The Hobbit Essay

The Hobbit is a two part prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy which is an adaptation of the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. New Zealander Sir Peter Jackson director of the Lord of the Rings is director, producer and co-writer of The Hobbit. Warner Brothers have scheduled the movies to be released on the 14th of December 2012 and 13th of December 2013.(Release dates for The Hobbit announced, 2011).Warner Brothers holds the monopoly rights for this film and in 2009 they became the first studio to gross more than $2 billion dollars domestically in a single year (Dann). In this essay I will be evaluating as to why the New Zealand Government offered Warner Brother incentives to film The Hobbit in New Zealand. I will also be assessing how this will affect the New Zealand film industry and society as well as the advantages and disadvantages of having The Hobbit filmed in New Zealand.
In September 2010 members of the Actors guild’s including Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and several other international unions issued a warning against "The Hobbit" advising their members not to accept work, this resulted in an international actors boycott(Handel, 2010). Workers on the film wanted to negotiate their terms and conditions of employment based on the treatment of employees and contractors. Other concerns were raised regarding working conditions, accommodation, and unpaid delay periods (Dann).Sir Peter Jackson stated that even though this implication was sorted with the New Zealand government, it was too late and that The Hobbit had to be filmed elsewhere due to the implications that Warner Brothers had with the issue. Countries that were taken into consideration for the filming of The Hobbit included Canada, Ireland and Scotland. Warner Brothers and New Line later reached an agreement with the New Zealand Government to keep production here. As part of the agreement the government will “introduce in parliament legislation sought by...