Pin, The Red Eye of Sauron

This pin depicts the Red Eye of Sauron, the symbol of Sauron the Dark Lord. It was designed by John Howe for Wētā Workshop’s crew clothing, and became an unofficial symbol for Wētā Workshop during the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Wētā Workshop, founded by effects specialists Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger in Wellington in 1987, produced props, weapons, costumes, vehicles, armour, miniatures and other physical objects for the films.

Directed by Peter Jackson, the three Lord of the Rings movies (released between 2001 and 2003) had a profound effect on New Zealand’s film industry. The success of the films demonstrated that New Zealand could make movies on a very large scale, and, with the added incentive of tax breaks up to 20%, the number of international productions set in New Zealand has increased each year. In 2018, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the screen industry was worth NZ$3.2 billion.

The films also had a huge influence on the tourism industry; one tourism official called The Lord of the Rings ‘the best unpaid advertisement New Zealand has ever had’. In the decade after the trilogy was released international visits to Wellington rose by 87%, and even twenty years later sites associated with the films are popular with tourists. In 2019 Tourism New Zealand found that approximately one-third of international visitors will visit a Lord of the Rings film site when visiting New Zealand.

References:

• Gray, Tim. 2021. ‘Peter Jackson: New Zealand's Local Hero After “Lord of the Rings”’, Variety, 16 December.
• Jameson, Julietta. 2021. ‘Lord of the Rings film 20th anniversary: How one film changed New Zealand forever’. The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 December.
• Martin, Helen. 2014. 'Feature film'. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
• Meneguzzi, Justin. 2022. ‘How to explore Lord of the Rings filming locations in New Zealand’. National Geographic, 2 October.