Latest in New Zealand

EXCLUSIVE: Filming has just resumed in New Zealand on Amazon's sprawling The Lord Of The Rings TV series, an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, I have learned. Production on Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop is slated to restart on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the island country where Netflix’s Sweet Tooth has been shootin…

James Cameron provided his Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger with an update on the Avatar sequels during a recent chat for the 2020 Austrian World Summit. Speaking by video conference from New Zealand, Cameron said, "We're 100% complete on Avatar 2 and sort of 95% complete on Avatar 3." He added that the team is…

Several more overseas productions will join James Cameron’s Avatar sequels and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog Netflix film in New Zealand in the coming months. New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment has announced that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series, Netflix series Cowboy Bebop and Sw…

New Zealand is due to end social distancing and all other domestic coronavirus restrictions beginning tomorrow, the government has announced. In doing so, the South Pacific nation with a population of about 5M, becomes the largest market to so far eliminate transmission of COVID-19. Announcing today that there were no…

Oscar winning Titanic producer Jon Landau showed off a photo on Instagram from the Avatar 2 set with a special message: “Our #Avatar sets are ready — and we couldn't be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week. Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat…

EXCLUSIVE: New Zealand’s health and safety production protocols have been endorsed by the national government, we can reveal, meaning production can restart in the country after it was halted by the coronavirus pandemic. Some film and TV shoots “are already safely underway,” the New Zealand Film Commission has…

Stephen Colbert is heading down under! The Late Show is set to roll out a week of shows that will feature the host’s trip to New Zealand. The episodes will air on CBS starting November 18 at 11:35 PM ET/PT. The idea for Colbert’s trip started in September 2018, when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared…

Pua Magasiva, who played the Red Ranger on "Power Rangers Ninja Storm," was found dead Saturday in New Zealand. Police arriving at a Wellington, New Zealand residence early on Saturday founder Magasive unresponsive, according to a New Zealand Herald report. He was 38-years-old and police said preliminarily there…

Stephen Colbert has canceled plans to take The Late Show on the road to New Zealand due to Friday's mass shooting that left 50 people dead. Colbert told viewers Monday night he loves visiting New Zealand, and had scheduled a surprise trip there this week. "I just love that country," he said. "If you've never been, go…

Peter Jackson and Taika Waititi have responded to New Zealand's worst ever mass shooting. The directors have called the two extremist right-wing terror incidents, which left 49 people dead in Christchurch, "devastating" and "heartbreaking". Lord of the Rings director Jackson said, "New Zealanders are devastated. Our…

The shooter behind the New Zealand mosque attacks sent his manifesto outlining his sick philosophy to government officials and media outlets less than 10 minutes before the attack that killed 49 people, according to a report. The New Zealand Herald said the 16,500-word screed was sent to the New Zealand Prime…

YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have been scrambling overnight and into Friday to remove horrific video footage recorded by one of the participants in the terrorist attacks that killed 49 people in New Zealand. A mounting backlash online suggests that many people don’t think the companies are doing nearly enough. The mas…