Peter Jackson is officially a billionaire

Peter Jackson, the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is officially one of the wealthiest people in the world.

It should come as no surprise that Peter Jackson, the director behind the monumental Lord of the Rings trilogy and many other films, is rich. He created some of the biggest films of all time, and has launched the careers of many people to new heights, including Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, and even Kate Winslet, thanks to the film Heavenly Creatures. Jackson currently ranks as the third most successful director of all time; his movies have raked in more than $6.5 billion worldwide.

But now, Jackson is setting a different sort of record: he’s officially a billionaire. Forbes recently released a list of the wealthiest people in the world as of 2022, and Jackson made the cut. The director’s net worth is an estimated $1.5 billion, which makes him the 1,929th wealthiest person on the planet.

Jackson has never been a starving artist, but the thing that pushed him to this new height was when he sold the 3D tools division of Weta Studios last year. Weta has worked on tons of huge projects over the years, including Game of Thrones, James Cameron’s Avatar, and of course, The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh owned a 60% stake in the company, so they were able to cash out big when they sold to Unity Software for a reported $1.6 billion. Jackson’s take from that was around $600 million, with an additional $375 million in stock.

From humble Bag End to a treasure trove worthy of Smaug himself, may Jackson’s vast wealth afford him many barrels of Longbottom leaf. He’s certainly earned it.

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h/t Daily Mail