NZ won't bid for Hobbit flick
Updated
New Zealand would not enter a bidding war to keep The Hobbit movies, prime minister John Key said ahead of a meeting with Hollywood executives over the troubled project's fate.
The executives from US studio Warner Bros. arrived in New Zealand this week to examine the logistics of moving the $US500 million production offshore following a row between director Peter Jackson and actors' unions.
Mr Key, who will meet the executives later on Tuesday (local time), said he believed New Zealand had a "50-50" chance of retaining the production, a two-part prequel to Jackson's Oscar winning Lord of the Rings trilogy.
"From the conversations I've had with Warner Bros. so far, I've made it quite clear if it comes to a bidding war, then New Zealand is out because I don't think that's the right way to run this," he told reporters.
Mr Key said offering special tax concessions for "the Hobbit would set a precedent for other film productions in New Zealand".
"There is a limit here," he said, adding that the government's existing 15 per cent tax rebate on major productions was worth $NZ60-80 million to The Hobbit.
Mr Key said he would consider adjusting industrial laws to clarify the legal status of actors but pointed out that other factors such as the rising New Zealand dollar would also affect the studio's decision.
The shooting location for The Hobbit has been in doubt since the actors' union NZ Equity last month called for a global boycott after Jackson rejected demands to negotiate with it on minimum conditions for its members.
While the ban was called off last week, Mr Key said it had severely rattled Warner's confidence it could avoid industrial strife of the set of the production, which is due to begin shooting in February.
Unions have since given an undertaking that there will be no industrial action while the movies are being made, but Mr Key said the studios gave the assurance little credence.
He was heartened by the fact that Warner had sent a "heavy duty" team to New Zealand, including the head of the studio's New Line production house.
"That's actually a good sign," he said. "If they were just coming to say 'no' then they wouldn't bother actually to send such a senior team, they'd just send you an email or give you a phone call."
New Zealand's rugged scenery was a key part of The Lord of the Rings and Jackson has warned the country's $US2.3 billion a year film industry would be devastated if The Hobbit moved elsewhere.
- AFP
First posted
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