Prior to The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand’s film industry was modest, competent, and mostly unseen by the outside world. The nation produced good movies, but it wasn’t a destination that foreign studios were directing their work toward, and it wasn’t constructing infrastructure at a scale that would enable it to compete for the kind of cash required for a $281 million fantasy trilogy. That was altered by Peter Jackson, and the alteration was not subtle. By the time the third movie was finished, New Zealand had top-notch visual effects facilities, a skilled production workforce that didn’t exist ten years prior, and a government that had sufficiently observed the economic impact to determine that systematically subsidizing this kind of investment was worthwhile.
Screen New Zealand oversees the International Screen Production Rebate, which gives foreign productions a 25% rebate on qualifying New Zealand production expenditures. Productions that show a significant commitment to local talent and content are eligible for an additional 5%. It’s a competitive figure, but not out of the ordinary by international standards—the UK’s creative industry reliefs can reach 34 percent for some projects, while Australia offers up to 40 percent in specific circumstances. The infrastructure that Jackson’s productions created is what New Zealand offers in addition to the rebate: Weta Workshop in Miramar, Wellington, which creates physical effects, prosthetics, armor, and creatures for major films; WetaFX, which provides digital visual effects work that has impacted every major franchise film over the past 20 years; and a workforce that has now spent a generation receiving training on back-to-back major productions. Productions are made possible by the rebate. They return because of the facilities.
No incentive structure better captures the deeper effect than James Cameron’s relationship with New Zealand. Cameron made the decision to shoot the Avatar sequels in New Zealand instead of California, citing the caliber of the local crew, the facilities, and—with a directness that studio executives in Los Angeles perhaps found a touch pointed—the way of life. He became a permanent resident of New Zealand and bought a sizable sheep property in the Wairarapa. The Way of Water, the second Avatar movie, was produced in Wellington over several years. There, the third, fourth, and fifth movies continue. It’s not a coincidence that Cameron came to New Zealand as a visiting director and ended up staying; it shows how the country’s production environment has changed from being a place with financial incentives to something more akin to a creative community that serious filmmakers want to be a part of.
In particular, Wellington became the center of this. A self-reinforcing dynamic was formed by the concentration of talent around Weta Workshop: major productions needed what Weta could accomplish, which attracted local and international talent, trained additional people, and made it more feasible for the next major production to pass through Wellington. There is something special about strolling around Miramar, the area of Wellington where Jackson’s numerous facilities are located. The streets appear unremarkable. There are residences, stores, and a gas station.
Compared to Wellington, Auckland has played a different and considerably less prominent role. The city’s production infrastructure has expanded to accommodate large-scale shootings, including feature films, international series, and streaming projects. Its variety of landscapes within a short drive of a big metropolis makes it truly helpful for location shooting. One of the things that Jackson’s films most vividly conveyed to viewers around the world was the nation’s geographic diversity: Within a few hours’ journey, New Zealand appears to be several continents. This is usually quickly discovered by producers who come for the facilities and the reimbursement.
Policymakers in other nations pay particular attention to the economic transformation that followed Jackson’s initial work. According to study commissioned by Screen New Zealand, the screen business in New Zealand supported over 28,000 people and contributed $3.27 billion to the country’s GDP in 2022. That is comparable to an estimated $200 million prior to the development of Lord of the Rings. Due to the clustering of large productions and the expansion of facilities to serve them, the increase was not linear but rather occurred in waves.
