Keeping costs down was a high priority for New Zealand-based digital effects specialist WETA Digital in bringing Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's US$207 million King Kong remake to life. "They [WETA] don't have unlimited funds," Gary Collins, the managing director of storage vendor Network Appliance's New Zealand division, told ZDNet Australia last week as King Kong was released to cinemas. Both Collins and WETA chief technology officer Milton Ngan said the effects house sought to keep a tight rein on costs, with Ngan describing it as "critical to our process". The CTO was unavailable to comment further. [More]