Fenced between the famous, the soon-to-be-famous and the chanting, screaming fans who lined Courtenay Place at the world premiere of the first Hobbit trilogy movie, it was hard not to feel a creeping deja vu.
Yes, we've been here before. For a few years there a decade ago, The Lord of the Rings premiere became the Wellington answer to the Santa parade - complete with a jolly bearded fellow at the end getting the biggest cheer.
Last night, there wasn't the mass of people that swamped the inner city for the premiere of The Return of the King. And there were some dissenting voices. A few protesters for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) - one dressed as a Ringwraith, which really must have taken some work - took up a position across from the media lenses.
Their signs said things like "The Hobbit: Unexpected Cruelty". But they were blocked by stern-faced women in Absolutely Positively Wellington T-shirts hoisting movie posters aloft. It was a contest of cardboard-wielding endurance.
Across the other side, a media of many accents pleaded with minders for soundbites as the great and good headed down the 600m red carpet in order of ascending fabulousness.
