The Lord of the Rings trilogy was given a much bigger tax break than The Hobbit movies are going to get, Prime Minister John Key said today."The tax deal involved in the Lord of the Rings was far more generous than even the changed subsidies in the c
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was given a much bigger tax break than The Hobbit movies are going to get, Prime Minister John Key said today.
"The tax deal involved in the Lord of the Rings was far more generous than even the changed subsidies in the case of The Hobbit," he told reporters in Vietnam where he is attending the East Asia Summit.
"It's by a margin of an enormous amount."
Mr Key wouldn't give figures, but when he was questioned said it was more than $100 million "maybe even per movie". That would put the Lord of the Rings tax breaks at $300m compared with about $85 million for the two Hobbit movies.
When the Lord of the Rings movies were made, there was a Labour-led Government.
Mr Key was pleased Parliament had passed the employment law change that was part of the deal with Warner Bros that ensured The Hobbit movies would be made in New Zealand.
"We can get on and make some movies now. It's a good outcome for New Zealand," he said.
"We paid a bit more but in the overall scheme of things it's still good value for New Zealand."
The Government agreed to give Warner Bros an extra $20m tax break on top of the standard 15 percent big movies get.
