Sir Peter Jackson has had a busy year fitting in movie-making in between some public dustups.
As this Rich List was due, a potentially controversial report was expected to land on Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway’s desk. The report was to come from a group of business, union and film industry representatives meeting to resolve the so-called Hobbit law issue and look at how to allow collective bargaining in the film industry.
The Hobbit law was passed under urgency after negotiations between the National-led Government and Warner Bros executives in 2010, after a threat to take the shooting of Sir Peter’s films to offshore locations.
Sir Peter also got caught up in the #Metoo movement when he accused movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of orchestrating a smear campaign that led him to blacklist actresses Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino.
What remained on hold this year was Sir Peter’s collaboration with Wellington City Council on the creation of a movie museum in the capital that would house his extensive movie memorabilia collection.
The council is paying for the $165 million, three-storey building, which would have a convention centre on the top floor and lease it to Sir Peter for 25 years but last December he had a falling out with the council, arguing in a scathing letter that the council was reneging on its contract with him. He outlined 55 specific matters he would like to resolve.
The country's centrepiece commemoration of World War I turned into a $12.7m headache after Sir Peter was almost three years late in delivering a high-profile recreation of Gallipoli trenches.
The Great War Exhibition at Wellington's landmark Dominion Building was initially intended to run for four years during the centenary commemorations of the 1914-1918 conflict but its main attraction supplied by Sir Peter from its vast World War I collection only opened this Anzac Day – months before the project is due to close.
The project can’t be held open because Massey University wants the building back for classrooms.
Meanwhile, Sir Peter worked with the Imperial War Museum in London to produce a documentary of restored WWI footage launched this year. The transformation of blurry, damaged, century-old scraps of nitrate film into ultra-HD footage is revolutionary, bringing soldiers’ faces to life.
Sir Peter said the museum had asked what could be done with the original footage, to present it in a way that hadn't been seen before.
The film, which involves 600 hours of audio interviews with veterans made in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, focuses on the personal experiences of the people involved.
The film is produced by WingNut Films and expected to screen in schools across the UK.
Sir Peter owns most of the Weta Digital business, is a one-third partner in Weta Workshop, shares the Stone Street Studios business with Sir Richard Taylor, and is the sole owner of production firm Wingnut Films.
This year he gave fans a special glimpse into the making of his upcoming steampunk film, Mortal Engines, which launches in December via a featurette. Based on the novels by Phillip Reeve, Mortal Engines was filmed entirely at Stone Street Studios in Wellington.
A new book by Ian Nathan was published about Sir Peter Jackson and the making of The Lord of the Rings trilogy: Anything You Can Imagine. Peter Jackson and The Making of Middle-earth
Sir Peter Jackson's first move, Braindead made a UK film magazine's list of the 30 most-violent movies ever made.