Movieline

Lord Of The Boarding Gates: New Zealand Wins Awesomest Airport Ever With Ginormous Gollum Installation

Talk about local flavor: Peter Jackson's WETA pals this week installed a giant Gollum statue inside Wellington, New Zealand's airport in celebration of the Lord of the Rings franchise's fruitful connection to the community (and, y'know, Jackson's upcoming The Hobbit). Now boarding: precious, MY PRECIOUS!

The 13-meter installation, depicting Gollum fishing for a tasty fish, hangs over the Wellington Airport's dining lounge and was created by WETA's own Oscar-winning Richard Taylor, according to TheOneRing.net; it took three days for crews to erect this humongous, magnificent thing, which gives Tolkien nerds yet another reason to visit beautiful Wellington, NZ.

It's beautiful and awesome and so wonderfully garish all at once. In other words, how hasn't LAX done something like this already?

[Photo: TheOneRing.net]

[TheOneRing.net via FirstShowing]