![\"Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who-300x153.jpg\")
That figure includes the major 266 days of filming with actors that was completed last year, although it doesn\u2019t include an additional two months or so of \u201cpick-up\u201d shoots done this year. There will likely also be additional post-production costs as the next two movies are completed.<\/p>\n
Through March 31, production had cost 676 million New Zealand dollars, or $561 million at current exchange rates, according to financial documents filed Friday in New Zealand, where the movies are being made.<\/p>\n
Distributor Warner Bros. and director Peter Jackson may consider it money well spent. To date, only the first movie in the latest trilogy has been released. \u201cThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey\u201d took in just over $1 billion at the box office.<\/p>\n
The documents, filed online by New Zealand\u2019s Companies Office, provide a rare insight into the exact costs of a blockbuster Hollywood production. Often studios release only rough estimates, if anything.<\/p>\n
When making the trilogy, Warner Bros. created a wholly-owned New Zealand company it named \u201c3 Foot 7 Ltd,\u201d in reference to the diminutive stature of the movie\u2019s hobbits and dwarves. Company documents show that New Zealand taxpayers have so far contributed NZ$98 million to the trilogy through an incentive scheme designed to attract big budget movies to the country. Such schemes are common among U.S. states and foreign countries that compete for movies.<\/p>\n
The trilogy also appears to be one of the most expensive movie productions in which two or more movies are shot at the same time.<\/p>\n
Both Box Office Mojo and Guinness World Records estimate the most expensive single movie ever made was \u201cPirates of the Caribbean: At World\u2019s End\u201d with an estimated $300 million production tag. That movie, in conjunction with \u201cPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man\u2019s Chest\u201d \u2014 which was shot at the same time \u2014 held the previous record for the most expensive total production, costing an estimated $450 million to $525 million.<\/p>\n