Wētā Workshop

Not to be confused with Wētā FX.

Wētā Workshop

Company type	Private
Industry	Special effects, animation, video games, board games and miniatures
Founded	1987; 38 years ago (1987) (as RT Effects)
Founder	Richard Taylor Tania Rodger
Headquarters	Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand
Key people	Richard Taylor (CEO)
Website	www.wetaworkshop.com

Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company as well as a board game and miniatures company and video game developer based in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand. It mainly produces effects for television and film.

History

Costumes and armour designed by Wētā Workshop for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Founded in 1987 by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger as RT Effects, Wētā Workshop has produced creatures and makeup effects for the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and effects for films such as Meet the Feebles and Heavenly Creatures.

A digital version, Weta Digital (now Wētā FX), was formed in 1993 and operates independently as a separate company.^[1] The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects.^[2]

Wētā Workshop's output was used in director Peter Jackson's film trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, producing sets, costumes, armour, weapons, creatures and miniatures.^[3] It also aided in the making of Jackson's 2005 version of King Kong.^[4] It supported the creation of Reclaiming the Blade (2009), a documentary film on stage combat, historical European and Asian swordsmanship.^[5]

Wētā Workshop teamed up with Team Fortress 2, creating weapons and cosmetics based on the company's Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators series.^[6]

Wētā Workshop's video games division was founded in 2014^[7] and has produced multiple games including the augmented reality project Dr. Grordbort's Invaders for Magic Leap, which was apparently was never released,^[8] and the upcoming video game Tales of the Shire: A "The Lord of the Rings" Game.^[8]

Wētā Workshop made its American musical theatre debut in 2022 with Workshop designer Rebekah Tisch serving as the art director for the musical stage production of Other World at Delaware Theatre Company, creating a digital world for live stage.^[9]

Innovations

Wētā Workshop buildings in Miramar

Chainmail

For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, realistic looking chainmail was made for the lead actors and for the hundreds of extras that appeared throughout the films. PVC pipe was cut into rings, assembled by hand into a semblance of armour, and then electroplated. A total of 82.9 million links were manufactured from 7 miles of PVC pipe.^[10]

Wētā Workshop makes chainmail for film and creative industries using new techniques developed in-house. PVC injection was used for the armour in Kingdom of Heaven, giving better results than the process for The Lord of the Rings.^[11] It produces aluminium or steel mail for high-impact stuntwork.^[12]

Bigatures

Further information: Production of The Lord of the Rings film series

The term bigature is Wētā Workshop's nickname for a very large miniature model. They are used in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with the largest of them measuring some 9 metres high. Extensive computer graphics techniques and computer-controlled cameras were used to seamlessly mesh the bigature photography with live actors and scenes.^[13]

Bigatures used in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy included models of:

• The Hornburg – the mountain fortress of the Rohirrim
• Minas Tirith – the White City of Gondor
• Rivendell – Elrond's city for the Elves
• Caras Galadhon – Galadriel's city in Lothlórien
• Argonath – the gateway into Gondor, two statues of Elendil and Isildur
• Osgiliath – the ruined City of Gondor
• Orthanc – Saruman's tower
• Cirith Ungol – the tower that guards the pass of Shelob
• Minas Morgul – Sauron's 'Dead City'
• Barad-dûr – Sauron's massive tower
• The Black Gate – the gate guarding the gap between the Ered Lithui and the Ephel Dúath
• Grond – the battering ram that smashed down the gates of Minas Tirith

People

Not to be confused with Jonathan Brough or Jonathan Brugh.

• Jonathon Brough works as a designer / props finisher^{[14][15][16][17]}
• Daniel Falconer is the author of several Weta Workshop publications including The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop^[18] He is also a member of the design team for the Lord of the Rings film franchise and other films.^[19]

Workplace culture

Sign outside the Weta Cave

Beginning in June 2020, an investigative project by New Zealand public TV broadcaster 1News into Wētā's workplace culture resulted in over 11 current and former Wētā Workshop employees anonymously sharing accounts of bullying and harassment.^[20] Another former employee, Layna Lazar, came public with her own allegation by social media posting the same month that she was sexually harassed repeatedly and after seeking recourse, was fired, this prompted an independent review by Hive Consulting in December of that year. Their reviewer Ashley Benefield cleared the company of the allegations stating that "the majority of allegations in the post including the most serious allegations, have either not been substantiated or were reasonable in the context of circumstances not described in the post". The review's December 2020 report did not address the anonymous allegations of over 11 employees originally reported by 1 News back in July, and the concerned employees stated they were not informed of the review having finished, in spite of their cooperation in it.^[21]

