New Zealand has established various tax incentives to retain and attract filmmakers, although the weakness of the US dollar, which makes it more expensive for American productions to shoot overseas, is not helping efforts.
Jackson is already at work at his Wellington production facility on a remake of the 1933 film King Kong, starring Naomi Watts, while Shrek director Adamson is set to start shooting The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in June.
The latter project could evolve into a similarly big franchise, since it is based on one of C.S. Lewis’s seven Narnia chronicles. Unlike Jackson, who shot the three Rings films in one block, Adamson said he is focusing on one movie at a time.