Wellywood First To See AVATAR In 3D

Jim here. We now know who will be first to see AVATAR on AVATAR Day and it is justifiably Wellington, New Zealand. There will be three screenings of the 15 minutes of AVATAR at the Readings Courtenay Central Cinema on Friday, August 21 @ 11:45am, 12:30pm and 1:15pm.

From the press release:

Twentieth Century Fox New Zealand general manager Mark Croft says Wellington will see the scenes ahead of the rest of New Zealand in recognition of the fact that the film was largely made in Wellington. Live-action filming by US production company Lightstorm took place in Peter Jackson’s Stone Street Studios and the large amount of computer-generated work was done by world-leading visual effects facility Weta Digital. Both companies are based in Miramar.

Croft says, “We like the idea of bringing the film back to where it came from and want to pay tribute to all of the highly skilled creative people involved in this extraordinary film.”

The free tickets will be available at the cinema 45 minutes before each screening (see below for screening times) and Croft advises people to secure their tickets early as demand is likely to be strong.

The trailer for the film will begin playing in cinemas around New Zealand on the same day, in line with the worldwide reveal of AVATAR, during which selected countries will see the scenes and the trailer for the first time. The film opens in New Zealand cinemas on December 17, when we will again be the first country in the world due to our time zone.

Each country seems to be doing their own thing, so it is hard to anticipate what will be happening where you live. I agree completely with Wellington getting the first light with all the work the creative talent has put into it. Stay tuned for more updates!