Air NZ to bring army of global Hobbit fans to Middle-earth

Media release

27 July 2014

Air NZ to bring army of global Hobbit fans to Middle-earth for incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience

An army of Hobbit fans will soon converge on Middle-earth for a once-in-a-lifetime private screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with Sir Peter Jackson himself before the film’s theatrical release on December 17, 2014.

The Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest was announced today by Jackson and U.S. late night television host Stephen Colbert at the annual Comic-Con International entertainment and comic convention in San Diego.

The competition will see Air New Zealand, the official airline of Middle-earth, fly 150 fans (75 winners plus one guest each) to New Zealand for a week to attend the screening and tour some of The Hobbit Trilogy’s filming locations including Hobbiton.

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon says partnering with New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and Warner Bros. Pictures along with Tourism New Zealand on the global competition is a huge opportunity to promote Middle-earth as a destination to an unprecedented audience.

“This global competition is an incredibly exciting prize for any Hobbit fan as well as a significant platform to be able to show travellers that visiting Middle-earth can be an easy reality,” says Mr Luxon.

Filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson says: “The release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will mark the end of an exciting journey for fans and I look forward to hosting these prize winners in the coming months and giving them a sneak peek at the final film in the Trilogy.”

Entries for The Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest open on 25 August. For further details and to register your interest go to TheHobbitFanContest.com.

Ends

Note to Editors: Air New Zealand is the official airline of Middle-earth. To celebrate its partnership with Warner Bros. and The Hobbit films, the airline has branded two of its Boeing 777-300 long haul aircraft with Hobbit imagery and has released a Hobbit-inspired inflight safety video ‘An Unexpected Briefing’ which has become a global hit with more than 12 million views online.

About The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies:

Directed by Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies features a screenplay by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson & Guillermo del Toro, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Jackson also produced the film, together with Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner and Fran Walsh. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Toby Emmerich, Ken Kamins and Carolyn Blackwood, with Philippa Boyens and Eileen Moran serving as co-producers. Production took place at Jackson’s own facilities in Miramar, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand. Post production took place at Park Road Post Production in Wellington.

New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Present a Wingnut Films Production, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. As with the first two films in the Trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the final film is a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), with New Line managing production. Warner Bros. Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television distribution being handled by MGM.

About Star Alliance:

Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI and United. The integration of Avianca Brasil is currently in progress. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 18,500 daily flights to 1,316 airports in 192 countries.

For more information about Air New Zealand visit www.airnewzealand.com and for more information about Star Alliance visit www.staralliance.com

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