(L to R) William Kircher (Bifur), Graham McTavish (Dwalin), Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), James Nesbitt (Bofur) and John Callen (Oin)
When the Regent Upstairs Cinema in Pahiatua, New Zealand was offered the Tararua district premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, they decided to turn it into a gala fundraising event, Hollywood style.
!00 local dignitaries have been invited to attend the event as Hollywood stars. They will arrive at the theatre in luxury cars where media representatives and repertory society members posing as paparazzi will snatch photos and quotations from them. They will then be ushered into the theatre to enjoy a glass of champagne before the film begins.
The event will raise money for the community-owned theatre, which was bought from the Kerridge-Odeon company by the Pahiatua Repertory Society in 1977, to save it from closure. An honorary and voluntary crew have run the theatre ever since and about $1 million has been spent renovating and restoring the former art deco glory of the building. But the theatre still needs a lift and new heating and lighting, which will cost about $200,000, reports Wairarapa Times-Age
The fundraising gala will take place at 7 pm on 12 December.
Sounds like a whole lotta fun!
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