“Lord of the Rings” turns his back on New Zealand and travels to UK

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Amazon Studios is moving the production of its the Lord of the Rings series from New Zealand to the UK in a blow to the Pacific nation’s two-decade relationship with the film franchise.

Amazon said on Friday that the shift in production for the flagship series aligns with a strategy of expanding its footprint and investing in UK studios. The move represented a coup for the UK film industry, which is rebounding after several months of filming suspended due to restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic last year.

But the loss of the Amazon series caused bitter disappointment in New Zealand, which built a lucrative film and travel industry on the success of the Peter Jackson original. the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Over 2,000 people worked on the set and production of the first season of the Amazon series, which recently ended in New Zealand. Production of the second series will move to the UK in June of next year, ahead of the first season premiering on Amazon Prime Video in September 2022.

New Zealand authorities have taken advantage of the country’s spectacular scenery – and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks – to attract successive film and television productions based on the writings of JRR Tolkien.

The original Hobbiton movie set from the Jackson films is now one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, and Air New Zealand has decorated its planes with dwarves, wizards and other movie characters.

New Zealand Minister of Economic Development Stuart Nash said he was disappointed with Amazon’s decision and confirmed Wellington would withdraw some of the tax breaks he had offered to secure production.

“The international film industry is incredibly competitive and very mobile. We do not regret having given our best shot to this production with the support of the government, ”he said.

Amazon remains eligible for a 20% tax rebate worth NZ $ 132 million (US $ 92 million) of the NZ $ 663.74 million the government estimates were spent in New Zealand. Zealand for the first series. But Nash said the studio could not access another 5% tax break initially offered by Wellington.

from amazon the Lord of the Rings the drama begins thousands of years before the events of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books and traces the reemergence of evil in Middle-earth, Tolkien’s fictional land.

Russell Alexander, managing director of Hobbiton Movie Set Tours, said the move was disappointing, especially since Covid had hit the tourism industry hard.

“While we have no direct association with the production, we look forward to seeing New Zealand return to the screen as Middle-earth in the first season,” said Alexander.

The New Zealand Film Commission has said the domestic industry may rebound after the loss of the series.

“It’s a shame and I feel for everyone who put their hearts into this production,” said David Strong, chief executive of the commission. “Our role now is to work hard to keep the Kiwi display industry employed. “