Miss Awen writes: I arrived in Glenorchy today and could not find any accommodation, because it’s all fully booked for the crew of the Hobbit. I also found out, that they are filming now at the other side of the lake, half an hour from Glenorchy. The stars stay in Queenstown and they are flown on set by helicopter.
Category: LotR Movies
mr. reno sent along some great spy photos and a little photo montage video of some scenes being filmed in New Zealand in the last 24 hours. This is in the Golden Bay region, where crews have been spread out filming recently.
Take a look at the little video animation, I see men on horseback and a helicopter getting some nice arial shots. Take a look! Continue reading “More Spy Photos & Video from NZ”
The beautiful and varied landscapes of New Zealand provided the setting for Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, one of the most successful film ventures of all time. From the peaceful Shire to the fires of Mordor, locations were found for the magical world of Middle-earth where hobbits, elves, dwarves and wizards live.
When Peter Jackson was 18, he took a train ride across New Zealand’s North Island – one of the two islands that comprise the country. On the trip he read The Lord of the Rings, the great J R R Tolkien saga. The now famous film director tells how he was fascinated to see how the landscape he could see from the train window was exactly like the mythical Middle Earth imagined by the British author some 30 years earlier. More..

One of the biggest things to happen in the Strath Taieri and Maniototo areas of Otago in recent years has tongues wagging – but only those of outsiders.
Six helicopters, a giant marquee, security guards and dozens of trailers have been parked in a paddock east of Hyde for the past four days.
But ask the locals why the trailers are there, and most reply “can’t say” or “don’t know”.
However, use the words “hobbit”, “film set” and “Sir Peter Jackson”, and sly, knowing smiles cross their faces.
Filming for Sir Peter’s two-part Hobbit series started in Wellington in March and, while other locations have been closely guarded, they include areas around the Strath Taieri and Queenstown. More..
It’s hard to imagine any movies making as much box-office bank as Peter Jackson’s blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three films grossed almost $3 billion worldwide!
But now that production is well underway on Jackson’s upcoming Rings prequels, does series star Elijah Wood think The Hobbit films have what it takes to outshine LOTR’s moneymaking glory?
“I don’t even know if they’re meaning to outdo them,” Wood told us at Sunday’s Happy Feet Two premiere in Hollywood of the upcoming two Hobbit flicks. “They’re gonna be big. The audience is huge. The anticipation for The Hobbit has been so massive for so long.” More..
Be part of the fun with long-time contributor Clifford Broadway hosting LOTR / HOBBIT artists, fans, fantasy authors, and other special guests on his innovative weekly *live* streaming show TORn TUESDAYS with QUICKBEAM! We launch our program at about 5pm Pacific time — today we are giving away a massive Collector’s Edition “LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR IN THE NORTH” PS3 video game boxed set — courtesy of Warner Bros. Interactive (this thing is about $140 retail value and comes with a leather quiver for arrows, a fantastic cloth-map of Middle-earth, special Blu-ray “music of the game” disc and an Art Book)! Yak it up with folks in Barliman’s chat room or come in via Skype. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE Event section right here every week: 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time!