MATAMATA, New Zealand — Among the ruins of Middle-earth, the family of sheep farmer Ian Alexander is astounded by the popularity of its remote rural pastures.
Since the Alexander family allowed director Peter Jackson to film J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy on its land in 1999, pilgrims have been flocking to the family farm in a bucolic northern corner of this island nation.
There are absolutely no links to modern life on the farm -- no buildings, no power lines, not even any planes flying overhead. All that's here is a lush carpet of grass that curls around the remains of low-slung hobbit homes built into the hills and ends at a wall of trees as dense and ominous as Fangorn Forest.
The Tolkien fanatics have kept coming with pockets full of cash, desperate for the chance to see the place where the trilogy's hero, Frodo Baggins, began his daring journey to vanquish the forces of evil by destroying the One Ring.
And so, in a bid to maintain some control over the situation, the Alexander family decided to set up a tourism company.
"We had no idea that so many, many, many, many people would pay to see it," said Russell Alexander, Ian's 35-year-old son, who runs the family's "Rings Scenic Tours" company.
As impressive as the Alexanders' sheep farm is, the unforeseen economic boom that followed the filming of Jackson's trilogy is even more so. Some locals call it the "Frodo economy," and it has rippled across New Zealand, population 4 million, in many unlikely ways.
Much of the payoff was tied directly to the estimated $500 million that was spent to make the three movies, the third of which will hit theaters in December. For a time, the production engaged 23,000 workers, making it the largest private employer in New Zealand.
Then came the tourists, and scores of new restaurants and bed and breakfasts to cater to them.
From the majestic fields of Twizel in the heart of the South Island, the site of the "Pelennor Fields," to the artisan colony of Nelson on the coast of Tasman Bay, where the trilogy's pivotal One Ring was forged, nearly every small town and cozy hamlet has benefited.
The Frodo economy came calling in earnest on the Alexanders in the form of three young girls from overseas toting backpacks filled with drawings of Bag End, Frodo's home. They hopped the fences and wandered for hours, finally stumbling across the remains of the movie set deep inside the 1,250-acre farm.
