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New Zealand Passes “Hobbit” Deal: Opposition MPs Call It “Day Of Shame”

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday October 29, 2010 @ 2:36am PDTTags: Movie Deals, Movies, New Zealand, New Zealand Government The Hobbit, The Hobbit Finance, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit New Zealand Tax Rebate, The Hobbit Non-Union, Warner Bros New Zealand



The New Zealand parliament has passed emergency legislation ensuring that the 2 back-to-back Hobbit films get made in the country. The legislation bypassed usual parliamentary committees, prompting New Zealand MPs to call it a “day of shame.” One held up a redesigned national flag with the Warner Bros logo in one corner. “What is the government going to do next – give in to any multinational that asks for a labour standard to be diluted in return for some form of investment?” asked opposition MP Charles Chauvel. The amendment was passed by a 65-50 vote. The government’s decision to rush through amended employment laws – stopping below-the-line workers from being treated as full-time employees, with all the rights which go with being a salary man — has divided local opinion. The above political cartoon is from a New Zealand newpaper. Meanwhile, some actors union officials though have received death threats after threatening a boycott. Prime Minister John Key has defended his government’s tax deal that secured The Hobbit movies as being far less generous than the opposition’s Lord of the Rings deal. The Hobbit tax deal is understood to be worth $57 million to Warner Bros across 2 movies. Key suggested that the previous Labour government’s Lord of the Rings deal was worth $225 million across all 3 movies. Warner Bros as well as producer/director Peter Jackson had been threatening to move the production to England or Western Europe.

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Peter Jackson Bares ‘The Hobbit’ Dispute

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday October 23, 2010 @ 8:33am PDTTags: Australian Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Movies, New Zealand Actor's Equity, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG AFTRA The Hobbit, The Hobbit Filming Location, The Hobbit Finance, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, Video, Warner Bros, Warner Bros The Hobbit, Warner Bros The Hobbit Finance
Mike Fleming

Warner Bros and Peter Jackson next week will try to hash out whether the $500 million budget for back-to-back The Hobbit films will stay in New Zealand or move elsewhere. Meetings are planned that will involve Prime Minister John Key. … Read More »

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New Line Fans Ire In The Shire: No Guarantee Of New Zealand ‘Hobbit’ Shoot

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday October 21, 2010 @ 12:04pm PDTTags: Australian Labor Union MEAA, Movies, New Line, New Zealand Actor's Equity, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG AFTRA The Hobbit, The Hobbit, The Hobbit Filming Location, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production
Mike Fleming

New Line has weighed in on The Hobbit, adding doubt that the Warner Bros-financed pictures will shoot in New Zealand even though actors guilds have lifted their boycott. I still think that Peter Jackson is so staked in New Zealand with his sound stages and visual effects operations that … Read More »

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Actor Guilds Settle With ‘The Hobbit’ But Ire In The Shire Could Still Push Back-To-Back Peter Jackson Pics Out Of New Zealand

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 20, 2010 @ 5:58pm PDTTags: AFTRA The Hobbit, Australian Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Movies, New Zealand Actor's Equity, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG The Hobbit, The Hobbit, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: There’s still unease even though SAG and AFTRA rescinded the order to stop its actor members from working on The Hobbit because of a request from sister union New Zealand Actors Equity. The labor settlement doesn’t mean Peter Jackson will move the pictures back to the New Zealand locations that are home to Mordor, Minas Tirith, Isengard, and other Middle Earth locales. Because of all the hard feelings that the local unions created, Warner Bros has been exploring other options, and while Jackson will have a say, the studio could decide to make a move if it gets a better deal someplace else. Now New Zealand prime minister John Key is reaching out for a meeting with Warner Bros to try and keep the films from shooting in another country.

Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh were clearly furious about the aggressive tactics used by the New Zealand Actors Equity and the Australian Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Yesterday, between 1,000 and 15,000 technicians and actors opposed to Equity’s actions picketed Equity headquarters last night, and moved that protest to Parliament. Polls conducted by local TV stations and newspapers in New Zealand showed little support for the union tactic, and high level ministers in government came out in support of Jackson. I’d say it’s unlikely that the films actually leave New Zealand. Jackson’s visual effects headquarters and stages were built there using Lord Of The Rings trilogy money. But clearly this is serious stuff. He and Walsh issued this incendiary release last night, before the unions tried to bring the agitation to a halt:

WELLINGTON – Thursday, 21 October 2010: The lifting of the blacklist on The Hobbit does nothing to help the films stay in New Zealand. The damage inflicted on our film industry by NZ Equity/MEAA is long since done.

