Wellington to roll out red carpet for King Kong

Actors Naomi Watts, Adrian Brody and director Peter Jackson will attend the Wellington premiere.

Wellington will roll out the red carpet for more than 200 metres at the New Zealand premiere of Peter Jackson's film of King Kong.

Jackson, Weta Workshop's Richard Taylor and stars Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis and Thomas Kretschmann will attend the premiere on December 14.

Actor Jack Black is not expected to attend.

The capital's nightlife strip Courtenay Place will be the centre of the action, with the premiere screened at the Embassy Theatre, where Jackson's three The Lord of the Rings films had their world premieres.

The world premiere of the US$207 million ($298 million) movie will be in New York on December 5.

Even though the three-hour movie is set in New York, Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast considers it to be a home-town film.

"It's a privilege to host another red carpet event for Peter Jackson.

"Peter is a home-town hero and we consider this a home-town film because so much filming was done locally," she said today.

While there will be no city centre parade as was the case for The Lord of the Rings, there will be red carpet entertainment, a Wellington City Council spokeswoman said.

The red carpet will run for 217m from Allen St to the Embassy Theatre.

Grandstands will be erected to cater for some of the thousands of spectators expected to pour into the city for the event.

There will be road closures, and public transport will be diverted.

- NZPA