Sir Peter Jackson and his long-time partner in business and in life, Dame Fran Walsh, have had a year that may have rubbed the sheen off their seemingly golden touch.
The pair must have been disappointed by the giant flop of Mortal Engines, which Jackson produced and for which Walsh wrote the screenplay. It is reported to have lost more than $US100 million at the box office.
Most recently Jackson has been waging war with Wellington Mayor Justin Lester over a planned redevelopment at Shelly Bay on the Miramar Peninsula, where their vast business empire sits.
According to media reports, he likened council staff to “snake oil salesmen”, made comparisons to corruption-plagued Albania, and referred to a fear of “blocks of Soviet-era apartments dumped on Wellington's picturesque peninsula.”
He had another public falling out with Wellington City Council over an abandoned joint movie museum and convention centre plan.
The pair appears to have had more success with central government. Shortly after they met with key ministers last year, the Labour-led government decided to ignore official advice to curb taxpayer support for the film industry.
Act MP David Seymour publicly scoffed at suggestions the relevant ministers had already made up their minds before the meeting. “Anyone that believes that needs to know that weed isn’t legal yet,” he was reported as saying.
Another bright spot for Walsh, at least, must have been being granted a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. “I’m delighted to be finally level-pegging with Pete!” she was quoted as saying, before joking: “At least that’s my understanding of what’s occurring.”
Regardless of the rollercoaster ride of the exhibition business, their companies still have a giant footprint, both literally and figuratively, in New Zealand. They both have stakes in many entities within the Weta group of companies that span the breadth of filmmaking – from production to post-production and visual effects.
Together with their long-time collaborator Phillipa Boyens, Jackson and Walsh own most of the Weta Digital business, a share in Weta Workshop, share the Stone Street Studios business with Sir Richard Taylor, and are the sole owners of production firm Wingnut Films.
Most recently the Weta Digital business expanded into mixed reality gaming with a partnership with Magic Leap, a much-vaunted US-based company that has raised $US2.6 billion to create a headset that is seeking to become the next big thing in entertainment.
In the photo above the couple are seen at their first investiture where Jackson was knighted and Walsh was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Photo: Getty Images
2018: $650 million