Wellington - Plans to erect a 3.5-metre-high Wellywood sign in Wellington - home to Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson - met a mixed reception in the
New Zealand capital on Tuesday. The Wellington International Airport Company said it would put up the 28-metre long sign - imitating the famous
Hollywood sign in Los Angeles - on a hillside near Jackson's studio and the home of Weta Digital, which won another Oscar this week for best visual effects on the smash hit Avatar.
But the www.stuff.co.nz news
website said only 44 per cent of nearly 9,000 respondents to an online survey favoured the idea, and two sites opposing the sign on the social networking site Facebook boasted nearly 600 members.
Wellington Airport chief executive Steve Fitzgerald said, "The sign will help cement Wellywood's place as an international
tourism landmark."
And Jackson said, "It's Kiwi tongue-in-cheek humour at its very best, but beneath the leg-pulling is genuine pride."
The sign is scheduled to be erected in June.
