New Zealand May Lose `Hobbit’ Film Over Union Dispute, Warner Says

October 22, 2010 04:01


“The actions of these unions have caused us substantial damage and disruption and forced us to consider other filming locations,” Paul McGuire, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for Warner, said in an e-mailed statement.

By Chris Bourke – Oct 21, 2010 at Bloomberg.com

EXCERPTS:

The Rings trilogy added about NZ$350 million ($261 million) to New Zealand’s economy in the three years to March 2002, and boosted tourism as fans flocked to locations where Frodo battled Orcs in a recreation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

“Seemingly overnight, NZ Actors Equity shredded the reputation of a burgeoning industry, which has been over forty years in the making,” Jackson said in a statement.

New Zealand’s film industry was worth NZ$2.8 billion in 2009, according to a Statistics New Zealand report.

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