The Hobbit movies have been saved for New Zealand through a
deal with Warner Brothers that will give the producer a $20
million tax break and see labour law changes pushed through
Parliament tomorrow.
Prime Minister John Key has left a second day of crisis talks
with movie studio executives with no indication of whether
The Hobbit films will stay in New Zealand.
Prime Minister John Key and senior cabinet ministers and
officials will meet representatives of US film company Warner
Bros this afternoon to thrash out details aimed at securing
filming of The Hobbit in New Zealand.
Sir Peter Jackson has rejected a union statement that it was
only seeking a meeting to discuss contract terms for actors
on The Hobbit, saying the union had decided to boycott
the films before he was told it wanted to meet.
A Facebook page urging the US financial backers of the Hobbit
movies to keep the filming in New Zealand has been partially
restored, but the organiser is still fuming that supporters
could still be lost.
The Government has brushed off suggestions a high New Zealand
dollar against the United State greenback might be luring the
Hobbit's filmmakers away from this country.
The Australian unionist blamed for potentially derailing
filming of The Hobbit movies in New Zealand says he has
assured the producers there will be no industrial action
against the film.
Under the impromptu banner "Queenstown for Peter Jackson",
about 20 film, tourism and theatre lobbyists gathered on the
resort's village green yesterday to rally support to keep
threatened multimillion-dollar production The Hobbit
in New Zealand.
