With New Zealand’s scenic landscapes starring in The Hobbit trilogy, Tourism New Zealand is eager to show the world that the big screen imagery is more than a fleeting glimpse of fantasy.
The dramatic film locations are real places that visitors can enjoy and Tourism New Zealand has launched a campaign to prove that the cinematic fantasy of Middle-earth, as revealed in the upcoming adventure motion picture The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is the reality to be found in New Zealand.
100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand is the latest evolution of the highly successful 100% Pure New Zealand campaign first launched in 2000.
Just launched, a new television and cinema commercial will be supported by a Middle-earth hub on TNZ’s consumer portal newzealand.com providing travellers with themed holiday experiences.
'The Hobbit' trilogy Production on The Hobbit represents one of the largest investments ever in New Zealand’s film production community.
The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will première in Wellington on 28 November, with release into cinemas on 14 December.
The much-anticipated movies are expected to draw an even greater audience than the millions who saw The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Tourism New Zealand plans to leverage off interest generated in New Zealand as a result.
TNZ chief executive Kevin Bowler says the objective is to show people that while New Zealand stars as the fantasy world of Middle-earth, what people see in the cinema is actually a real place just waiting to be explored.
Filming locations The television and cinema commercial for Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign was filmed in some of New Zealand’s most picturesque locations from the southern skies of Milford Sound to the lush Waikato countryside, home of the Hobbiton Movie Set.
Creative scripting takes viewers on a dream journey that shows the real adventures and experiences to be had in New Zealand’s cinematic landscapes.
The journey begins in Milford Sound in Fiordland - a world heritage site and New Zealand’s largest national park - where visitors have long flocked to experience dramatic scenery, unique nature and wildlife.
Hiking is a popular activity in this and the surrounding Southern Lakes region where an extensive series of tracks and trails includes some of New Zealand’s nine famed 'Great Walks' and sections of Te Araroa , the newly completed 3,000-kilometre ‘Long Pathway’.
Mount Alfred - at Glenorchy near Queenstown - which featured in the earlier The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a pleasant day hike for people wanting to venture into the region’s unspoiled alpine wilderness.
Wanaka and wine Spectacular Wanaka landscapes - a popular year-round lake and alpine holiday destination - also star in the tourism campaign. It’s here that award-winning Rippon Winery, on the shores of Lake Wanaka, sets the scene for the wizards who turn water into wine.
In real life, Rippon's wizard wine-makers have earned top honours in the wine industry scoring a ‘5-star: Outstanding’ rating - the wine industry equivalent of three Michelin stars.
The journey continues via Kaikoura - on the north eastern coast of the South Island and famed for whale watching - to show sea creatures walking on land, and providing living proof that visitors can meet local wildlife without ever having to leave dry land.
The ancient subterranean world of Waitomo, in the central North Island, where visitors can explore glow-worm lit caves or go black-water rafting in the ‘Lost World’ also features, along with little known local gems such as Donut Island near Whangamata and pristine Onemana Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Mount Hikurangi Scenic shots of a place where visitors can "play on mountains protected by Gods" will have many New Zealanders guessing as to the location but, for those in the know, remote revered Mount Hikurangi is on the North Island’s mystical east coast beyond Gisborne.
This area is of deep significance to local Māori tribes as it is the resting place of ‘Nukutaimemeha’ - the waka / canoe from which the legendary Maui is said to have fished up New Zealand's North Island.
Mt Hikurangi is also recognised as the first point on the New Zealand mainland to greet the morning sun, and each year thousands of visitors from home and overseas flock to the region to be the first in the world to see in the New Year at the world-renowned Rhythm & Vines Festival.
Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign ends its journey at Hobbiton Movie Set where both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed. The film set is now a permanent tourist attraction with more than 52,000 visitors a year.
