Movies
Around 100,000 people are expected to turn up to watch a parade of film characters through the streets in the hours before the premiere on Monday night.
The faces of "Middle Earth" characters Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn and others are plastered on city lampposts whilst an eight-story high banner featuring Gandalf covers one building. Meanwhile employees at City Hall apparently answer all telephone calls with the line "Welcome to Wellington, home of Lord of the Rings."
Mayor Kerry Prendergast said that around $4 million (£1.5 million) had been spent on staging the premiere, a bargain in comparison to the amount which will be raked in through increased tourism.
Before getting dolled up for the premiere, the cast members will be kept busy through tomorrow (Sunday) with a day of back-to-back interviews.
Representatives from more than 140 media organisations around the world are being treated to an advance screening of the movie this afternoon on the strict condition that they not talk about it until December 8.
Regular fans will have to wait until December 17 to see the film for themselves.
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