New Zealand was primarily known abroad for its sheep, its wine and its rugby team on the September day in 1998 that filmmaker Peter Jackson’s helicopter landed on a sprawling family farm about 100 miles south of Auckland.

       The country’s film industry was another matter: Though New Zealand had produced crossover successes like Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures” and Jane Campion’s Oscar winner “The Piano,” it was nearly as far from the thinking of Hollywood studios as it was from Hollywood itself.

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       But that was about to change.

       The lush farmland on which Jackson’s crew alighted would soon become the backdrop for “The Lord of the Rings,” one of the most ambitious, influential and profitable film series ever made. And in the two decades since the release of “The Return of the King,” the Oscar-winning final film in Jackson’s trilogy, New Zealand has become a major player in the global motion picture industry.