Parliament has passed the government’s new law to clarify the position of contractors within the film industry. MPs have voted 66 to 50 in favour of the law, which is part of the deal brokered with movie producer Warner Brothers earlier this week to keep production of The Hobbit in New Zealand. This was that the Employment Relations Act would be amended to make sure a worker engaged on an independent contract will not be able to go to court and claim employee rights and conditions.
Labour fought the Employment Relations (Film Production Work) Amendment Bill to the last clause, arguing it isn’t necessary and the government is “sticking it to the unions”. During the debate, Labour’s David Parker accused the government of playing a “political game”. “I don’t even think Warner Brothers demanded this. There wasn’t a problem to be fixed, there have been no problems in the film industry for the last five years,” he said. Labour and the Greens are accusing the government of capitulating to a foreign company, abusing parliamentary process and making a mockery of democracy. But ministers say Warner Bros would have pulled out of New Zealand without the commitment to change the law. Read More…
The MGM, Lions Gate drama continues. The latest from Bloomberg.com: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is suing billionaire Carl Ichan over the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. studio deal in federal court in New York, alleging the financier was “secretly plotting” to merge the studios. In the lawsuit, Vancouver-based Lions Gate, the studio whose films include “Crash” and “Precious,” alleges that Icahn realized by June that Lions Gate was in advanced negotiations with two unidentified studios. Aware that the deals might dilute his stake in Lions Gate, Icahn “took drastic and improper action,” the studio said.
Icahn, 74, the studio’s largest shareholder, undermined any proposed transactions by making false and misleading statements, Lions Gate said. He told the investing public that such a deal would be a “financial debacle” and issued press releases vowing to challenge any transaction and sue any entity that interfered with his tender offer, the studio said.
“Icahn opposed a merger with MGM not because it was bad for Lions Gate shareholders, but because it was good — so good, in fact, that he wanted to postpone it until he could buy as much of both companies as he could and thus extract for himself as much of the value stemming from the merger as possible,” Lions Gate said in the complaint, filed today in U.S. District Court in New York. Thanks to message board member Owain for the link. Read More…
From 3news.co.nz: Watch extended footage of a helicopter flight over the new sets in Sir Peter Jackson’s upcoming The Hobbit films. Just last night it was announced that the films, prequels to the wildly successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, would in fact be shot in New Zealand. That was put into jeopardy after the film was placed on a boycott list by an Australian-led actors group. The footage in this video, taken today, shows that work is still being conducted on one of the sets of the film near Matamata.
SYDNEY – Furious debate rages at this moment in New Zealand’s parliament on legislation sought by Warner Bros. to amend the country’s labor laws and make unionization of the local film industry more difficult. Meanwhile, key union leaders reported receiving death threats. Police have begun an investigation, according to a local press report.
The government has the necessary votes for the law revision and passage is expected later today. A Labour member of parliament decried today as a “day of shame.” The Labour and Green opposition have hammered on the loss of sovereignty implied by negotiating legislation with a foreign corporation, then ramming it through under an urgency procedure. The ruling National Party has emphasized the financial benefit of retaining the “Hobbit” production in country. More..
Announcing the Cruise to Middle-earth: The Sequel, Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Fellowship of the Ring.
TheOneRing.net staffer Garfeimao (aka Cathy) is planning our next Cruise to Middle-earth! Here’s all the details:
New Zealand will always be Middle-earth here at TORn. With that in mind, I am proud to announce a second cruise to Middle-earth. This is your chance to see the enchanting Land of the Long White Cloud and Middle-earth in the same place. Red Carpet Tours will be customizing short day tours for us from several of the ports, as well as a longer, optional post-cruise tour of locations not reachable from the ship.
This cruise will sail on the Celebrity Century from Sydney, Australia on November 30, 2011 and finish in Auckland, New Zealand on December 12, 2011. The bulk of the cruise will be in New Zealand waters, with stops at ports near several Lord of the Rings filming locations. The advantage of a cruise is that it acts as a hotel, a restaurant and transportation so that you need unpack only once during the cruise. It will give everyone in the group time to bond over dinner, to meet up during ‘at sea’ days to watch the films, and to even have a costume party. Exact optional tours are still in development at the moment, so please do contact me for more details. Continue reading “Return to Middle-earth in 2011!”
This contest is now over – thanks to all those who participated!
To celebrate their Spooktacular event, Sideshow Collectibles has kindly offered fans of TheOneRing.net a chance to win the Gollum Premium Format Figure! Priced at $299, this figure (just announced on Tuesday and shipping 2nd Qtr 2011) features a swappable torso, so you can display either Smeagol or Gollum. And in case you want to display them both at the same time, they are including a separate base to accommodate. Since this giveaway is exclusive to TheOneRing.net, you’ll need to follow these directions to participate. Go to SideshowCollectibles.com and visit the Spooktacular Contests area. [right here] Click on the ‘Gollum Giveaway’ link near the bottom. Enter your details into the form and use the word ‘HobbitNZ‘ when prompted for the contest word. And that is it! One winner will be chosen at random on Saturday at 4pm ET, and we will post the winning name as an update to this story. You must be 18 years or older to win. Good Luck! [Gollum Figure]
Parliament has passed the government’s new law to clarify the position of contractors within the film industry. MPs have voted 66 to 50 in favour of the law, which is part of the deal brokered with movie producer Warner Brothers earlier this week to keep production of The Hobbit in New Zealand. This was that the Employment Relations Act would be amended to make sure a worker engaged on an independent contract will not be able to go to court and claim employee rights and conditions.
