According to Stuff.co.nz, The Hobbit sets that are under construction will be there to stay as a tourist attraction–permanently, even after the movies are finished filming.
Brett Hodge, whose company, Matamata Post and Rails, provided timber for the set, said: “What they did last time was build a temporary set, but now it’s a permanent set … Once the filming is over the set will stay as a permanent tourist attraction.”
You can read the full story here.
The New Zealand parliament has passed The Hobbit Bill, the official title is the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill and the bill; “clarifies the difference between contractors and employees in the film industry”. You can read the full story here.
At 3news.co.nz you can see footage of a helicopter flight over some of the sets for The Hobbit.
In this video John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand, makes the announcement that The Hobbit movies will be made in New Zealand and talks about the changes to the law that will be made.
The recent negotiations to retain the filming of The Hobbit in New Zealand have led to a boost for its tourism and film industry. Prime Minister John Key has revealed that every DVD and download of The Hobbit will contain a video, directed by Peter Jackson, promoting New Zealand as a tourist and filmmaking destination. You can read the full story at tvnz.co.uk.
In this interview at metro.co.uk. Guillermo Del Tor reveals that it was “very painful” having to walk away from The Hobbit.
The New Zealand parliament is working on passing changes to the labor laws which it says are required to ensure The Hobbit movies remain in New Zealand. The first reading was passed by 68 votes to 51. Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee said that; “there wouldn’t have been a crisis if the Australian film union hadn’t organised an international ban on the movies, and the Council of Trade Unions went along with it” and that; “Warner Bros didn’t make any demands when its executives explained their concerns”.
You can read the full story nzherald.co.nz
Peter Jackson has been discussing the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield and said that his choice is in line with casting Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn and Orlando Bloom as Legolas in the LotR movies.
“Thorin Oakenshield is a tough, heroic character, and he certainly should give Leggie and Aragorn a run for their money in the heartthrob stakes — despite being four feet tall…In Middle-earth, dwarves are a noble race and have a culture and physical appearance which sets them apart from humans. It’s fun to develop these different cultures for the movie, and we are doing much more with dwarves this time around than we did with Gimli in Lord of the Rings. Our company of thirteen dwarves in The Hobbit lets us explore many different personalities — and costume and make-up designs will support the type of character each actor plays. Richard is a powerful actor with a wide range, and we’re very excited to be handing Thorn over to him. In this partnership, we need Richard to give us his depth, range, and emotion as an actor — and we’ll make him look like a dwarf!”
You can read the full story at EW.com.
The news we have all been waiting for!. Stuff.co.nz report that The Hobbit shoot is going to stay in New Zealand. The news was announced by Prime Minister John Key who also said that new labour laws would be introduced to Parliament tomorrow to support this. The Hobbit will also get a $15 million tax rebate. Mr Key also said that the movie will premiere in New Zealand.
You can watch a video of John Key announcing the news at nzherald.co.uk.
John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand, says that he is not overly confident that The Hobbit movies will be made in New Zealand. Mr Key, along with government ministers, met today with with representatives from Warner Brothers and New Line. Mr Key said that; “industrial laws and other economic issues will be considered over the next day or two…There’s a big gap economically between what’s on the table and unfortunately we can’t put back together those pieces that have been broken but we’ll do our best”.
Mr Key believes that the studios will decide by the end of this week as to where the movies will be made. You can read the full story and watch video footage at tvnz.co.nz.
