Queenstown’s Blanket Bay Lodge has been selected as the best lodge in the world by the US Discovery Travel & Living channel. Blanket Bay will feature on Discovery’s new Five-Star Insider series alongside the world’s best…
A film based on the life of NZ motorsport legend Bruce McLaren is rumoured to be in the works. According to Grand Prix website, the production has been linked to “some of those…
A Guardian Film article on cinema-inspired tourism points to NZ as the ultimate example. “Every country wants its own Lord of the Rings. The extra-ordinary pulling power of the trilogy – the perfect shop window for the…
The South Island’s MacKenzie Basin is internationally famous for two things; providing the stunning backdrop to the final battle in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and producing the most consistently high quality merino wool in…
New Zealand has ranked 10th in an index of the strongest brands in the world compiled by marketing research firms Anholt-GMI. New Zealand had positive brand values and managed, like Ireland which came 13th,…
Malaysian Star feature looks at NZ’s thriving film, multimedia and technology schools; specifically Auckland’s South Seas Film and Television School, Media Design School, and University of Technology (AUT), and Palmerston North’s University College of Learning (UCol). “Thanks to…
A couple of years on and overseas visitors are still taking the Lord of the Rings tour of NZ. Says one US writer, “I knew that the movies were shot here, but I thought that much…
Reports of the list of Hollywood’s power people compiled by Premiere magazine for their June issue have revealed that Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson is the most powerful. According to the reports,…
Peter Jackson and Wellington special effects edge-busters Weta Digital have used their expertise to restore the only film taken of the Anzacs at Gallipoli. The Lord of the Rings director has restored the film to the original…
From playing bass in 80s Wellington band Naked Spots Dance via a film or two, Wellington muse Fran Walsh wins a Grammy for Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media:…
Compared with his work as an Oscar-winning director and the filmmaker behind the most popular trilogy in movie history, Peter Jackson’s first attempt to remake King Kong was by any measure amateurish. Jackson painted…
A year on and Rings-related tourist stories still crop up in US papers. This one, originally published in the Washington Post, attempts to find the “real NZ, the part still untouched by the ubiquitous cinema hype.”…
If Peter Jackson ever decides (and has the time) to make a film version of The Hobbit, he has the backing and blessing of his LotR cast. “People want it so much,” says actor…
Auckland armour maker, Warren Ormsby-Green, made Web India‘s ‘What in the Weird’ equivalent with his air travel exploits. Ormsby-Green, who created pieces for LotR and The Last Samurai, wears a full set of armour…
NZ topped the list of holiday destinations inspired by films in a British survey by Thomson Holidays. 40% of voters picked NZ in response to its LotR exposure. Cephalonia (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), Thailand (The Beach), Malta (Troy),…
The supercomputer used to create Oscar-winning special effects for the LotR trilogy is now for hire. Weta Digital and Gen-I (a Telecom subsidiary) have established the NZ Supercomputing Center in Wellington, where commercial and scientific research can…
Metra, the commercial sector of NZ’s government-owned meteorological service, is helping the BBC propel its TV weather reports into the 21st century. Thanks to cutting edge technology used in video games and the LotR trilogy, viewers will…
A study of Peter Jackson’s LotR trilogy by the University of Wales has been extended due to an unexpectedly large public response. More than 25,000 people from all over the world have completed the…
Hamilton-based design and printing company Admark won a World Silver Medal at 2004 New York Festivals Design & Print Advertising Awards, in the Fleet Graphics: Entertainment Promotion category. The award-winning entry was the immense Lord of the…
The Return of the King won the coveted prize for Best Film at this year’s MTV Awards in LA. Other big winners were Pirates of the Caribbean and Kill Bill Vol.1.
Peter Jackson has joined yet another elite Hollywood club: director’s who earn as much if not more from helping create video games as they do from making movies. Riding on the success…
1 April 2004 – i-D magazine’s Location issue gives pride of place to NZ’s up-and-coming “kings of creation.” Featured are Huffer designer Steven Dunstan, author Chad Taylor, artists Richard Maloy and Yvonne Todd, musicians…
The Return of the King has ruled them all at this year’s awards season, having won Oscar glory with 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The final film in the Lord…
Tourism is predicted to overtake dairy as NZ’s top export earner by mid-2004 – a phenomenon largely attributed to Lord of the Rings hype. The country’s newfound status as a must-see destination is confirmed by a…
Return of the King – the third and final film in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series – made a clean sweep of the 2004 Academy Awards, winning 11 Oscars including Best Picture…
This year’s Oscar nominees sipped on organic coffee supplied by Hawkes Bay company Kea Foods at the pre-awards banquet held at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Kea Foods won the contract ahead of suppliers from all over the…
The Return of the King picked up yet another prize en route to the Oscars; Best International Film at the inaugural Directors Guild of Great Britain awards.
