Plans to film $1 billion Lord of the Rings television series in NZ under threat

Saturday, 22 December 2018

British actor Ian McKellan, as the character Gandalf, in a scene from the film 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The Government has held a crisis meeting with Amazon TV executives as the network threatens to pull plans to film the Lord of the Rings series in New Zealand.

At US$1 billion (NZ$1.49 billion), it is touted as the most expensive television series in history – and accordingly, the most lucrative for the country where it is filmed.

Earlier this year, production company boss Jennifer Salke confirmed New Zealand was being considered as the location – but now, that's in jeopardy.

Amazon executives met this week with Economic Development Minister David Parker to express their concerns about a lack of studio capacity in Auckland.

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Both parties were tight-lipped about the high stakes negotiations, when contacted this weekend.

The company has warned the studio capacity shortage is a problem, but it is understood there is still a great deal of optimism they can announce a successful resolution next month.

Liv Tyler, as Arwen the elf, in the Lord of the Rings film franchise.

Kiwi director of the Lord of the Rings film franchise, Sir Peter Jackson, has said he will look over some scripts for the TV reboot. 'I wish them all the best and if we can help them we certainly will try. It's a big task,' he told Britain's Metro newspaper this month.

Hobbiton, Matamata, where scenes from the Lord of the Rings movie franchise were filmed.

The hardball negotiations between Amazon and the Government will spark memories of those between Warner Bros and John Key's Government, in which Warner threatened to pull the filming of Jackson's The Hobbit from New Zealand if the Government did not meet certain terms.

Galadriel, Queen of Lothlorien (played by Cate Blanchett) and Frodo (Elijah Woods) in a scene in the Lord of The Rings film franchise.

Warner got its way: in 2010, the Government made an urgent change to employment law to prevent independent contractors from claiming entitlements as employees, as well as increasing the tax concession for big screen productions.

A spokesman for Parker confirmed the Minister met representatives of Amazon in his office this week to discuss possible productions in New Zealand. He declined to comment further.

Amazon refused to comment.

Former South Pacific Pictures boss John Barnett said he had been unaware Amazon representatives were in New Zealand. The availability of studio space would depend on when Amazon planned to start filming.

'I guess they'd be looking at a couple of places and it's a very big production and those productions are always good to get. It provides a lot of jobs for a lot of people for a lot of time – that's great, we're all looking to employee more people.'

In September, Auckland Council paid for a 20-page magazine to be distributed with the Hollywood Reporter, boasting of the city's capacity to host big screen productions. 'Auckland is the natural home for brilliantly realised film and television,' the headline read.

But Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed) refused to confirm whether it attended this week's meeting at Parliament. Economic development general manager Pam Ford said: 'As the screen attraction agency for our region, ATEED is constantly in discussion with numerous screen production companies about them potentially locating projects in Auckland.'

She refused to comment further 'due to the confidentiality agreements which are standard with commercial production discussions'.