The Hobbit

Labour and the angry bitter left opposed the making of the Hobbit. They preferred to allow an Aunstralian union to try to hijack the movie. John Key stepped in and cut a deal. As a result the Hobbit movies have been made here and many people were employed and continued revenue flows as a result.

The head of Weta Workshops is one of those who knows shit from clay:

Weta Workshops founder Sir Richard Taylor has hailed Prime Minister John Key at a gala dinner in Beijing, saying The Hobbit movie “was made possible, in no small part” by his government.

The last major showpiece event in a week-long trade visit, delegation-member Sir Richard used his keynote speech last night to indirectly praise Key’s controversial decision to give Warner Brothers a special concessions to ensure the filming stayed in New Zealand.  Read more »

You would have thought that the unions, and especially Actors Equity would have learned from the Hobbit debacle.

Peter Jackson was right to mis-trust the unions and to continue to mis-trust Actors Equity in particular.

This is what their vice-president, Todd Rippon, thinks about the role of unions:

As Vice-President of New Zealand Actors’ Equity it is my job to agitate and get underneath the skin of people like you ie employers. Unions exist to work against employer’s best interests. That’s how it works. You live in a country that has accepted that system. It may not be perfect but it’s fairer than any other system in the world. If you don’t love your country as much as I do then grow your business and take it to China. I’m sure you’d love your employees to have the same guaranteed minimum terms, conditions and pay as New Zealand Actors currently have, which is exactly none.  Read more »

Mike Hosking’s editorial on The Hobbit today is required reading:

I don’t understand why Labour are trying to spin this as a bad thing and highlight the Government’s role as some kind of scandal. Every time they do this, they look anti-employment, anti-arts and anti-tourism. The Hobbit is an unqualified smash hit. It’s brought in a fortune, it created thousands of jobs, it has us once again on the map and we’re leveraging the living daylights out of it. It’s a monumental win for the country and Labour is against all that.

Labour seems to be anti-jobs. What is more interesting is they claim that they want to be more hands on in the government…yet when the Prime Minister shows that he can be hands on all of a sudden they call corruption…it will be interesting how they intend to continue down that line of attack.

I saw Grant Robertson say the Government should have acted in the best interests of the country. How much better do you get than bringing in a fortune, providing jobs by the thousands and getting global recognition for a country at the bottom of the globe? I don’t understand all that.  Read more »

Peter Jackson has slammed the unions in a press release today after OIA documents were released today over the Hobbit deal:

WingNut Films welcomes the release of documents pertaining to the industrial action that was initiated by the Australian based trade union, the MEAA, against the film production of The Hobbit in 2010.

Whilst we would not personally seek to re-litigate this issue, it is our hope that these documents will lead to a better understanding of the events as they unfolded.  Read more »

Shakespeare got it wrong. Instead of killing lawyers maybe it ought to be have been actors or is the Herald trying to become a print version of Campbell Live?

Perhaps proving actors are vainglorious, myopic and frankly thick, actor Grae Burton, the classic “Kiwi bloke” in Tui beer commercials has effectively said “avoid my moaning union ass” by backing unions who want to kill the legislation that made The Hobbit’s filming possible. He moans in The Horrid:

“Burton, 35, is one of a growing number of New Zealanders who are no longer paid hourly wages but have to charge for their services as “independent contractors”.

Somehow we are meant to feel sorry for a jobbing actor who should get the message that if you cannot land a regular part on Shortland Street or Nothing Trivial or LOTR or The Hobbit etc, then you are probably a bit shit.  Read more »

This website makes an interesting point.

To put it in perspective: Here are some numbers.

The Government subsidy for Hobbit was approximately NZ 120 Million. The film is expected to gross NZ 3 Billion.

Heineken paid NZ 55 Million for product placement in Sky fall. That film is hoping to gross NZ 1 Billion.

We should all be looking at the movie and celebrating it as a success. Not chopping it down in true tall poppy style.  Read more »

The Hobbit continues to give to New Zealand:

Travel websites have reported significant growth in searches and bookings for New Zealand this month, after the worldwide release of The Hobbit.

The flight search website Sky scanner.com recorded a 102 per cent increase in worldwide searches for flights to New Zealand this month compared with December 2011, including a 117 per cent spike in searches for flights to Wellington.

The foreign currency exchange group Travelex has reported a 26 per cent increase in pre-orders for New Zealand dollars compared with December 2011.

Read more »

I reckon I could give this a right good smashing…the entire Denny’s Hobbit menu in under 20 minutes:

Mashable explains:

While the rest of us are trying to shed the pounds from our holiday feasts, Jamie McDonald had a feast of his own.

The professional eater downs the entire 11-piece Hobbit menu at Denny’s in less than 20 minutes.

Comprised of dishes such as Frodo’s Pot Roast, The Ring Burger and Bilbo’s Berry Smoothie, the egregious 8610-calorie menu is a truck load of gluttony. All plates total: 9.75 pounds.

McDonald’s finishes every plate in 19 minutes and 25 seconds, though he started the timer a little late. We bet he won’t be hankering for second breakfast anytime soon.

The Labour party opposed every step to have The Hobbit made here, they became known as The Hobbit Haters…the rest of the world however seems quite enamoured with The Hobbit:

Stuff.co.nz

The Hobbit has set a December movie record for North American box office sales of US$84.77 million (NZ$100.30m) as legions of fans turned out for the long-awaited big-screen return to Middle Earth.

The 3D movie directed by Oscar-winning Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson is the first of three films based on a 1937 classic novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Warner Bros. is aiming to build on the success of the Rings series, one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises with US$2.9 billion (NZ$3.43b) in global ticket sales.

BBC

In New Zealand, there is a peculiar clarity to the sunlight. On a bright day, everything is thrown into high contrast. Highlights blaze; shadows are cast very, very dark. The effect makes the grass that covers the hills of North Island appear greener than grass anywhere else in the world. It looks almost like AstroTurf, or a golf course, though it is perfectly natural.

When director Peter Jackson decided to set The Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand, he knew that his native land could provide landscapes so spectacular that in many cases they would need little camera trickery to become the fantastical Middle-earth locations described by JRR Tolkien. They already looked just right.

A reader emails:

WO – I had the misfortune of sitting next to Helen Kelly on a flight to Auckland from Wellington today.  I quickly tried to swap my seat with a colleague who wasn’t interested.  As I sat and listened to her babble to the other person in the row, a few things became evident:

1) I didn’t become enraged. I was expecting to be so mad at being in such close proximity to her.  I did feel like I needed a shower when I got to the office.

2) Bob Jones should/would have her top of the list of those to be beheaded and left in the forest.

3) She has no idea about the real world.  It was amazing to hear about all her wonderful overseas holidays paid for by the unions.  She indeed has had some great holidays.  Most unions members couldn’t dream of the exotic locations she has been too.

4) Every negative statistic she uses is “since 2008″.  It’s like everything in the world was fine until John Key came to power.  She is as deluded as Winston.

5) She hates this Govt and blames it for everything, child death, Australian freight monopolies, tax injustices, and the Hobbit.

6) The rude bitch talked all the way through the inflight safety video featuring the Hobbit and Peter Jackson.  The least she could have done is hung her head in SHAME

7) She doesn’t charge her iPhone overnight. And once it was on in Auckland, there was a flood of texts from Carol Beaumont…..which leads me to:

8) She hates this govt.

9) Why did she also have a number of emails from an off-shore bank in her inbox ?

10) She needs to get her eyes tested.

11) Apparently she has a son ????  I thought she was a friend of Dorothy

People are so indiscreet on airplanes…don’t they realise that phones with retina displays are really easy to read.