Talent, locations, infrastructure and a warm Kiwi welcome. According to Pam Ford from the Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development agency in this piece from Radio NZ, those were the determining factors in Amazon Studios’ decision, confirmed on Tuesday, to film the upcoming Middle-earth-based TV series in New Zealand.
Quoted in stuff.co.nz, showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay described New Zeland as indeed offering all of the criteria they were looking for: “As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle Earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople and other staff”.
“And we’re happy that we are now able to officially confirm New Zealand as our home for our series based on stories from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings. The abundant measure of Kiwi hospitality with which they have welcomed us has already made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to deepening our partnership in the years to come.”
No doubt the prospect of a 20% to 25% rebate for every dollar spent also contributed to the ‘welcome’ factor. The good news for New Zealand is that Amazon will be spending approximately $1.0 billion of those dollars ($1.3 NZD) and will likely provide jobs that will spill over from the film industry to affect the rest of the economy for up to a decade.
Read more about the Auckland studios where filming will take place in our article from June, and be sure to listen to the full radio story linked above as it features our own staffer Garfeimao (Cathy Udovch)!
One of the new figures Asmus Toys had at Comic-Con this year was the solo version of the Mouth of Sauron. This piece allows fans who just want the Mouth of Sauron minus his horse a chance to get him into their collections. As you can see, this one turned out pretty solid with some incredible details on the different versions of his mouth piece. While this one is labeled as a ‘slim’ version, with all the stuff you get and how nice it looks there is nothing slim about him! You can get him right now for $145 and he is due to ship first part of next year.
This superb looking piece made its debut at Comic-Con 2018. It also comes from one of my favorite sub lines: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Statue Line. This dynamic horse and rider piece, showing Arwen as she rescues Frodo after his encounter with the Witch-king, is super well-done. Jane Wenley, who’s work we’ve now seen in several Middle-earth pieces, is the sculptor and once again she’s done a fantastic job on this statue. This piece comes in with an edition size of 750 pieces and a price tag of $699. While you can, you are still able to order this but I wouldn’t wait around long. These horse and rider pieces tend to go for a good sum on the secondary market.
So every so often I get asked whether I would entertain reviewing one of the old Sideshow/Weta pieces. So, I decided to go ahead and review one, which turned out to be quite a bit of fun. I decided to take a look-back at the Theoden statue, one of my favorites from the original line. Theoden came out in 2003 and has an edition size of 2000 pieces. During that time you cold get Theoden brand new for $125. Obviously this piece is sold out now, but you can track him down on eBay. Watch my review now for loads of information on this classic piece. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Sideshow/Weta Theoden Statue Review”
At Comic-Con this year I got a chance to see two brand new figures from Asmus Toys. First is a special version of Gandalf the Grey coming in their Crown Series. This Gandalf includes a boat-load of items including a awesome base with the gate and party-sign leading into Bag End. You can get this extremely awesome version of Gandalf for $350 and he’s due to ship between January and March of next year.
The other new item is a great looking version of Theoden. The detailing of the armor itself is incredible and he also comes with a load of extras such as Herugrim with sheath belt, and forearm and calf pieces. Fans can grab Theoden for $190 and for those who hate to wait, this piece will be available between August and October of this year. Both of these figures will look awesome in any collection and give lucky fans plenty of display options.
(VIDEO) For the 20th Anniversary of TheOneRing.net, our panel at San Diego Comic-con ventured back into the past (No time machine involved, but wouldn’t that be fun!) to look at TORN’s roots and how we grew from our early beginnings into arguably the world’s premiere J.R.R. Tolkien fansite. From fan clubs to card games and Oscar parties, no stone was left unturned. And for the crowning moment, we invited Sir Richard Taylor, Co-Founder and Creative Director of WETA Workshop, onto the stage, and he entertained us with fascinating and funny tales of how WETA grew right along with TORn.
