Thousands of politically-minded Kiwis have come out in protest to prevent production of the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, from moving out of New Zealand. Prime Minister John Key has stepped in personally to try and resolve the ‘crisis.’ I understand completely – I went through the same thing when my parents made me stop wearing my wizard outfit to school.

After a series of false starts, Peter Jackson had planned to start shooting the two-part prequel early next year, but disputse with local a worker’s union – a ring, you might say – had Jackson looking elsewhere for new locations for Middle-Earth. In response, around 3,000 New Zealanders with little else to do gathered around Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch proclaiming their love of hobbits and waving “New Zealand is Middle-Earth,” banners, because they don’t study geography in Middle-Earth.

Jackson and Warner executives will announce the filming location later this week. It will surprise absolutely everybody when they decide to save hundred of millions of dollars by not moving the films out of the country.

[via reuters]
[image via Marty Melville/Getty Images]