There are dozens of locations throughout New Zealand that were used for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. A complete village was built for the Shire, the area where the hobbits live. Hobbiton can be seen in four of the six films, starting with THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Warning: the text may give away details of the plot. Although this was not originally intended, Hobbiton Movie Set is a permanent location. It has become one of New Zealand's most popular tourist attractions with 350,000 visitors annually.
In search of the right location, the sheep farm of the Alexander family was discovered on the North Island during a helicopter flight in September 1998.
Not only did the hills look like the landscape described by J.R.R. Tolkien, there was also a lake and a large detached tree as mentioned in the story. Another advantage was that the farm is a private area so that filming would not attract an audience. After an agreement was made with the owner of the farm, the construction of 39 hobbit homes started in March 1999. In December of that year, filming began and would last three months.
The wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) visits Hobbiton to celebrate the 111th birthday of hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). Hobbits are small in size and are also called halflings. Because Gandalf is much taller and the actors are about the same size, smaller versions of some of the hobbit homes were made to indicate the difference in length.
Before Gandalf arrives, a few random images of the Shire are shown, including gardener Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) in front of his house and the meadow with the large tree where preparations for the birthday party are in full swing.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:10:00 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:10:06 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Gandalf rides together with Frodo (Elijah Wood) through Hobbiton. On the other side of the bridge is The Green Dragon Inn. Indoor shots were all made in the studio in Wellington, but a copy of the interior was recreated in 2012 especially for visitors of Hobbiton. At the end of the tour hobbit beer, with or without alcohol, can be ordered here.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:12:17 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Hobbiton can only be visited with a guide. Every 10 minutes another group of 40 visitors leaves for a tour, making it difficult to take photos without tourists as shown in the photo below.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:12:30 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
The oak tree on top of Bag End, the house of Bilbo Baggins, is not real but made of fiberglass. The leaves were painted by hand and attached to the branches one by one.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:15:23 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 0:15:45 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
At the end of the third film,
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) returns to Hobbiton. He is reunited with his wife Rosie Cotton (Sarah McLeod) and their two daughters. This last minute of the film was shot at the same time as the scenes for the first film in January 2000.
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
The oldest girl, Eleanor, is played by Sean Astin's daughter Alexandra. The youngest child is Maisy McLeod-Riera, daughter of Sarah McLeod. Together they enter the house. In reality there is only a small empty space behind the door. All hobbit houses are facades, interior scenes were filmed in the studio. Only a few houses have a door that opens. For the first trilogy, 39 homes were built, for
The Hobbit this number was increased to 44.
Most of the houses are hardly visible in the film, but they are all built with the same level of detail. Sam's house has a red door on the left, a yellow door on the right and is centrally located, next to the meadow with the big tree. The trees and bushes have grown considerably over the years.
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 4:00:08 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 4:00:55 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
After the three
The Lord of the Rings films had become a huge success, director Peter Jackson became interested to adapt 'The Hobbit', the first book by J.R.R. Tolkien about Middle Earth, into a three-part movie. The first part of this trilogy,
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, starts in Hobbiton.
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:13:24 |
Although the original movie set had largely been demolished, still many visitors came to Hobbiton which made the owners of the farm decide to give tours from 2002 onwards. Preparations for
The Hobbit trilogy began in 2009 and Hobbiton was rebuilt. This time, permanent building materials were used. After filming was completed, visitors would be given the opportunity to see the same location that they knew from the films.
Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is writing down his great adventure 60 years earlier. His nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) brings his mail. A small pond can be seen on the third and fourth photo. According to our guide, the frogs in the pond quacked so loud that the actors could not hear each other. The frogs were caught and released elsewhere.
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:10:17 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:10:51 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:10:58 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:13:12 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:13:14 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:13:50 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Young Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is being visited by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) who invites the reluctant hobbit to go on an adventure.
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:14:31 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:15:55 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
More views of Hobbiton are shown, including the house that Sam will later live in, The Dragon Inn and the watermill, next to the bridge.
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:17:40 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:17:47 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:18:22 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Eventually Bilbo leaves his familiar ground, proclaiming "I'm going on an adventure!". This place is also the start of the walking tour.
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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 0:43:32 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
Bilbo's adventure ends in THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES when he returns to Hobbiton. It is on that same day that his possessions are auctioned off because the other hobbits think he is dead.
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
It is understandable that Hobbiton can only be visited during a tour. The set is too fragile to allow visitors to walk around on their own. It is a shame though, that the tour groups are so big - 40 people is a lot. Our tour started a few minutes too late and because a new group arrives in Hobbiton every 10 minutes, our tour appeared rushed. It was not possible to view everything properly, let alone take as many pictures as we wanted.
Despite these objections, a visit for every movie lover, certainly of these films, is worthwhile. A tour takes about 90 minutes and starts with a short bus ride. Hobbiton is not visible from the public road. Reservations are highly recommended, especially in the holiday season. More information can be found on
Hobbiton™ Movie Set Tours.
Bilbo returns to Bag End where he has to convince the auctioneer that he really is Bilbo Baggins.
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| The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, 2:27:56 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, 2:28:15 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
The hobbit houses below are hardly or not seen at all in the movies, but the photos show how detailed each part of Hobbiton is.
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| Hobbiton Movie Set, 31 December 2019 |
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| Map Hobbiton Movie Set |
The extended editions on dvd were used for the screenshots.
Screenshots © New Line Cinema/Wingnut Films
Map © Hobbiton Tours
