Remember at the beginning of the month when reports surfaced a greenlight for "The Hobbit" was just days away and that the bankruptcy and union issues surrounding the film were said to be close to being tied up? Well, that was two weeks ago and with Peter Jackson recently telling Empire that he's still not officially signed on and that the project still faces myriad steps to get it out of MGM's bankruptcy hell, he quickly shut down any premature reports that the film was imminently ready to go.In fact, not only are MGM's financial woes a major issue, the union spat is still at least a week away from being sorted out. The Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA), Actors' Equity, and Council of Trade Unions (CTU) met recently to try and come to a common ground regarding working conditions.
"The parties believe this process will help to ensure New Zealand remains an attractive screen production environment," said Gerry Brownlee, New Zealand's Minister for Economic Development.
Peter Jackson remains stoically unmoved. A spokesperson for the director once again stated that the production was seriously considering moving saying, "Warner Brothers are running financial models about the costs of shooting in a variety of countries. We expect a decision is still a week or two away."
While Warner Bros. are playing hardball, we'd wager they would prefer to keep the $500 million production in New Zealand instead of uprooting and moving everything elsewhere. But with lucrative offers already coming in from a number of countries you can bet they are considering all their options. Oh yeah, and that half billion pricetag? While it may seem like a staggering number, remember, that's for two films in a major franchise. $250 million each which is actually not that bad. Consider that Christopher Nolan's non-franchise "Inception" cost just shy of $200 million (not including marketing). At any rate, it's money New Zealand would rather have spent in their country than somewhere else.
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