'Rings' premiere gobbles up taxpayers' million in a day

Taxpayers ploughed $1 million into the day-long festivities for the world premiere of The Return of the King in Wellington - including a swish 2500-person after-party.

But details are not yet known - and may never be - on exactly what all those taxpayer dollars paid for during Monday's day of lavish celebrations.

Officials say the Government's $1 million was pooled with $1.8 million of Wellington City Council cash and an unspecified amount from New Line Cinema and Roadshow for premiere-related events - of which the swish invitation-only party at the Queens Wharf Events Centre was only one.

Breakdowns of the costs of each premiere event - including the party - were unavailable yesterday.

The events centre was turned into a Lord of the Rings film set, including one of the buildings from the city of Minas Tirith and statues of ancient kings. A giant Fell Beast was hanging from the ceiling. The guests were treated to a sumptuous menu that included Chinese duck salad Peking-style, salmon tartare with salmon caviar and lime mayonnaise, Clevedon coast oysters on a bed of seaweed with Thai dressing and West Coast whitebait fritters with asparagus and hollandaise sauce.

The champagne and methode champenoise were Pelorus Vintage 1998 Marlborough and Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut.

Wines included Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2003 Marlborough, Neudorf Chardonnay 2002 Nelson and Ata Rangi Celebre 2001 Martinborough. The stars and guests were also offered mint-laced "Mo Mo" cocktails consisting of vodka, pompelmo, passionfruit, grapefruit and lime.

Council events manager John Dawson said the main components of the premiere were the parade of the film's stars through central Wellington, erecting various Lord of the Rings beasts around the city, security, the post-premiere party and an exhibition of photographs by Viggo Mortensen, who plays Aragorn.

The Government put $4 million into the premiere and related events to get the most mileage for the country out of the final movie in the trilogy directed by Peter Jackson.

A spokesman for Cabinet minister Pete Hodgson said $1 million went to the world premiere, $1 million to bringing and hosting overseas media and $2 million on other items including offshore premieres.

* Russell Baillie's review of The Return of the King will be published in Monday's Herald.

* Return Of The King opens in New Zealand on Dec. 18.

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings