Wellington City Council and Tourism New Zealand ride on the big wait. Warner Bros markets hundreds of merchandising products. A little less than a week from the world premiere of "The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey" (which will take place in the New Zealand capital next Wednesday) the character created by the fervent imagination of JRR Tolkien looks like the classic goose that lays golden eggs. But is all that glitters gold? Will the effect, as Wellington's bureaucrats hope, be long-term for tourism in the down-under country? And then, is the taste for fantasy, which has conquered viewers from all over the world in recent years, destined to last?
THE CITY GETTING READY – Needless to say, in New Zealand they believe it all right. Wellington City Council has confidently commissioned a logo that defines the New Zealand capital as "the middle of Middle-earth". The local airport, which sports a giant statue of Gollum, has also gleefully adopted this motto instead of the traditional 'wild at heart'. Air New Zealand, the national carrier of New Zealand has enthusiastically prepared a new video for aviation safety regulations.
Instead of hostesses and stewards explaining how to put on a seat belt, hobbits, dwarves and elves, as well as the director of the trilogy Peter Jackson himself, 'instruct' the amused (for once) passengers arriving in the capital for the big party of 28 November. With investments of 1,1 million New Zealand dollars (equal to 700 thousand euros), Mayor Celia Wade-Brown hopes that, on the occasion of the première, the local economy will be able to collect at least as much as it did with the premiere of "The Return of the King”, or 9,5 million (6 million euros). Over 28 people are expected on November 100 for an event covered by XNUMX journalists from around the world.
HOBBIT KIND TOURISM – The New Zealand Tourist Board is also betting on the success of the "Hobbit", but more in the long term. On the back of research showing that in 2004 over 150 tourists cited the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as one of the top reasons for vacationing in New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand has invested $10 million in a new campaign called “100% pure Middle-earth” which associates New Zealand with the mythical Middle-earth. The film tourism campaign, however, has not been without controversy, with the Labor opposition criticizing the intrusiveness of Warner Bros, the American studio behind the Hobbit trilogy, which has allegedly monitored and approved every move by the Kiwi tourism body . Then there are those who believe that this type of campaign does not necessarily work.
THE RISKS - Travel campaigns that associate a film with a filming location only work if the film is a box office hit. The Australian government is still licking its wounds over the hype for Baz Luerhmann's blockbuster 'Australia'. Expected a great return in terms of tourists, the epic starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman was a resounding flop at the box office and the expected influx did not materialize. In the case of the Hobbit, then, there is one more element that must be considered. The story of Bilbo Baggins is not set in New Zealand, but in the fictional Middle-earth. Kiwi sceneries and landscapes were used extensively, but a great deal of technology was also used to reproduce the film's scenery. “It's not automatic that a viewer sees the film and then says: 'Great! I'm going to New Zealand for the next holidays' – explains Bruce Poon Tip, founder of the travel company G Adventures – It seems to me a somewhat strange approach, given that the story does not explicitly take place in New Zealand”.
Former Tourism New Zealand member Mike Tamaki, who now has a company specializing in Maori culture tours, also agrees: "What they are doing is promoting a product, not a place and I think this is a mistake." Simon Milne, director of the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute increases the dose: “We must be careful to associate ourselves 100% with the film – he argues – It does not represent who we really are, it is just a film set and will not bring benefits in the long run. If we look at global trends in the tourism sector, the real focus should be on authenticity”. And if we look at the data for 2004, we also see that the 150 tourists who arrived also because of the "Lord of the Rings" represent only 6% of the global number of tourists for that year. Of the 150, only 1% said that Peter Jackson's film was the only reason for their choice.
DAYS COUNTED? – Phil Darkins, of the New Zealand Actors Union, also warned during a conference at Victoria University of Wellington that the days of big-budget fantasy films are numbered. After the indigestion of the last few years, with the theatrical debut of 55 titles in 2011 and 70 in 2012, including “The Hunger Games”, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters”, and “Mirror Mirror” viewers may grow disaffected to the genre and a country that associates itself 100% with a fantasy film could be penalized.
MERCHANDISING – There are also great expectations in merchandising, for which Warner Bros is the host. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, whose first film appeared in 2001, has so far generated profits of 1,17 billion US dollars, but the lawsuit that Tolkien's heirs have filed against American studios weighs on the new merchandising campaign, for an illegitimate use of copyright that would be "highly offensive" to the memory of the British writer. In the crosshairs online slot machine with the faces of Gollum and Gandalf.
