Elijah Wood as Hobbit Frodo in a scene from ''The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring''. 
 
 WELLINGTON | 
 
 WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of New Zealanders took to the country's streets on Monday to protest against possible plans to move production of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" movies overseas. 
 
 With some dressed as hobbits or other characters from Middle Earth, they carried banners saying "New Zealand is Middle Earth" and "We Love Hobbits," aiming to reassure nervous Hollywood studio executives rattled by a short-lived union boycott. 
 
 The rallies were held a day before representatives from Warner Bros. Pictures were due to arrive in New Zealand to decide where to shoot the lucrative $500 million adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy. 
 
 Jackson made Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in his native New Zealand, boosting the local film industry and enhancing the tiny country's international image. 
 
 He had planned to shoot a two-part adaptation of "The Hobbit" locally as well, but union protests about working conditions infuriated Jackson and unnerved the studio. 
 
 The Time Warner division said last week it would seek film locations outside New Zealand, a move that economists said could cost the country up to $1.5 billion. 
 
 The unions have backed down, and industry analysts believe Warner Bros. will use the Hobbit crisis to extract financial incentives when executives meet a high-powered delegation led by Prime Minister John Key on Tuesday. 
 
 Key told reporters on Monday that he thought there is a 50-50 chance of the movies being filmed in New Zealand. 
 
 "I'd love to tell you it's a done deal, but we're a long way away from being a done deal. There are a number of issues that we'd need to resolve," he was quoted by the New Zealand Herald as saying. 
 
 Key added that he'd already had discussions with one senior Warner executive, without giving details. But he said the tone of the discussions had been respectful. 
 
 Just to be safe, a reported 2,000 to 3,000 people gathered in the capital of Wellington, while other cities such as Auckland and earthquake-ravaged Christchurch hosted similar rallies. 
 
 Oscar-winning technician Richard Taylor, whose Weta Workshop handled many of the special effects for "Lord of the Rings," told Wellington protesters he hoped "The Hobbit" would still be made in New Zealand. 
 
 "The alternative is just too bleak to consider," he said. 
 
 TRROUBLED PROJECT 
 
 Reports have suggested that Warner Bros. is considering locations in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia and eastern Europe. 
 
 Taylor also read a letter from Jackson, thanking people for their support. "This is where Middle Earth was born and this is where it will stay," Jackson said in the letter. ||||| New Zealanders rally behind Hobbit shoot 
 
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 Thousands of New Zealanders have taken to their streets to protest against possible plans to move production of Peter Jackson's Hobbit films elsewhere. 
 
 The demonstrators hoped to reassure Hollywood studio executives as they decide whether the Lord of the Rings prequels should be shot in the country. 
 
 Last month, acting unions threatened to boycott the films in a row over wages. 
 
 Though that threat has now been lifted, Warner Bros said the unions' actions had caused "substantial damage". 
 
 Their actions, a studio statement issued last week continued, had "forced us to consider other filming locations for the first time." 
 
 According to organisers, the nationwide action was timed to coincide with the arrival of Warner Bros executives for meetings to determine the movies' fate. 
 
 The three Lord of the Rings movies, which were all filmed in New Zealand, earned billions of dollars at the box office. 
 
 Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were among the New Zealand cities to host rallies on Monday. 
 
 Richard Taylor, the Oscar-winning technician behind many of the Lord of the Rings trilogy's special effects, told protestors in Wellington he hoped The Hobbit would stay in New Zealand. 
 
 "The alternative is just too bleak to consider," he said. 
 
 Taylor also read a letter from Peter Jackson thanking people for their support. 
 
 "This is where Middle Earth was born and this is where it should stay," he continued. 
 
 The New Zealand government has pledged to step in to try to keep the production in the homeland of its recently confirmed director. 
 
 Prime Minister John Key will lead a delegation scheduled to meet Warner Bros executives on Tuesday. 
 
 "The threat of industrial actions... have substantially undermined the confidence that Warner Bros has in New Zealand," Mr Key said last week. 
 
 Filming on the two-part prequel is set to begin in February after it was finally given the go-ahead. British actor Martin Freeman was confirmed in the lead role of Bilbo Baggins.
– Thousands of protesters took to the streets across New Zealand today to protest Warner Bros.’ threats to move the filming of the Hobbit out of the country. Rallies were held in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch among others, according to the BBC, with protesters holding signs like, “New Zealand IS Middle Earth” and “We Love Hobbits.” The rallies coincide both with New Zealand’s Labor Day and a Warner Bros. meeting in the country to decide the film’s fate. The studio first raised the possibility of shooting elsewhere after a dispute with various acting unions last month. The unions have since dropped their demands, but executives say they might move anyway. “I'd love to tell you it's a done deal, but we're a long way away from being a done deal,” said New Zealand’s Prime Minister, according to Reuters. Were the Hobbit to shoot elsewhere, New Zealand's economy could lose as much as $1.5 billion.