BOOKWORM presumably cost over NZ$5M, going off the QNZPE number. Again, I assume the New Zealand market is the primary metric used by the NZFC when funding features, but it clearly has no capacity to support the budgets of these films.

It’s entirely possible, (and quite likely) that the international sales revenue is more impressive than these domestic box office figures, so why is a kiwi theatrical audience prioritised above international? It really is baffling.