My precious: New Zealand recalls Lord of the Rings’ ‘big advertisement’, 20 years on
- The trilogy showcased New Zealand as a ‘creative hub that could punch well above its weight in the international arena’
- Lord of the Rings has also helped turn various film locations and Wētā Workshop into tourist destinations, fuelled by the country’s can-do spirit
New Zealand was primarily known abroad for its sheep, its wine and its rugby team on the September day in 1998 that filmmaker Peter Jackson’s helicopter landed on a sprawling family farm about 150km south of Auckland.
The country’s film industry was another matter: though New Zealand had produced crossover successes like Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures and Jane Campion’s Oscar winner The Piano, it was nearly as far from the thinking of Hollywood studios as it was from Hollywood itself.
But that was about to change.
The lush farmland on which Jackson’s crew alighted would soon become the backdrop for The Lord of the Rings, one of the most ambitious, influential and profitable film series ever made. And in the two decades since the release of The Return of the King, the Oscar-winning final film in Jackson’s trilogy, New Zealand has become a major player in the global motion picture industry.
“It absolutely put us on the map,” said Jasmine Millet, head of creative industries at Tataki Auckland Unlimited and an advocate for the region’s filmmaking industry. “People started thinking about New Zealand, wanting to visit New Zealand en masse in a way that they never would have without those films.
“The industry was already building up. That whole filmmaking process and that language of cinematic storytelling, all of that stuff was ready and ripe. What Peter and the team did was just absolutely take it to the next level.”
The three films, adapted from JRR Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings, combined for 30 Academy Award nominations and 17 wins and earned nearly US$3 billion in worldwide box office receipts. It also pioneered new technologies in special effects and software systems and advancing the use of motion capture to animate digital characters.
