It’s a snowbound land, full of mythical creatures, that is entered through the back of a wardrobe. But for New Zealand, Narnia is a lot more than just the setting for a new Hollywood movie. It’s the chance to generate another big series of movies to follow the phenomenon that was The Lord of the Rings. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, based on a classic children’s novel by C. S. Lewis, has been made by the director Andrew Adamson (who also made Shrek and Shrek 2) on a reported budget of $US150 million ($200 million). It centres on four children who accidently enter Narnia then join a battle between an evil witch and a god-like lion. [More]
Category: Old Main News
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa has bumped a New Zealand art exhibition aside to make way for a money-spinning Lord of the Rings repeat, in a deal secured with a highly unusual payment. Filmmaker and aviation enthusiast Peter Jackson agreed to a second six-month exhibition on the condition the museum located and bought for him a vintage Sopwith Camel airplane engine. Te Papa spokesman Peter Brewer said a deal on an engine found somewhere in the northern hemisphere should be settled by Christmas. The engine cost “a fraction of the amount” the museum would otherwise have had to pay Jackson in licensing fees, he said. It is understood Te Papa paid trilogy backers New Line Cinemas up to $500,000 for the first Rings’ exhibition in 2003. The studio had since signed over the licensing rights to Jackson. [More]
Annie writes: There is a Peter Jackson season at the NFT (National Film Theatre) in London which started on the 5th December and runs until 30th December. It goes without saying that they are showing all of the Lord of the Rings films. [More]
Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving are teaming up with the Sydney Theatre Company to present the play Hedda Gabler in New York City. Tickets are available here. [More]
On this New York early winter morning, the top of the Empire State Building is coated in heavy cloud, the Manhattan streets below are slippery with snow, and the temperature hovers around zero. A few blocks away inside a chintzy hotel room above Park Avenue, Peter Jackson’s own observation deck is stuck in its own mental fog. Granted, he has been a bit busy at work. He nearly always is in December. Though this time last year was relatively light, a bit of a breather after the consecutive releases of the Lord of the Rings trilogy which became the cinematic grand finales of 2001-2003. [More]
Xoanon here, is it me or are all these interviews/articles sounding exactly the same? Yes he lost weight, yes he doesn’t wear glasses anymore, yes he’s tired from hard work, yes he did LOTR, sigh…am I bitter that I didn’t even get to see him while in New York? Most likely…ah well