New Zealand Might Build a Wellywood Sign Near Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop

Plans for a “Wellywood” sign near Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop headquarters in Wellington, New Zealand has met with distain from local residents.  The sign imitating the classic Hollywood letters is planned to be erected in the Miramar hills overlooking Weta Workshop in June this year.  More after the jump:

Since the plans for the sign were announced yesterday, a Facebook group called  “Hey, let’s NOT have a “WELLYWOOD” sign in Wellington” has already 4,477 members, and there are plans to send a petition opposing the sign to the City’s Council.  Peter Jackson told the New Zealand newspaper The Dominion Post:

“It’s Kiwi tongue-in-cheek humour at its very best, but beneath the leg-pulling is genuine pride.  Several of the most popular films ever made were born in Miramar. Within a mile of the sign is the birth place of Middle-earth and Pandora.”

The plan is for the sign to be 28m long and 3.5m tall.  In comparison, the size of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles is 14m high and 10m wide.

The sign plays on the nickname for the city’s post production industry that produced the special effects for movies such as Avatar and the Lord of the Rings series.  It’s being funded by Wellington International Airport and will be visible as visitors fly into the windy city.