Is This Really Peter Jackson's Last Middle-Earth Movie?

 By Joanna Crawley <http://www.entertainmentwise.com/  On December 3, 2014  

  The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the final piece in the puzzle
The release of The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies next week signals the end of Peter Jackson 's 17 year journey with J.R.R Tolkien. Three Lord of the Rings movies and three Hobbit movies are in the can and Jackson's Middle-Earth adventure has been wrapped up into an epic six film series. But is there any way the director will return to Tolkien?

The Battle of the Five Armies will be released almost exactly 13 years after the first LOTR movie The Fellowship of the Ring hit cinemas. Billions have been made at the box office (The LOTR trilogy has notched up $2.9 billion alone), Orlando Bloom has had a steady run of work for over a decade and New Zealand has become a mecca for fans. After all these years is it really the end of the Jackson/Tolkien team-up? It looks like it.

At the London press conference for Five Armies this week, the director insisted that it was never in the plan for Tolkien's work to take over the last two decades of his life and ultimately become his cinematic legacy. "Fate steered me," he says, explaining that at the very beginning he had a much less epic plan for adapting Tolkien's works. "The very first phone call we made about these projects,  which was 17 years ago, I called Harvey Weinstein who we  first had a deal with and the pitch to Harvey was 'if you can get us the  rights to these books, we'd like to make The Hobbit as one film and if  it's successful then we'd like to do the LOTR as two movies.'"


Historically the New Zealand Government has shown contempt for the Works of Tolkien. Especially in the case of "The Lost Tolkien Mountains" of Fiordland. If they do not try and end some fences with Christopher Tolkien
he might as well get the Harry Potter People in the UK to do the other Tolkien Stories.

Sir Peter Jackson Interview 2013

From the New Zealand Tourism Board files - %100 Middle Earth Branding and Tolkien

http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/sir-peter-jackson/

Mountain Scene NZ - Mt Tolkien Spoof

This just in, a cutting from Queenstown that has a "dig" at the International movie industry
Tourism NZ and Land Information NZ..

Hobbit Mountain - Death Reported

German Tolkien fan dies visiting 'Hobbit' mountain

A German amateur mountain climber and J.R.R. Tolkien fan was killed climbing a New Zealand mountain used as a set in Peter Jackson's new hit film The Hobbit, it was reported Thursday.

Published: 27 Dec 12 14:54 CET the Local Germany's News in Enlglish

The 38-year-old Frank S. fell 200 metres to his death in Mount Aspiring National Park on the country's southern island, the Bild newspaper reported.

The Google-employed software developer from Munich had set off on the tour of New Zealand on November 29, and written about his twin passions of J.R.R. Tolkien and mountain climbing on his homepage.

Ascents with experienced mountain climbers were on offer for €2,500, but Frank S. reportedly attempted to conquer the park's Cascade Saddle route on his own.

A friend reported him missing on December 23, and his body was discovered by a rescue helicopter on Christmas Day. Rescue workers believe he slipped on snow on the mountain and fell to his death.

''This steep and challenging 'poled' route over the Cascade Saddle is an alpine environment which requires a high level of risk and in turn a high level of skill," Mike Johnston of Wanaka police station, in southwestern New Zealand commented. "This route should not be attempted unless key factors have been evaluated, such as, fitness, alpine experience, weather, and equipment. Falling in this slippery and steep terrain is unforgiving'.'

Police expressed their sympathy to the family and friends, who were receiving the news of the tourist's death at Christmas.

This story was not released in the New Zealand News

Tolkien Mountain - Bid Cartoon

This is just our from a professional cartoonist, London England

Alasandro Malaspina in NZ

Letter to the Southland Times January 13th 2013

The anti Tolkien Comments by Jack Murrell in your paper recently remind me of the bigotry surrounding John Hall Jones restoration of Spanish Place-names.
Everybody in authority here seemed to be against him restoring those historical Names to the Map of Doubtful Sound because they felt they just didn’t fit

Mr Hall-Jones had to make his case international before they eventually ruled in his favour and even when Fiordland Travel put on a special Bi Centenary cruise for the Spanish Landing it was boycotted by our local and National representatives, indeed my Wife & I ended up chatting to the Spanish ambassador most of the way as he had no one to talk diplomacy too.

And shame, the ODT did a full page colour Spread and put the Southland times to shame.

There are some similarities in this story  John Hall Jones had one advantage Alassandro Malaspina was not an inspiration for the Movie Industry with all the pent up resentment that seems to bring out these days.

Interesting though, as yet those Spanish Names have so far evaded our popular culture, not being used in the Tourism Industry, Boats or street-names Tolkien’s names are there if you go looking, including inside the very Mountains of Fiordland. But he himself has never really been honoured.

Don’t mind me Uncle Jack, Like Dr John I am doing the right thing in the right place for the right reasons. History will be the Judge on March 28th.

Queenstown NZ Celebration of Tolkien...

A Letter to the Queenstown Press 28th December 2012

My recent submission nomination to the New Zealand Geographic Board to legitimately name a Mountain peak between Glenorchy and Milford Sound after Literary Giant JRR Tolkien has highlighted that our local Tourism Industry has no sense of Fun when it comes to Children, If I where still in Queenstown I would be pushing for a Costume Party up on the Deer Park Heights (A famous Lord of the Rings Location) every year for the works that have inspired Children and the Young at Heart for the last half Century. Maybe bring in the local theatre community for some help. 

After all  if Queenstown isn't a Place for the Young at Heart then where else is?