Jackson lord of the cash till rings

Peter Jackson has made about $170 million from The Fellowship of the Ring and could be on his way to being one of New Zealand's richest men.

A cover story in this week's Time magazine about Jackson's next film, The Two Towers, which is due to be released on December 19, said the Wellington director was getting more than 10 per cent of the revenue for the three The Lord of the Rings films - double earlier estimates.

To date, The Fellowship of the Ring had made about $1.7 billion worldwide. Jackson has therefore made about $170 million so far.

If The Two Towers and the third The Lord Of The Rings film, The Return of the King, make at least the same amount, Jackson will make $510 million.

The latest National Business Review Rich List, published in July, estimated that Jackson, 41, was worth $40 million.

The richest New Zealander - food and investment magnate Graeme Hart - had a fortune estimated at $1.2 billion.

The film revenues do not take into account money made from video, DVD and some merchandise.

Jackson is also receiving an eight-figure salary to direct the films.

Along with his studios in Miramar, Wellington, he owns several homes in the suburb of Seatoun, his family home in Pukerua Bay, north of Porirua, and is renovating a 1900s hideaway near Masterton which he bought for more than $870,000.

Jackson has not said what percentage he is receiving for The Lord of the Rings.

Time's main competitor, Newsweek, said last year that Jackson was getting 10 per cent but that it was shared with the project's first backers, Miramax.

In April, a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report for the Film Commission estimated that the filming of the $650 million project pumped $352 million into the economy in the 12 months to March this year.

- NZPA

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