Middle earth returns to Wellington when the final instalment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003), has its world premiere in December.

While a world premiere may be a regular event in Los Angeles or London, it is a once in a life-time event in New Zealand. Wellington--the home town of producer Peter Jackson--is hosting the premiere and staging an event this size is no easy task for a city of 400,000 people. It was always hoped a world premiere would be held in Wellington, ever since Peter Jackson announced he would be making the trilogy in New Zealand. In fact Jackson stipulated that if he was to make The Lord of the Rings trilogy one of the movies was to have its world premiere in Wellington.

At the Australasian premiere of the second in the trilogy--The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, 2002)--thousands of Wellingtonians waited for the announcement they had been hoping to hear. Jackson eventually grabbed New Line Cinema boss, Mark Ordesky, (executive producer of the film) and asked him if the world premiere for Return of the King would be in Wellington in 2003. Ordesky's answer was 'yes' and a cheer went up, and real planning for the event got underway.

Early this year a task-force was set up with representatives from Wellington City Council, Roadshow, the films' distributor; and the national Government. Yes, the event is important enough to warrant its own government minister. Pete Hodgson, whose portfolios include Fisheries, Energy and Science, Technology and Research, joined the task-force and was quickly dubbed the 'Rings' Minister.

Some might think this is taking things to extremes, but New Zealand has never held a world premiere for a movie of this scale before. On top of that, New Zealanders, and Wellingtonians in particular, are very proud of the fact Peter Jackson chose to make the trilogy in and around his hometown. Hosting the world premiere is not just an acknowledgment of Jackson's achievement, it is a public recognition of what the films mean for the city and the country. Ten years ago it would never have seemed possible that a film project of this scale could be made in New Zealand.

Wellington City Deputy Mayor, Alick Shaw is adamant Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings have done amazing things for New Zealand, and says that the event is huge:

The Lord of the Rings is a phenomenon, just as the novels were. It's also enormous from the point of view that it's a three-movie project that's been made at enormous cost. It's proven to be a success so the entertainment world's attention is centred on the release of the third part of the trilogy From Wellington's point of view, Peter Jackson and his project have done something that, truthfully, ten years ago we would not have expected to happen.

So what has been invested in the event, how much will it bring into Wellington, what is its value to...