Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — New Zealand’s film industry is showing it’s not all scenery and hobbits. The South Pacific nation’s movie business, catapulted to fame by Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which was filmed in the country, is tapping a surge in funding to make films such as Toa Fraser’s “No. 2,” winner of the world cinema audience award at last month’s Sundance Film Festival. Local studios have gained from Hollywood-funded productions such as “King Kong,” the latest blockbuster by New Zealander Jackson, and Andrew Adamson’s production of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” both filmed in the country. That boosted production financing to a record NZ$596 million ($406 million) in the year ended March 31, 2005, from about NZ$300 million in 1999. [More]

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