The world premiere of the film The Hobbit happened in Wellington last week amid much excitement and hype. The vast film studios are located in Wellington and the film maker Sir Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) lives nearby and has made films based from Wellington all his life. He is easy to claim as “ours” and to feel very proud of his successes and creativity.
A quick pick-up at Wellington airport this week saw us enter a different world.
Gandalf, the dwarves, the Hobbit and other characters are found portrayed in different images around the terminal.
Gollum is an immense 13 metre long replica suspended from the ceiling catching “juicy sweet fishes”. He weighs in at 1.2 tonnes and is made from polystyrene, coated with epoxy resin. It had to be created as 9 separate pieces in order to fit through the airport doors.
He is easy to walk around and under and offers an impressive installation to appreciate.
The bag collection area resembles the shire and features hobbit holes and various characters. A local Porirua sign writing firm (Henshaw signs) was responsible for this impressive piece.
People arriving at our airport are under no illusion about the part of earth they are entering as part of the launch of this film. It opens next week in cinemas. It promises to be a fantastic journey with two more parts to come.
ordinarygoodness 