The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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November 18 : 2008

Film-locations experts meet in Wellywood

Variety yesterday quoted Peter Jackson concerning an event about to start in New Zealand. The Association of Film Commissioners International will be holding its Cineposium International conference in Wellington from November 19 to 23.

Here’s Peter on the event:

Peter Jackson, whose “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy lensed on location in New Zealand, said the Cineposium helps filmmakers who work on a variety of locations and rely on the local film office to aid production teams on the ground.

“It’s great that the AFCI Cineposium brings film commissioners together to learn and exchange information and best practice,” Jackson said.

Twenty commissioners will come together from around the world. I note that Kate Bedya, New Line Cinema’s senior VP of production, will be one of a panel of three on a closing-day session on “how studios and film commissions can work together creatively and as partners to make productions more efficient and successful around the world.”

Peter gets in a plug for New Zealand as a filmmaking location: “The region is a terrific environment for filmmaking and filmmakers. The residents and local government are incredibly enthusiastic, helpful and friendly.” Given what we saw happening with LOTR, that’s obviously true.

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

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    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”