On Screen
New Zealand’s peaks, lakes, and valleys have stood in for Middle‑earth, the Scottish Highlands, the Himalayas, and beyond. Eight productions. Dozens of locations. One extraordinary landscape.
The Productions
Each production left its mark on New Zealand. Select a film to explore scenes, locations, and the stories behind the camera.
Did you know?
The stories that will change how you see New Zealand on screen.
Viggo Mortensen bought the horse he rode as Aragorn after filming wrapped, choosing to leave him in New Zealand to live out his days on a local farm.
The Lord of the Rings
Tom Cruise performed every helicopter stunt in Mission: Impossible, Fallout himself, including the chase sequence filmed above Milford Sound.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Eight of the nine Fellowship actors got matching tattoos of the Elvish word for "nine" at Rogers Tattoo Art in Wellington.
The Lord of the Rings
Deer Park Heights, where the Rohan refugees fled Edoras, is a 15-minute drive from downtown Queenstown. You can visit it today.
The Lord of the Rings
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is set in Scotland, but the vast majority of its exterior scenes were shot in and around Queenstown's lakes.
The Water Horse
X-Men Origins: Wolverine used Queenstown's glacial valleys to stand in for the Canadian Rockies, the Southern Alps looked more "Canadian" than Canada.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Tom Cruise insisted on hiring local Queenstown pilots for Mission: Impossible precisely because of their unmatched experience flying through Fiordland.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Queenstown's beech forests in LOTR are also home to the kea, the world's only alpine parrot. They're known to steal tourists' car keys.
The Lord of the Rings
Step Into the Scene
Every location is a real place you can visit. No soundstages. No green screens. Just New Zealand, raw and real.
Behind the Lens
22 actors who brought New Zealand to screens worldwide, from Oscar winners to Hollywood legends.
The Fellowship
More Stars
A timeline of New Zealand on screen
From 2001 to today, the story of how New Zealand became one of the world’s most sought‑after filming destinations.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Principal photography wraps across 150+ New Zealand locations. New Zealand's Remarkables, Glenorchy, and Paradise Valley become Middle‑earth's most iconic landscapes.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
New Zealand's lakes double for Loch Ness. The production builds a full-scale model of the Water Horse that still exists in a local barn.
X‑Men Origins: Wolverine
Hugh Jackman returns to New Zealand. The Southern Alps stand in for the Canadian Rockies, the landscape proved more cinematic than the real thing.
Top of the Lake
Jane Campion's critically acclaimed series captures New Zealand's haunting beauty. Lake Wakatipu becomes the mysterious, menacing Lake Top.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Tom Cruise pilots a helicopter through Milford Sound in what became one of the most intense aerial sequences ever filmed. No CGI. No stunt double. No green screen.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (S2)
New Zealand returns to Middle‑earth. The next chapter of the Tolkien saga brings new stories to the Southern Lakes.
Write yourself into the story
These aren’t tours. They’re your scene. Book the experience that puts you in the frame.
