‘The Hobbit’ may flee New Zealand despite SAG’s acquiescence

So much for peace breaking out in the Shire.

A day after the Screen Actors Guild announced it was ending its do-not-work order on the production of “ The Hobbit,” Warner Bros. denounced the unions that boycotted its production and said it was weighing locations outside of New Zealand for filming the two-picture project.

“The actions of these unions have caused us substantial damage and disruption and forced us to consider other filming locations for the first time,” said Warner Bros., whose New Line Cinema unit is producing the films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Warner Bros. noted that most of the seven international unions that participated in the boycott had not yet rescinded their do-not-work orders. The studio also balked at demands by New Zealand Actors Equity, which has been seeking to secure union wages and benefits for performers in New Zealand.

Warner maintains that the New Zealand performers are independent contractors, not union members, and that it would be illegal for the studio to participate in contract negotiations.

The studio’s statement follows claims made this week by Peter Jackson, the film’s director and producer, that plans were underway to move the production to another country, even if the SAG boycott were lifted, because the “damage inflicted on our film industry” was “long since done.”

Jackson told New Zealand media that representatives of Warner Bros. would be visiting New Zealand to “make arrangements to move the production offshore.”

A person familiar with the production, however, said Warner Bros. executives had not made a final decision and that the purpose of the trip was to seek assurances from the New Zealand government and Actors Equity that the studio’s $500-million investment “The Hobbit” would not be jeopardized by future labor unrest.

Warner Bros. may be hoping that the threat of moving “The Hobbit” could prompt New Zealand officials to offer added financial incentives to keep the production in the country. Production on the first film is set to begin in February.

Concern that New Zealand might lose “The Hobbit” has divided actors there and sparked protests Wednesday among some 1,500 film industry workers who staged a rally in the country’s capital, Wellington.

richard.verrier@latimes.com