Page 16 - Bag End News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The boom had started well before that. After the Hobbiton Movie Set was rebuilt in 2009 on the Alexander family farm, the business went from 17 staff and between 13,000 to 25,000 visitors each year to almost 300 staff, around 3000 visitors each day in summer and an average of 60 tours per day. From there the car park remained full and the rolling hills of Hinuera were often dotted with earth-green tour buses as camera-toting tourists weaved in and out Middle-earth. Now, a minimum of five tours and 200 visitors on average experience The Shire each day. Where once tourists filed through l...

Lord of the Rings star John Rhys-Davies explains why J.R.R. Tolkien’s house should be saved Christian Holub J.R.R. Tolkien changed the course of fantasy literature. His epic three-part novel The Lord of the Rings spawned countless imitations during the second half of the 20th century, and when director Peter Jackson adapted it into three blockbuster films in the first years of the 2000s, a whole new generation was inspired by Middle-earth. But although fans of LOTR can take a trip to New Zealand (when the pandemic’s over, that is) to see the still-standing film sets of Mi...