Next week Warners are coming down to NZ to make arrangements to move the production off-shore. It appears we now cannot make films in our own country – even when substantial financing is available.

The spectacle of NZ Actors’ Equity suddenly cancelling their Wellington meeting, because film workers wanted to express to them their concern at losing The Hobbit, exemplifies the pure gutlessness of this small, self-centred group. They don’t appear to care about the repurcussions of their actions on others, nor are they prepared to take responsibility for decisions made in their name. NZ Equity constantly refer to ‘good faith’ discussions but they have never acted in good faith towards our film.

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‘The Hobbit’ Finally Filming In February, But Peter Jackson & Actor Unions Still At Odds

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday October 15, 2010 @ 11:01am PDTTags: Andy Serkis, David Tennant, Martin Freeman, MGM Financing The Hobbit, Michael Fassbender, Movies, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit, The Hobbit Casting, The Hobbit Casting Buzz, The Hobbit MGM, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production

UPDATE: Things must be getting close on The Hobbit, because casting buzz is getting strong in Hollywood. Word is Martin Freeman will soon be set to play Bilbo Baggins, that Jimmy Nesbitt has been offered a role and that Michael Fassbender is being pursued for another as is David Tennant. Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are expected to reprise Gandalf and Gollum.

EARLIER: While it looks like production on The Hobbit is set to start in February on the pair of films directed by Peter Jackson, there are still a few giant issues standing in the way. The films had to go in early 2011 to make the holiday release date. But even though the production schedule looks locked, there’s still the issue of the loud labor fight happening between Jackson and the unions, which have told performers outright not to work on the film because it’s a non-union production. By agreeing to a detente, the films would indeed get underway in New Zealand in early 2011. The delay has also been caused by all the ongoing problems at MGM, and just this week Lionsgate put forth a merger recommendation which Carl Icahn backs. That would obviously affect the pending Spyglass deal  – and add more drama to any major production going forward. (Meanwhile, while MGM goes through all of its tumult, Mary Parent is expectedly in the process of leaving the studio, which she has run for almost three years.) Read More »

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The Curse Of ‘The Hobbit’ Strikes Yet Again

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday October 2, 2010 @ 4:48am PDTTags: AFTRA The Hobbit, Movies, Peter Jackson, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG The Hobbit, The Hobbit, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production

Now add fire to the latest list of woes which have beset Peter Jackson’s pre-production on those back-to-back The Hobbit films. Flames yesterday engulfed his New Zealand workshop set which would have been used for the Tolkien movies. It took 50 firefighters three hours to … Read More »

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‘Hobbit’ Producers Warner Bros, New Line, & MGM Defend Peter Jackson Against Actor Union Allegations: “Baseless And Unfair”

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday September 27, 2010 @ 9:07pm PDTTags: Australian Labor Union MEAA, MEAA, MGM, Movies, New Line Cinema, New Zealand Actor's Equity, New Zealand Movie TV Production, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG The Hobbit, The Hobbit, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production, Warner Bros Pictures

SAG & AFTRA Nix Non-Union ‘The Hobbit’ For Kiwi & Oz Actors
Peter Jackson Slaps Back At Kiwi/Oz Unions

New Line,

… Read More »

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Peter Jackson Slaps Kiwi/Oz Unions: Threatens To Move ‘Hobbit’ To Eastern Europe

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday September 26, 2010 @ 11:07am PDTTags: Australian Labor Union MEAA, MEAA, MGM, Movies, New Zealand Actor's Equity, Peter Jackson, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG The Hobbit, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Hobbit Production, The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Three Foot Seven, Warner Bros

An angry Peter Jackson today is fighting back at a “Member Alert” that went out Friday afternoon from the Screen Actors Guild advising actors not to accept work on the non-union production of The Hobbit. It’s part of an international showbiz … Read More »

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SAG & AFTRA Nix Non-Union ‘The Hobbit’: Kiwi & Oz Actors Confront Peter Jackson

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday September 25, 2010 @ 1:28pm PDTTags: AFTRA The Hobbit, MGM, Movies, New Zealand Actor's Equity, Peter Jackson The Hobbit, SAG, SAG The Hobbit, The Hobbit, The Hobbit New Zealand, The Hobbit Non-Union, The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Three Foot Seven, Warner Bros

BREAKING NEWS: Peter Jackson Slaps Back At Kiwi/Oz/Hollywood Unions

UPDATE: A “Member Alert” went out yesterday afternoon from the Screen Actors Guild advising actors not to … Read More »

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