first of the 'The Hobbit' movie trilogy premiers in Wellington

Air NZ's Hobbit themed 777-300 which will stay in this livery for at least a year. Source

Last night saw the red-carpet World Premier of the first of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movies, originally intended to be a single movie, like the source book by JRR Tolkien, then expanded to two and now three movies.  The NZ Government contributed $94 million of the movies' approximately $670 million budget, although GST on some of that expenditure will recoup some of it and the payoff from increased foreign tourism should recoup the rest.

The movies have been shot in 48 frames per second, double the normal speed, although apparently only about 1,000 cinemas worldwide are capable of actually screening them at that speed.

We wish the movie(s) every success.