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Some 6,750 New Zealand Flights Were Booked to Film 'The Hobbit'

It's a good day for fans of The Hobbit as the movie finally hits U.S. theaters today, but they aren't the only ones with a reason to celebrate.

No one is more excited about the Hobbit Trilogy then Film New Zealand which has been tracking the film's huge economic impact on the country.

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Hobbits Hitch a Ride on an Air New Zealand 777

With all the anticipation and drama of a movie premiere, Air New Zealand unveiled their newest livery and this time it's not all-black. In fact, this one is quite the opposite as it's mostly white with "middle-"earthtones and Hobbits all over it.

In short, the Kiwi carrier has painted a scene from the movie The Hobbit:An Unexpected Journey on one of the Boeing 777s that flies between New Zealand and LA, eventually continuing on to London. The grand reveal of the aircraft's new paint job happened in a hangar tarted up to look like a "hobbit-hole."

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New Zealand Continues 'Hobbit'-Mania as Characters Conquer a Building

Wellington Airport isn't the only landmark in New Zealand being taken over by giant characters from The Hobbit.

In anticipation of the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, huge silhouettes of 14 characters from the movie have been installed on the fifth story of the New Zealand Post House, a 12-story office tower at 7 Waterloo Quay, Wellington, New Zealand.

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New In-Flight Safety Video! Air New Zealand Goes Hobbit-Style

Here is the moment that most of us (#avgeeks) have been waiting for. Air New Zealand, "the official airline of Middle Earth," has launched their "The Hobbit"-themed in-flight safety video featuring elves, hobbits and wizards as replacements for the typical flight attendants, all showing us how to inflate a lifevest.

The Kiwi airline is no stranger to exercising their creative muscle with in-flight videos and promotional events. Ahead of the much anticipated release of the first movie of the The Hobbit trilogy, Air NZ embraces the homeland film. "The Unexpected Briefing" is almost as hot with plenty of ballyhoo on the airline's blog, The Flying Social Network.

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Gollum Goes to Wellington Airport, in a Big Way

New Zealand has been gearing up for a big Hobbit adventure for some time, from the national airline donning Hobbit costumes for a fun take on a safety video to tours specially designed for fans of elves and wizards. Now, the movie fun starts when people land in NZ to visit Middle Earth.

Ahead of the November 28th NZ release of the first film from the new Tolkien trilogy, Wellington Airport is getting in the mood and tarting up their terminal in a big way. Imagine enjoying a meat pie in the food court or saying final good-byes and, hanging over your head with a giant's proportions, is a massive sculpture of Gollum, the scrawny, pale creature from the films. The installation features the character grabbing to eat the sweet, juicy fish (also sculptures) as his mouth bubbles in creepy excitement.

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New Zealand Meets Diner Food with Denny's New Hobbit-Themed Menu

While New Zealand is planning a glamorous red carpet event, an artisan market, and open-air film screenings for the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, here in the U.S. we're getting a Hobbit-themed Denny's Menu.

The diner chain is rolling out 11 special entrees to tie-in with the release of the movie later this year. Included on the menu is a Hobbit Hole Breakfast, the Shire Sausage Skillet, Frodo's Pot Roast Skillet, and Bilbo's Berry Smoothie. Some will also include collectible trading cards and QR codes to see more movie-related content.

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Come November, Middle-Earth to Be in the Middle of the Sky

Something is just 'not right' with this flight attendant

If you're on your way to cross the equator in hopes to see the actual set of the highly acclaimed movie, you might just be able to get in the "middle-earth mood" a little easier with Air New Zealand's newest plans to promote the heck out the new movie and its sequel.

The Kiwi airline has repainted some long-haul planes with landscapes and characters pulled from the set of the film. Keeping with a travel theme, a Boeing 777-300 gets a new paint job for first release, 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' and then a 777-200 gets decorated for 'The Hobbit: There And Back Again'. The planes will be flying from the island nation to both the US and the UK.

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What The Hobbiton Set in NZ Looked Like Before 'The Hobbit' Began Filming

Confession: we're giant Lord of the Rings fans, we'll admit it. We might even have seen the first movie eight times when it was on the big screen, and countless times on DVD and iTunes since then.

We're also giant New Zealand fans, and on our first trip to Aotearoa in 2010 we naturally had to hit up Matamata, the farming community that's most famous for being the site of Hobbiton in the movies (and not to be confused with Matamata, Tunisia, near the filming location of Star Wars' Tatooine).

Of course, it's very different now: since we first visited in the interregnum between the three Lord of the Rings and two Hobbit movies, the site has really changed, with part of the movie site deal allowing the landowner to keep the Hobbit-hole façades and ambience.

But here's what it used to be like...

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