STYMIED STUDIO, DEPARTED DIRECTOR BUT WORK ON “THE HOBBIT” GOES ON
June 17, 2010 by admin · 2 Comments
It’s hard to determine who’s paying for them, but cave-like homes are already being constructed near the New Zealand town of Matamata for use as sets in the forthcoming Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit. Defying a photo ban in the area, a German website, Herr-der-ringe-film.de, posted photos of the caves Wednesday culled from the Flickr site of David Chang. Chang says that much of the construction is taking place in the same area used for the filming of Lord of the Rings, a popular tourist destination in the north of New Zealand, not far from Auckland, but some of the old Rings sets have been demolished and new Hobbit constructions are replacing them. The activity seems odd given the uncertain future of MGM, which owns the rights to the The Hobbit, and the recent decision by director Guillermo Del Toro to walk away from the production due to delays related to the sale of the studio.
