NZ reaction to Premiere Night.
Tehanu @ 3:52 pm EST

News from Elliot: "The Evening Post ran a story on page 3 last night with photo about a 2m tall 'Thank You' card from the people of Wellington to Peter Jackson.

This card is circulating around the Wellington Region and says 'Thanks Peter, you made a difference to our city. From your fellow Wellingtonians'.

Anyone can sign the card, which will be presented to Jackson next week. The card will be at the Upper Hutt Visitor Information Centre today, Hutt City Council's customer service centre Thursday, Kapiti Coast District Council Friday and Wellington Central Library Saturday and Sunday. It will be at Meridian Energy's head office December 17, Porirua's Pataka Musuem December 18 and Westpac Trust St James Theatre "The Lord of the Rings' display on December 19."

For myself I can report that yesterday NZ really went LOTR crazy - it was in all the news all the time. Not just reports on the premiere, but a total blitz of Rings news on all media. I took part in a Tolkienfest at Auckland's central public library, and it was absolutely chocker (full) of people - and what a varied group of people too.

A lot of interviews in yesterday's news asked people at the London premiere 'Do you think the LOTR films will bring tourists to NZ?' The answer was yes, which should be good news for our Movietours idea.