Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

How Peter Jackson Became a Local Hero after LOTR

How Peter Jackson Became a Local Hero after LOTR

When Amazon announced in August 2021 that its billion-dollar Lord of the Rings TV series would shift production to England, fans were stunned. Though J.R.R. Tolkien was British and though the settings are fictional,…

Kaynemaile Forges Link Between Moviemaking And Architecture

Kaynemaile Forges Link Between Moviemaking And Architecture

Having your name “bestowed upon you by award-winning actor Viggo Mortensen – or if we’re giving him his full title, Aragorn, son of Arathorn – is the coolest origin story I’ve ever heard,” writes…

Hobbit Holes To Be Recreated by Glamping Firm

Hobbit Holes To Be Recreated by Glamping Firm

A corner of JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth will be recreated at Craighead Howff, near Braco in Scotland after a glamping firm was given the green light to build two underground holiday huts,…

15 Years as The Real Middle-Earth

15 Years as The Real Middle-Earth

“To celebrate 15 years as the real Middle-earth, Tourism New Zealand has come up with a unique way for tourists to explore the country – re-imagining New Zealand experiences through the eyes of Middle-earth’s…

Economy Milks Clamour for Middle Earth

Economy Milks Clamour for Middle Earth

Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit series have proved to be as precious to New Zealand’s economy as any magical ring with millions flocking to the country for a glimpse of Middle…

Epic Middle Earth Locations That Really Exist

Epic Middle Earth Locations That Really Exist

“As World Hobbit Day makes us wistful for Middle Earth’s colossal mountain ranges, mythical forests and untamed rivers, we look to the epic landscapes that stole the show in the Hobbit and Lord of…

Auckland – The Greatest City on Water

Auckland – The Greatest City on Water

Auckland has been ranked the greatest coastal city by Chicago Line Cruises, followed by Barcelona and Vancouver. The rating highlights Auckland’s two harbours, its many beaches and diverse wildlife as well as cultural…

Peter Jackson-Backed Movie Museum Wins Approval

Peter Jackson-Backed Movie Museum Wins Approval

“Hobbits, Orcs, Ents and maybe even some Na’vi are getting their own museum in New Zealand’s capital city,” writes Nancy Tartaglione in an article for Deadline. The project – a combined movie museum…

Peter Jackson: My favorite Doctor Who Episode

Peter Jackson: My favorite Doctor Who Episode

For Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary, watch as Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit director Peter Jackson wishes Doctor Who a very Happy 50th Anniversary and talks about his…

New Zealand Ranked Top in Poll of Must-Visit Film Locations

New Zealand Ranked Top in Poll of Must-Visit Film Locations

New Zealand has topped the list of must-visit filming locations in a poll commissioned by HBO Entertainment. The Lord of the Rings film locations were followed by New York (Sex and the City) and The…

Family Pays Tribute to Dapper Tailor Peter Rigby

Family Pays Tribute to Dapper Tailor Peter Rigby

Well-known Lower Hutt tailor Peter Rigby, who made clothes for many New Zealand plays and films, including Utu, The Frighteners, Goodbye Pork Pie and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died, aged 81. Born…

Sam Smith’s New Zealand Adventure

Sam Smith’s New Zealand Adventure

This is the “best day of my life”, English singer Sam Smith proclaimed on Instagram following his visit to Hobbiton, the real-life movie set of Lord of the Rings located on the North Island…

Peter Jackson Celebrates Life of Friend Andrew Lesnie

Peter Jackson Celebrates Life of Friend Andrew Lesnie

Peter Jackson has taken to Facebook to celebrate the life of Andrew Lesnie – his friend, ‘brother’ and frequent collaborator, who suffered a fatal heart attack this week. “I grew up wondering what…

Hobbit Fans in Singapore Gather at Changi’s Middle-earth

Hobbit Fans in Singapore Gather at Changi’s Middle-earth

Singapore Hobbit fans are being treated to a life-sized piece of Middle-earth in the departure hall of Changi Airport Terminal Three. As well as a hobbit hole, visitors can see a statue of Gandalf…

Running Gets Epic in Asics’ Biggest Global Campaign

Running Gets Epic in Asics’ Biggest Global Campaign

Asics has just launched its biggest ever global campaign with an epic new advertisement which was shot on location in New Zealand, and features crowds of runners summoned by a hunting horn…