Film

Year	Name	Notes
1989	Meet the Feebles
1992	Braindead
1994	Heavenly Creatures
1995	Forgotten Silver
1996	The Frighteners
2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003	Peter Pan
	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
	The Last Samurai
2004	I, Robot
	Hellboy
	Van Helsing
2005	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
	King Kong
	Kingdom of Heaven
	The Legend of Zorro
2006	Black Sheep
2007	30 Days of Night
	The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
2008	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
	Eel Girl
	Love Story 2050
2009	The Lovely Bones
	Under the Mountain
	District 9
	Born of Hope [22]
	Avatar [23]
2010	The Devil's Rock
	Daybreakers
2011	The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn
	Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2013	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
	Elysium [24]
	The ABCs of Death
2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2015	Krampus
	Mad Max: Fury Road
	I
2016	Remo
	Spectral
2017	Blade Runner 2049
	Power Rangers
	The Great Wall
	Thor: Ragnarok
	Ghost in the Shell
2018	2.0
2019	The Wandering Earth [25][26]
	Alita: Battle Angel [27]
	I Am Mother
	Men in Black: International
	Sweetheart
	Jumanji: The Next Level
2020	Bloodshot
	Mulan
2021	Mortal Kombat
	Dune
2022	X
	Thor: Love and Thunder
	Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
	Avatar: The Way of Water
	M3GAN
2023	Cocaine Bear
	The Wandering Earth 2
	The Creator
2024	Dune: Part Two
	Alien Romulus
2025	A Minecraft Movie
	Tron: Ares
	Mortal Kombat 2
	Avatar: Fire and Ash

Television

Year	Name	Notes
1993	The Tommyknockers
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
	Xena: Warrior Princess
2005	Jane and the Dragon
2009	The WotWots
2015	Thunderbirds Are Go
2022	The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Video games developed

Year	Name	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Notes	Platforms
2025[28]	Tales of the Shire: A "The Lord of the Rings" Game	Wētā Workshop	Private Division[29]		PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android[8]

References

1. "FAQ". Wētā Workshop's official website. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
2. Wētā Workshop on 18 August 2012 on Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February, 2022. Retrieved on 3 October, 2020. "We chose our company name after an insect, a very cool, prickly little monster, unique to New Zealand."
3. "The Making Of Middle-Earth At Weta Workshop". Wētā Workshop's official website. 5 March 2020. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2021. no trip would be complete without stepping foot (sic) inside Wellington's Weta Workshop. The Academy Award-winning creative design and physical effects facility is best known for its work on The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and The Hobbit motion picture trilogies
4. Morton, Ray (2005). King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon - From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. New York City: Applause: Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 316–329. ISBN 1-55783-669-8.
5. "About the Film". Reclaiming the Blade's official website. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
6. Cobbett, Richard (21 July 2011). "Team Fortress 2: Dough, Ray-Guns, Me". rockpapershotgun.com. Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
7. "Games". Wētā Workshop's official website. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
8. Justin Sewell (10 June 2024). "Building a new Shire: Wētā Workshop developers chat about their new "Tales" video game". theonering.net. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
9. Quinn, Holly. "How do you create a digital world for the live stage? Like this". Technical.ly. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
10. "Removing the weakest links from chain mail: Kaynemaile". Stuff. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
11. "WetaNZ: The home of Weta Collectibles and Weta Tenzan Chainmaille".
12. "2006 Costumes – Guild Forums".
13. The Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Special Features DVDs
14. Jonathon Brough at IMDb
15. "Jonathan Brough". NZ On Screen. 15 October 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022. Jonathan Brough... is not to be confused with two other Kiwi screen figures: actor/comedian Jonathan Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows) and sometime Weta effects-man Jonathon Brough.
16. "Staring down the barrel". The New Zealand Herald. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2022. Another Wellington artist, Jonathan Brough [sic], who works at Weta Workshop,...
17. "Jonathan Brough [sic]". Gallery De Novo. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2022. He works as a designer / props finisher for Weta workshop in Wellington as well as pursuing his own artistic career.
18. Falconer, Daniel. The Art of District 9: Weta Workshop. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062064318. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
19. "Daniel Falconer". ideasondesign. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
20. Hall, Kristin (28 July 2020). "'Toxic' culture at acclaimed Weta Workshop revealed by past and present employees". 1News. TVNZ. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
21. Hall, Kristin (19 December 2020). "Woman whose sexual harassment complaint sparked Weta Workshop review says it's not over". 1News. Television New Zealand. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
22. "Born of Hope – credits".
23. Philip Wakefield (19 December 2009). "Close encounters of the 3D kind". The Listener. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
24. "Weta works on Neill Blomkamp's Elysium". Wetanz.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
25. "Sam Gao's Middle Earth, Wandering Earth and WETA". Radio New Zealand. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
26. "Weta Workshop Movie and TV projects » Weta Workshop". www.wetaworkshop.com. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
27. "ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL - The Art of VFX". www.artofvfx.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
28. Tales of the Shire [@talesoftheshire] (12 September 2024). "An important update for all Hobbits" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
29. "Welcome Home, Hobbit! Private Division and Wētā Workshop Announce Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game". Tales of the Shire's official website. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

External links

• Wētā Workshop
• Wētā FX