philippines they torched the sets. The smoke and  toxic runoff wasn't nice.  Two sides to the story here and I don't think the Thais are the bad guys.

[RichardR]

Often there is critique to the actions of the Thai government. I want to say that not allowing jetski's and helicopter in the nature preserve deserves our utmost respect. Compliments to te decision maker.