Peter Jackson warns shutdown of The Hobbit movies

Peter Jackson, the filmmaker behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and currently making The Hobbit : Part 1, has warned acting unions in New Zealand that filming may cease all together if a pay wrangle does not get resolved soon.

Jackson, the films' executive producer, said it faced being shut down or moved from its location in New Zealand, the same spectacular landscapes where Lord of The Rings was filmed. Jackson is himself a native New Zealander. His screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones was also filmed in the antipodean country.

Jackson has warned in an open letter that production could very easily shift to eastern Europe.

" It feels as if we have a large Aussie cousin kicking sand in our eyes... or to put it another way, opportunists exploiting our film for their own political gain. Seriously, if the Hobbit goes east (Eastern Europe in fact) - look forward to a long, dry big-budget movie drought in this country. I have always attempted to treat my actors and crew with fairness and respect."

Actors rumoured to be waiting on the call from Jackson are Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Sylvester McCoy.

'Pan's Labyrinth' mastermind Guillermo del Toro was set to direct the adaptation of The Hobbit until June when he stepped down due to unknown reasons. Now, original Lord of the Rings movie director Peter Jackson has taken over the helm instead.