Wellington, New Zealand (CNN) -- You'd have to have been hiding down a, er, Hobbit hole, to miss the hubbub. You can fly to New Zealand, where the Hobbit premieres on Wednesday, on a Hobbit-branded plane -- complete with a Hobbit-inspired safety video with Peter Jackson, telling you how to keep safe, if the flight approaches its own Mount Doom. When you arrive in the self-styled Middle (Wellington, my home town) of Middle Earth, a giant Gollum, reaching for a fish, hangs from the airport terminal's ceiling. On the short ride into the city you'll see the Hobbit-themed flags fluttering in Wellington's persistent wind before a giant Gandalf hovers into view.
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"Middle of Middle Earth" greets arrivals with Gollum, Hobbit-themed flags, Gandalf
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Kiwi taxpayers are footing a portion of the cost for the films
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Prime Minister Key says "The Hobbit" costs far less than "Lord of the Rings" trilogy did for country
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Director Sir Peter Jackson says the films could have been shot in England, Scotland
While the @placeholder psyche adores nothing more than being told how wonderful our little country is, we need more than that as a return on our investment.