By Julia Wilkie Smith Wellington, New Zealand, was host to the world premiere of the final installment of Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, on Monday 1 December, 2003. An estimated crowd of 100,000 to 125,000 turned up for a glimpse at the stars at the street parade. Hard core fans camped out the night for the best red carpet views, while others lined the city streets from early in the morning and were not
disappointed as cast and crew members took the time to sign autographs and have their pictures taken as they made their way down the extremely long (1.46km) red carpet. The speeches that were made by various people involved with the triology were sincere and heartfelt letting the kiwi public who turned out fell proud of their small part to play in the billion dollar project. It is arguable if anything quite like the Lord of the Rings world premiere will ever been seen in New Zealand
again. Hopefully, LOTR director Peter Jackson's new project, King Kong, will generate similar excitement. We have a line up of photos from the world premiere street parade and from the final photo call by the stars at Wellington International Airport before flying out to premieres around the world. | 
