Tourists at Matamata’s Hobbiton will soon see Middle Earth come to life before their eyes, according to a recent report on Stuff.co.nz. Vic James of Red Carpet Tours says he is “delighted” by confirmation that Lord of the Rings tourists will continue to be able to visit the site of Hobbiton as filming approaches.
Continuing an annual tradition, Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours opened its doors to Matamata locals yesterday. By the time the last tour had left over 600 people had undertaken a guided tour of the set and watched the sheep shearing demonstration whilst many decided to stay on for a “Second Breakfast” at The Shires Rest Café & Function Centre. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s great news that New Line and the Tolkien Estate have settled their lawsuit, but looking at the amount of work going on at the Hobbiton set in the past month, it seems as though the outcome was never in doubt. Here’s images from Holly, who saw this during her Red Carpet Tour through Hobbiton in August.
Celebriel sends along this article about the closure of NZ’s Deer Park, a filming location for many scenes in LOTR (notably the flight of the Rohan refugees to Helm’s Deep and Aragorn’s fall over the cliff). Queenstown tourist attraction Deer Park Heights has been closed to visitors after nearly 40 years. Owner Frank Mee said he was closing the park, but it was not for sale. He said the park had been making money and was “very popular”. “Everyone is going bankrupt in Queenstown, but we are not. . . we’re just getting too old, so we’re giving up,” he said. Mr Mee was born in 1922 and he, and his wife Jean, opened the park in 1970. More..
Ian Brodie, founding curator of the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum, is taking up a new position as media and communications manager at the Hobbiton tourist attraction at Matamata, near Hamilton. Meanwhile, a proposed $10 million revamp of the Wanaka museum is on hold indefinitely. Mr Brodie (52) has worked at the museum since it was founded in 1992 by Sir Tim Wallis. More..
TheOneRing.net delivered a 10:30 a.m. panel today at Comic-Con on its first full day of programming. TORn staffers Calisuri (owner), Quickbeam (celebrity) and MrCere (senior staff) were joined by Ian McKellen’s webmaster Keith Stern and Weta’s master chief, Richard Taylor. Read the rest of this entry »
Tyellas writes: The potter who did extensive work for the Lord of the Rings films, Mirek Smíšek, is currently having a gallery show in Waikanae, about 1/2 hour north of Wellington. This show reviews 60 years of his exceptionally graceful work, and shows us why he was chosen as the potter for Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth. Smíšek’s studio, which he shares with his partner Pamela Annsouth, who produces her own gorgeous works, can be visited by appointment, as noted here. More..
Thanks to the folks at Red Carpet Tours for this one: A spy has uncovered some exciting developments regarding a film set for The Hobbit – but all he can say at the moment is that an official announcement will be coming from Peter Jackson’s people later this week. Stay tuned!
Aaron writes: I have put forward a Naming Proposal to the NZ Geographic Board to name a stretch of the Upper Waiau River between Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as “Anduin Reach“. This section was not only featured strongly in the Fellowship of the Ring but it is now a tourist attraction as well, soon to be more popular as a new Cycle Trail is destined to run down it’s bank. I need some assistance from the public in the form of feedback as part of the new naming procedure so I thought I should ask your team what they think. The “reach” is a two km (1.25 miles) straight stretch of river down stream of Boulder Reach 6km North of Manapouri Township. All I need is some public feed back to forward to the Geographic Board so they know that people value the need for a name.
It is said if you give a story a place name it lives in the real world and I think the Anduin Reach has got a fighting chance to earn a real place in New Zealand’s folklore. If any one else wants to add to this submission just comment at 2359510@gmail.com or on my YouTube Video Scrapbook Page.
Andrew Rutherford writes: Here’s some photos that you might not have seen before, and recently uploaded to our website. They show the construction of the Edoras set. They were not taken by us. From the site: When Peter Jackson’s Three Foot Six company first arrived in Queenstown in November 1999, I decided to visit their production office which was operating out of the old Remarkables Hotel. There I had the good luck to meet unit production manager Nick Korda. I told him that with the type of aeroplanes we operated I thought we could be of service. My reasons for approaching the company were, firstly, I was a fan of J. R. R.Tolkien and loved the book, so I wanted to be involved. I believed that with all the locations around the country there would be a place for small aeroplanes in ferrying people, equipment, film and so on around them. Nick seemed a little doubtful at first until I mentioned that we could fly point to point at half the price of a helicopter, and do it faster. As we were flying small aircraft, we were not restricted to airports and could land anywhere – it could even be on the side of a hill, provided the area chosen was reasonably smooth and at least 400 metres long. More…
Aaron writes: I have put forward a Naming Proposal to the NZ Geographic Board to name a stretch of the Upper Waiau River between Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as “Anduin Reach“. This section was not only featured strongly in the Fellowship of the Ring but it is now a tourist attraction as well, soon to be more popular as a new Cycle Trail is destined to run down it’s bank. I need some assistance from the public in the form of feedback as part of the new naming procedure so I thought I should ask your team what they think. The “reach” is a two km (1.25 miles) straight stretch of river down stream of Boulder Reach 6km North of Manapouri Township. All I need is some public feed back to forward to the Geographic Board so they know that people value the need for a name.
