Filming of the three part

blockbuster ‘Lord of the

Rings’ is proving a big

winner for Wellington.

Cafes, landlords, hire

companies and retailers all

say they are reaping

benefits from the making of

the movie.

“We’re hoping for a lot more

from it. It’s good work,”

says Vaughan Clark from

Triple A Cranes.

‘Lord of the Rings’ is

spending a hundred million

dollars in Wellington alone.

They are hiring a thousand

locals as extras, and the full

time staff from overseas are

keeping real estate agents

busy.

“On the residential side it’s

stopped the decline and

that has got to be good for

everybody. On the industrial

commercial side it’s taken

up slack that nobody knew

what to do with,” says Brian

Baker from Home Rent.

Director Peter Jackson has

taken over factories and

warehouses that were left

empty by the demise of

other businesses.

And he is keeping

booksellers happy too.

“Since the movie started it’s

just been amazing. We can’t

get enough of it basically.

The publishers find it hard

to keep up with supply,”

says Bruce Caddy of

Dymocks Booksellers.

Supplying food for the stars

is also big business.

“They come for lunch or they

come for a quick morning

tea or they come for

takeaways,” says Penny

Pennington of the Chocolate

Fish cafe

And locals seem to be

getting the odd glimpse at

the stars.

“One day Elijah Wood yelled

out to Liv Tyler, ‘You don’t

need your sunglasses and

your collar turned up here

Liv, it’s quite casual'”,

Pennington said.

The hobbits the elves and

the auks invade

Queenstown next week