'The Hobbit' definitely has a lot of tricks under its sleeve, and for its world premiere just this Monday, fans were surprised to see how the Middle-earth themed movie has come to life through the presence of Gandalf and the great eagles in Wellington Airport, same day Air New Zealand's Boeing 777-300 which was adorned with behemoth stickers of Smaug landed at LAX from Auckland in time for the great fanfare over premiere of 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.'
The second installment of the trilogy has ignited a redecorating project at Wellington Airport, which serves as the gateway for the region of New Zealand where the first two movies were filmed. At the same time the city hosted the world premiere of 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' back in November 2012.
As part of the redecoration project, fans and general passengers of the airport witnessed the unveiling of two giant sculptures of the Great Eagles, one of which is carrying the wizard Gandalf. The two one-ton sculptures are hanging from the ceiling in the main terminal through eight cables that are tightly strapped from the roof.
"What could be more suitable for an airport in Middle-earth than Gandalf the Grey atop a Great Eagle swooping into the terminal, such an evocative image from The Hobbit and a fantastic and challenging project for our artists to design and build," Creative Lead of Weta Workshop Richard Taylor said in a statement.
Weta Workshop is the Oscar-winning conceptual design and physical manufacturing company that has been working alongside the production of the two 'Hobbit' films thus far. It can be noted that for the premiere of the first installment, Weta Workshop installed a sculpture of the giant face of Gollum in the same airport. The Gollum sculpture is still on display at Wellington airport as of late.
'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' is to hit theaters come Dec. 13, Friday.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
