The saga ends, Hobbit stays
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced that an agreement has been reached between Warner Bros. and his Government, to keep the shoot of The Hobbit in the country.
“I am delighted we have achieved this result. Making the two Hobbit movies here will not only safeguard work for thousands of New Zealanders, but it will also follow the success of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy in once again promoting NZ on the world stage,” said Key.
New legislation will be introduced, to clarify the distinction between independent contractors and employees as it relates to the film production industry; a change that Key said would “guarantee the movies are made in New Zealand”.
“The industrial issues that have arisen in the past several weeks have highlighted a significant set of concerns for the way in which the international film industry operates,” he said.
Key and his ministers for Economic Development (Gerry Brownlee) and Arts, Culture and Heritage (Chris Finlayson) spent two days negotiating with Warner executives.
As a result, tax rebates will be changed (giving Warner up to U$15m, according to reports from The New Zealand Herald), and Governement and Warner will enter a long-term strategic partnership to promote the country as a film production/tourism destination.
