Movie fans will again have stars in their eyes when The Lovely Bones gets the red carpet treatment at the Embassy Theatre. Two of the film’s biggest names – Oscar winner Susan Sarandon and nominee Saoirse Ronan – will attend the Kiwi premiere on December 14. New Zealand stars Rose McIver and Carolyn Dando are also expected to attend, along with Peter Jackson, who co-wrote, produced and directed the film. Fans will have the opportunity to collect autographs on the red carpet. The last major Hollywood film to have a Wellington premiere was Jackson’s King Kong in 2005, when thousands lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the stars. More..

Peter Jackson Directs in 'The Lovely Bones'LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Filmmakers trying to satisfy a U.S. movie rating aimed at mostly teenagers often complain that they’re forced to cut violent scenes, and those edits compromise the director’s vision. But Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson found he had the exact opposite problem with his eagerly-anticipated new film, “The Lovely Bones,” due in theaters on December 11. More..

Fran Walsh, left, Peter Jackson and Carolynne CunninghamFive years ago, while Peter Jackson was immersed in directing his large-scale remake of “King Kong” for Universal, executive Mary Parent mentioned a project the studio was developing based on the wildly popular video game “Halo.”

Jackson was intrigued. He loved to play “Halo” with his two teenage children; his special effects company, New Zealand-based WETA, seemed perfect to handle the FX; and a 15% tax rebate made a Kiwi shoot ideal for Universal and co-financier Fox. So Jackson agreed to produce, alongside his lifetime partner Fran Walsh and their colleague Carolynne Cunningham. Jackson would not direct, but he would find a promising young helmer to work under his supervision. When Parent suggested Neill Blomkamp, based on a short film of his she’d seen, the South Africa-born filmmaker left his home in Vancouver and flew to meet the Jackson team. More..

District 9 PosterFrom english.people.com.cn: U.S. producer-director Peter Jackson is expected to be in China in late November to promote his latest project – “District 9,” which will be released across the country on Nov. 27, the Oriental Morning Post reports. The director of the “Lord of Rings” series will visit Beijing and Shanghai to interact with moviegoers. Exhibitions of his films will also be presented in the two cities, the report said.

“District 9,” made on a tight budget of 30 million U.S. dollars, has proved to be a box office dark horse in the U.S. market with total earnings of over 115 million dollars since it rolled out on Aug. 14.

Kiwi movie mogul Peter Jackson has co-directed the latest Tintin movie via the internet from his Wellington base. Actor Nick Frost, who plays one of the bumbling Thompson twin detectives, said Jackson gave his cast instructions via the world wide web which were then played on a PA system. Co-director Steven Spielberg was on set in California to coordinate the filming.

“Steve would come on and give a note and then through the PA system you would hear Peter say, ‘Hi guys, could you try this’, and then they would turn the camera around so that we could see him. It was strange,” Frost said. More..