Peter Jackson stands on the set of Lake-Town It looks like, in addition to his work on the Extended Edition for the Battle of the Five Armies, Peter Jackson will be investing a bit of his time this year to launch a WWI museum. Is it too much to think this might be a pointer toward that Dambusters project?


Director Peter Jackson said Wednesday he’s putting his energy into helping launch a museum to commemorate World War I after finishing his “Hobbit” movie trilogy.

If he has any plans for future blockbusters, he’s not saying.

Jackson was speaking at his New Zealand post-production facility where he was helping host an event to promote the local film industry. Directors Jane Campion and James Cameron also attended.

Jackson is a World War I history buff who owns a number of planes from the era.

He said the plan for the Wellington museum was to open during April to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli battle.

He said more galleries would be opened over the coming four years to mark other battles in which New Zealanders fought.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported earlier that Jackson had been recruited by the government to curate the museum, and he was expected to gather aircraft, tanks and other artifacts from private and public collections.

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TheOneRing.net’s One Last Party campaign hits $163,000!

Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo has now raised more than $163,000 — we’ve less than 17,000 to go!

We are so humbled by everyone’s support. More than 1,000 people have pledged and scores of people have reached out to donate items or their time to help our party fundraiser. You are all awesome!

one last party botfa poster Pledges of $10 or more could win this signed Battle of the Five Armies poster

One amazing TORn supporter has donated this Battle of the Five Armies poster (see the picture below) signed at San Diego ComicCon by:

  • Dwalin — Graham McTavish
  • Gollum — Andy Serkis
  • Tauriel — Evangeline Lilly
  • Thranduil — Lee Pace
  • Legolas — Orlando Bloom
  • Bard — Luke Evans
  • Smaug — Benedict Cumberbatch
  • Frodo — Elijah Wood
  • Galadriel — Cate Blanchett

The poster (measuring 13′ by 20′), together with the holographic wristband that was needed to get it at SDCC, will be given away to one lucky supporter, chosen at random from all the pledges of $10 and above that we receive THIS WEEK (Monday 12th to Sunday 18th January).

However, the poster will only be given away IF we reach our goal! If we get to $180k by (or before!) the deadline on Sunday 18th, one name will be chosen at random to receive this amazing poster and wristband. Each new pledge of $10 or higher during this final week will be a separate entry into the draw. That’s right: the more times you pledge, the more chances you have to win!

Christian Rivers and Peter Jackson With a trademark eye for detail, film-maker Peter Jackson has hired an astronomer to ensure the moon’s position in his movie Dambusters is spot-on. A full moon was key to the May 1943 Dambusters raids, in which Allied planes bombed German dams at night. Former Carter Observatory senior astronomer Brian Carter, not related to the founding Carter family, was asked to research the moon’s position over Germany at the time. “Somebody just rang up. I didn’t realise it was for Peter Jackson until later.” Mr Carter has since been made redundant from the observatory and has set up a paid service providing information about celestial events. Computer software allows him to find where the moon was at any time, anywhere on the globe. Moon gives light to Jackson film

British writer and comedian Stephen Fry is back at work on a third draft of his screenplay for Peter Jackson’s remake of The Dambusters after being delayed by the United States writers’ strike. Fry also had interviewed squadron members of the famous raid and production staff had visited locations in Britain and Germany where the World War 2 events took place. Jackson is producing the remake of the classic war movie, to be directed by special effects expert Christian Rivers, and has commissioned Fry to write the script. Fry revealed details of his scriptwriting on his internet blog and podcast. He said he spent time last year “zooming around England meeting old survivors of the original raid and people connected with survivors” as research for a second draft of the script. Fry resumes work on Dambusters screenplay