Nine Things We’ve Learned about Peter Jackson’s Epic Saga

Nine Things We’ve Learned about Peter Jackson’s Epic Saga

“Just as there are nine members of the Fellowship, here are nine things we have learned from Peter Jackson’s six-picture behemoth …” Guardian journalist Ryan Gilbey gives us the rundown. “It’s big. But how big?…

Tongariro Crossing One of the World’s Best One Day Walks

Tongariro Crossing One of the World’s Best One Day Walks

“Believe the hype.” Andrew Bain writes about the Tongariro Crossing for Traveller magazine, in a list of eleven of the world’s best walks you can do in one day. “Regularly billed as the best day…

Weta Cave Workshop Expands for Tour Groups

Weta Cave Workshop Expands for Tour Groups

Hobbit fever is ramping up in Wellington ahead of the third and final installment of Peter Jackson‘s “Hobbit” trilogy and Weta Workshop is expanding to meet demand. In a bid to cater to growing demand from tour groups…

Living a Kiwi Life – Ep. 18 – Milford Track

Living a Kiwi Life – Ep. 18 – Milford Track

Deciding to take on another great New Zealand walk the couple decided to try the famed Milford Track in Milford Sound! With a healthy mix of rain, snow and occasional…

New Zealand Best Place to Travel on Your Own

New Zealand Best Place to Travel on Your Own

New Zealand is the world’s safest, friendliest, and best place to travel on your own, according to Travel + Leisure magazine. The publication “crunched the numbers from the Global Peace Index, which ranks 162 nations…

Comic-Con Kicks Off Featuring Strong Kiwi Contingent

Comic-Con Kicks Off Featuring Strong Kiwi Contingent

Comic-Con begins in San Diego today, with the New Zealand representatives ranging from Peter Jackson and the Hobbit producers to a small movie made by an Auckland animation school. The Hobbit will be a major…

“Bilbo Baggins Slept Here” in New Zealand

“Bilbo Baggins Slept Here” in New Zealand

“It’s dinner and a movie … set” reports Ashley Winchester of the New York Times, who describes the Lord of the Rings guided tour as “straight out of Middle Earth”. The Hobbiton Movie Set in…

Lord of the Rings Triggers Kiwi Tech ‘Success Story’

Lord of the Rings Triggers Kiwi Tech ‘Success Story’

Microsoft has bought a Wellington cloud computing business that can trace its origin to the Lord of the Rings movies. The software giant has snapped up GreenButton, which has 18 staff, for an undisclosed amount….

Hobbit Global Fan Celebration Event Planned

Hobbit Global Fan Celebration Event Planned

Director Peter Jackson has announced plans to preview footage from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at a “global fan celebration” on 4 November that will be simulcast in theatres and feature…

Plans to WOW the World on the Global Stage

Plans to WOW the World on the Global Stage

Fashionistas first scoffed at Suzie Moncrieff’s displays of bizarre bras and out-there attire, but 25 years on international designers are clamouring to be part of Wellington’s annual World of WearableArt (WOW) show,…

Measure Your World with a Smartphone Laser

Measure Your World with a Smartphone Laser

New Zealand-developed Spike, created by ikeGPS, “the world’s first laser accurate smartphone accessory,” is crowd-funding on Kickstarter and offering those who pledge more than $10,000 a trip to New Zealand to visit the development…

New Zealand Landscape Plays Active Role in Films

New Zealand Landscape Plays Active Role in Films

“If a country could be eligible for a best actor award, New Zealand could be in the running for every gong going,” writes Megan Lane. In the piece for BBC News Magazine, Lane explores…

Famed Potter Found Answers in Social Artform

Famed Potter Found Answers in Social Artform

New Zealand-based potter Mirek Smíšek, who won fame with his ceramic artifacts for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Smíšek and his wife made some 700 vases,…

Integrating Sound in E-books

Integrating Sound in E-books

New Zealand-based company Booktrack is redefining reading in its traditional sense by synchronizing sound to e-book reading in much the same way that movies synchronize sound to images, chair of New…

Oscar-nominee’s Homes for Hobbits

Oscar-nominee’s Homes for Hobbits

Production designer on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Hastings-born Dan Hennah, features in an Architectural Digest 2013 Oscar nominees slideshow of the year’s best in set design. “Hennah, who trained as an architect and…