Celebrate 10 Years of 'The Lord of the Rings' Movie Trilogy

Do you remember 2001?

George W Bush was president of the USA, Gladiator won Best Picture at the Oscars and Goran Ivanisevic won at Wimbledon.

And on the 10th December, a movie called The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by a New Zealander called Peter Jackson, had its World Premiere in London at the Odeon, Leicester Square. And a few days later across the world.

Check out some red carpet action at the Wellington Premiere.

For millions of people across the world who'd engrossed themselves in the books for decades, this was to some degree a life changing experience. Of course, attempts had been made in the past to capture the magic of Professor Tolkien on the big screen, but nobody had really got close.

At least not in the eyes of the hardcore fans, so it was of course with some trepidation that the same fans awaited the 10th December 2001.

It's fair to say that a palpable sigh of relief was breathed that very day. Peter Jackson had captured the spirit of the original works, the fans were happy with the result and started looking forward to the next instalment. And the one after that. Never before had two years felt so long to so many people.

Rolling Stone called it "The real deal, a movie epic that pops your eyes out, piles on thrills and fun, and yet stays intimately attuned to character."

Empire said: "Putting formula blockbusters to shame, Fellowship is impeccably cast and constructed with both care and passion."

Here at Weta, work stopped for all of 10 minutes for some well earned celebration but then work continued on The Two Towers and Return of the King.

We were already well underway with our line of collectibles - the first we'd ever done.

It also signalled a new era for New Zealand as a country. From having been a relatively obscure country on the other side of the world, New Zealand suddenly WAS Middle-earth.

The mountains, volcanoes, forests, rivers and glaciers that many New Zealanders perhaps took for granted, became not only shooting locations for the movies, but very tangible representations of Mount Doom, Fangorn, Rivendell, Anduin and many more.