Rings fans dig deep
2003-10-06 10:30
New Zealand - Fans of The Lord of the Rings are lining up to sponsor a seat in the New Zealand movie theatre where the third film in the triology will have its world premiere in December.
Wellington's Embassy Theatre Trust launched the sponsorship appeal to help fund rebuilding of the classic 1920s cinema ahead of the premiere, a NZ$4.5 million refurbishment project championed by the film's director, New Zealander Peter Jackson.
"There's a huge number of Lord of the Rings fans circling looking for any kind of connection with the films - here's one they can put their names on," Trust chairman Bill Sheat said on Monday.
Payment gives the seat owner the right to a name plaque, although not the right to sit in it for the premiere of The Return of the King, or the first public screenings two weeks later.
Already, 613 of the total 748 sponsored seats have been snapped up for as much as NZ$1 850, including by fans from Japan, the United States and Canada.
Sheat said the appeal, which has raised NZ$341 000, gained momentum when the trust posted the seats' availability on an official The Lord of the Rings fan website.
Kristi A Fojtik wrote that members of her Los Angeles Rings fan club chapter were interested in buying a seat and writing simply, "Tolkien Forever," Sheat said.
The trust is expected to fund the refurbishment - which Sheat said it is due for completion mid-November - but the Wellington City Council has underwritten the cost to ensure it is completed ahead of the premiere.
Director Jackson has produced the Lord of the Rings trilogy at his Wellington headquarters - the first such large scale movie production in New Zealand.
On the net:
www.theonering.net
- AP