Middle-earth came to life again last week as New Zealand celebrated 20 years since the premiere of The Lord of the Rings trilogy with special screenings, costume exhibitions and art displays.
Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the first feature film premiere of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, which premiered at Odeon Leicester Square in London on December 10 2001, bringing instant fame to New Zealand’s rolling hills, meadows and forests, which were the backdrop for the mythical Middle-earth.
Screenings were planned in cinemas in Auckland and Wellington, including an outdoor screening on Friday in Hobbiton, a sheep and beef farm about 160km from Auckland, famous as “the home of the Hobbits”.
“This event was sold out quicker than any we have ever done,” said Shayne Forrest, general manager of Hobbiton.
Fans who attended the screening spent nearly 12 months preparing their costumes, Forrest said.
Many productions chose New Zealand last year because of the country’s Covid-19 free status, but with the Delta outbreak this year, the industry has faced challenges.
New Zealand’s tourism industry has been hurt over the past 20 months by border closures and pandemic restrictions. Hobbiton received 650,000 tourists each year before the pandemic, but saw just 90,000 visitors in the past 12 months. It cut its staff to 50 people from about 320.
The celebrations this week were an opportunity to put New Zealand on the world stage again, Forrest said.
Hobbits are set to hit screens again, as Amazon Studios began filming The Lord of the Rings series in New Zealand last year, a TV show widely tipped to be the most expensive ever made.
But Amazon said the second season of the multimillion-dollar television series will be filmed in the UK, moving Middle-earth out of New Zealand for the first time.
The series’ success helped New Zealand’s film industry attract some of the biggest Hollywood productions, including James Cameron’s Avatar, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog and Netflix series such as Sweet Tooth.
Many productions chose New Zealand last year because of the country’s Covid-19 free status, but with the Delta outbreak this year, the industry has faced challenges.
“But we have a resilient industry,” said David Strong, CEO of New Zealand’s Film Commission.
“Next year we are opening up and international productions are very keen to come back,” he added.
— Reuters
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