Can Malta Ask More from Hollywood in Exchange for Blockbusters Being Shot Here?

Few can argue with the natural beauty surrounding the Popeye Village. The theme park is situated in its own little cove, surrounded by jagged cliffs reflecting the warm afternoon sun into the pristinely clear seawater below. Its remote location, distance from major population centers on the island, the lack of regular public transport connection, and the inconvenient fact of having to pay an entrance fee to enter the theme park, all contribute to the pleasant lack of boorish sun-bathing tourists that have inundated similarly beautiful locations all over Malta.

Yet, even as the natural beauty of this little cove is saved by a relative lack of visitors, it is at the same time, as some would bluntly put, destroyed by the "exotic architecture" of the theme park itself. The park is built originally as the set for shooting the 1980 live-action adaptation of the renowned film strip Popeye, with Robin Williams starring as the titular sailor. True to the background of the comic strip, the set consists of exaggeratedly colorful wooden buildings fit for a fantastical seaside village, a far cry from the earthy stone buildings traditional to Malta.

With few young people familiar with the (very) dated film, the theme park feels like a combination of a Hollywood history lesson and rather strenuous effort at interactive entertainment. While the creepy mannequins and black-and-white behind-the-scenes shows of the movie's filming drive nostalgia among the (older) parents, the few staff members of the park, dressed as various residents of the Popeye Village, put on shows that would elicit more than a chuckle from the very young visitors not bothered by the occasional awkwardness of the over-the-top attempts at comedy.

This decidedly mixed legacy of the Popeye Village is reflective of the larger, equally mixed legacy of Malta's relationship with Hollywood. On one hand, there is no denying that Hollywood has, in some respects, been an economic boon for the islands. A slew of Hollywood blockbusters past and present like World War Z, Gladiator, Napoleon, Jurassic World, and Troy chose Malta as a filming location, bringing revenues that are significant for such a small country. Movie buffs interested in digging deep into their favorite films can visit these locations, bringing additional tourist revenues.

On the other hand, despite Hollywood's frequent presence in Malta, the vast majority of filmgoers outside the country have little awareness of the country. For the sharp-eyed, "filmed in Malta" may be something noticed toward the very end of the ending credits, but for everyone else, Malta's historical setting is never really about Malta: instead, they are just stand-ins for other historical places that are too dangerous, inconvenient, or expensive to film. Malta's ability to transmit anything from ancient Greece and Rome to modern-day Middle East and Italy makes it appealing to film but impossible to distinguish "Malteseness."

The result is, inadvertently, a shortsighted pandering to the needs of foreign film studios with little to show for the Maltese economy besides filming fees. Hollywood brings in staff, materiel, and know-how to the islands, but conducts little in terms of knowledge transfer that allows locals to learn from Hollywood masters in moviemaking, marketing, and branding, all of which would benefit Malta's continued economic upgrading. Instead, the islands are left with legacies of inconvenient closures of public infrastructure and more tourist influx that already stretches the finite resources of this small place.

The Popeye Village illustrates this ambivalence perhaps better than many other places on the islands. Hollywood and most movie enthusiasts have long since moved on from a 1980 flick that had mixed reviews from the general public. But Malta is forever stuck with the movie set that takes up a pristine cove, cannot be easily dismantled, but becomes more and more difficult to attract visitors without expensive upkeep of wooden planks decaying in the salty sea winds. With the passing of Robin Williams and youngsters interested in video games and not comic strips, the long-term viability is murky at best.

Of course, income from Hollywood movies being shot in Malta will continue apace. The money is too easy and good to say no. But rather than just passively limiting Maltese involvement to collecting filming fees and blocking traffic, perhaps Malta can ask for more from Hollywood. Not overly changing the environment, doing more to promote Malta within the global public consciousness, and giving the Maltese a bigger role in movie production are all fair requests. Malta may be small, but in its popularity with Hollywood producers, it still has leverage.