The latest must-have for LotR enthusiasts is Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic. Written by Andy Serkis who played Gollum in the trilogy the book includes extracts by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh,…
Aotearoa earned its second consecutive “Top Destination for the Coming Year” award in the annual poll of Lonely Planet staff around the world. According to global travel editor, Don George, for one country to top the poll…
The NZ wine industry is set to benefit from the country’s Rings-inspired tourist influx this year, with two major travel features in the Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe. The former relates an American journalist’s experience…
NZ is one of 30 “hot spots for switched on travellers” recommended by Lonely Planet for 2004. To avoid the inevitable horde of Rings fans, LP suggests taking the Pacific Coast Highway down the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping…
“Tolkien may have intended The Lord of the Rings as an epic myth for England, but even he would acknowledge … that the world of Middle-earth and the tiny nation of NZ had become…
Pete Hodgson – AKA ‘Minister of the Rings’ – dubbed “the most intelligent politician I have ever met” by National Post journalist, Cleo Paskal, in her article on the government-supported LotR publicity machine. “It…
The Guardian asks LotR cast members to explain their widely publicised admiration for NZ. Billy Boyd (Pippin): “The land feels new; it feels like what Scotland might have been like a few million years…
The usually art-house sympathetic New York Film Critics Circle chose Return of the King as their Best Film of 2003, The American Film Institute named the film in its top-10 of the year….
Scotsman feature urges snow bunnies further afield than the Alps and Rockies, recommending NZ alongside Iran, Alaska and Chile as a desirable alternative. “The Alps that run spine-like through the South Island are dotted with ski resorts. Mt…
Peter Jackson: “‘He’s as cool as an elf, he has the heart of a hobbit, and he’s as mad as a wizard.’ That’s the awestruck opinion of Lord Of The Rings star…
Sydney Morning Herald awestruck by the premiere, wonders how PJ managed to pull off “the trilogy of a lifetime” Operatic high praise from The New Yorker who credits the trilogy with reviving “the…
“New Zealand has had a day like no other”. The world premiere of The Return of the King in Wellington outshone all expectations, with a 100,000+ crowd lining the route of the spectacular…
Two LA Times features look at the phenomenal success of Peter Jackson’s Miramar-based empire; Weta Digital, Weta Workshop, and the Film Unit. The challenge meeting Jackson’s business is keeping the world-class staff he amassed…
The NZ economy is currently on a high, with the lowest unemployment rates since 1987, 26,000 new jobs created in the last 3 months, and a $1.2 billion surplus in the first 3 months of the…
Bafta award winning costume designer Ngila Dickson profiled (+ slide show) in the New York Times. The signature of Dickson’s work on Lord of the Rings and Last Samurai is its fluidity and authentic…
29 October 2003 – Hoping that The Last Samurai will do for Taranaki what LotR has done for its various NZ locations, local guide James Heremaia has added the ‘A Mountain Like Fuji’ tour to his…
LotR fans from Japan to Canada have been lining up to sponsor seats at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, currently being refurbished in preparation for the world premiere of The Return of the King. 613 of…
Award-winning NZ vodka label, 42 Below – has enlisted the help of Kiwi supermodel Kylie Bax and San Antonio Spurs basketball player Sean Marks to promote his product in the lucrative US market….
The Times ran a lengthy travel feature on “the real Middle Earth” to mark the opening of the LotR exhibition at London’s Science Museum. “Never mind whether Frodo manages to destroy that ring we’ve all…
The Lord of the Rings exhibition opened at London’s Science Museum in September, and has already proven to be the most successful show in the institution’s history. Developed and presented by Te Papa, over 14,000…
Anticipating the release of Return of the King, NYT film critic Elvis Mitchell singles out the breezy braininess of Peter Jackson’s craft for exemplary praise: “Mr. Jackson has been carefully applying layers of emotional…
The Wellington-based animation team behind the Lord of the Rings‘ award-winning visual effects were one of the main attractions at the annual Siggraph exhibition in San Diego, California. Established in the 1970s, Siggraph is…
PM Helen Clark discusses republicanism, Iraq, same-sex marriages, prostitution reform, and The Lord of the Rings in a forum with BBC News Online’s Talking Point. Clark was in London attending Tony Blair’s ‘Third Way’ summit – a gathering…
Te Papa’s record-breaking Lord of the Rings exhibition opens at London’s Science Museum in September – it’s only European showing before travelling to Singapore, Sydney, and Boston. The exhibition focuses on Weta Digital’s FX…
The multi-million dollar production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is now likely to be shot substantially in NZ, following the government’s decision to allow a tax-exemption grant for film companies shooting…
A series of Lord of the Rings collectors’ coins will be legal tender in NZ by 2004. The gold, silver and cupro-nickel coins are to be struck by the Royal Mint for NZ Post…
NZ based Bollywood production company – Kuran Films – cottoned on to the the country’s scenic opportunities well before Lord of the Rings. Established in 1993 by Kamal Singh, Kuran now has 8 films…
Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was a multiple winner at the 29th annual Saturn Awards – a joint presentation of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and…
Writer Philippa Boyens speaks out on her own epic quest; adapting the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the screen. With her collaborators Walsh, Jackson and Sinclair, Boyens battled against political misreadings, weird names…
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