Caras Galadhon writes: Nothing short of the whole host of Mordor (and probably not even it) was going to keep me from today’s rally in Wellington’s Civic Square. After all, this was a chance to be there, see it all unfold, participate and maybe, just maybe, make a difference to the future of The Hobbit.
I arrived at a quarter after 12, while everyone was still slowly filtering in. Right off the bat, it was clear that this was going to be a positive event, as I saw many a smile as people drifted across the square, greeting friends, finding spots to stand or sit, and snapping pictures. It could not have been even a full ten minutes before someone offered me a balloon; the square was full of them, brightly coloured and bobbing along to the beat of music playing from the loudspeakers near the City-to-Sea Bridge.
Plenty of people had brought along signs welcoming Warner Bros. to New Zealand and affirming that the only place for Middle-earth is right here. Cast, crew and public mingled shoulder-to-shoulder, and I saw plenty of jackets, shirts and other paraphernalia identifying people’s roles in various Peter Jackson productions sprinkled liberally among the crowd. I wasn’t the only non-New Zealander there, as while I was sporting my Canada/New Zealand flag pin, I also overheard people identifying themselves as American, and more than one of the speakers we were about to hear came from further afield than the North and South Islands. Continue reading “Report with Pics: Hobbit Rally – Wellington”
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The Hollywood Reporter has noted that Facebook, love them or hate them, has pulled Mark Harrison’s ‘Keep the Hobbit film shoot in New Zealand’ page. That’s because the social networking site pulled the page, located at http://www.facebook.com/hobbitnz, when the number of “fans” hit 10,000. A visit to that address produced a “page not found” error.
Mark Harrison, a Kiwi actor who created the Facebook page and organized “Save the Hobbit” rallies up and down the country, was furious at the company. “We probably missed another 4,000-5,000 supporters,” he said, citing the saturation coverage of Sunday’s rallies in the local press. More..
Hey Mark, we’ll host your page for you..no problem! Give us a shout!
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Prime Minister John Key has already made it clear to Warner Bros that the Government can not go to extreme lengths to ensure The Hobbit remains in New Zealand ahead of his meeting with the company’s executives this afternoon. Mr Key will meet the executives to try to persuade them to keep the filming of the Hobbit in New Zealand. He would not discuss exactly what the Government could offer but will not rule out further tax breaks or changes to industrial laws to placate the movie company. However he said there was only so far the government could go. “From the conversations I’ve had with Warner Bros so far I’ve made it quite clear if it comes to a bidding war, then New Zealand is out because I don’t think that’s the right way to run this.” More..
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Dominic Kane reports on all the New Zealand craziness behind The Hobbit recently. However this video report features a few tantalizing images of Bag End, and a few other Hobbity looking sets in mid construction! Take a look! More..
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My name is Ray from Wellington, New Zealand! I was at the Wellington Rally for The Hobbit today. I took along my camera and just finished piecing together the speeches. Here’s a link to the finished video, please do share it on the site! The picture is me..I brought along my shards of Narsil Sword and some face paint. It was enough to get me on the news here in NZ lol. Enjoy – it was an awesome event and I felt very honored and lucky to be part of it. Click to watch
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NZ Prime Minister John Key was on Newstalk ZB this morning and said the following: “I have spoken with the chief executive of Warner Brothers, who I know, but the real meeting is set to be this afternoon. They’re sending their senior people here. They want to assess things. They’re definitely not coming here to say no (to having the movie filmed in New Zealand) – if they were they probably wouldn’t send such a high-power team; they probably wouldn’t send a team at all. But there’s no question the action of the unions has destabilised their confidence in New Zealand – we’re a long, long way from a slam-dunk with the films being made in New Zealand.”
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Caras Galadhon writes: Nothing short of the whole host of Mordor (and probably not even it) was going to keep me from today’s rally in Wellington’s Civic Square. After all, this was a chance to be there, see it all unfold, participate and maybe, just maybe, make a difference to the future of The Hobbit.