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Air New Zealand's Hobbit-themed safety video that you'll actually pay attention to


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Air New Zealand continues to excel at channeling its quirkiness.

Air New Zealand's famously quirky ad campaigns and in-flight videos are well known by now, and the latest one probably tops most of them. The national airline of the Kiwi country is partner airline for December's debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of three movies in Peter Jackson's prequel to The Lord of the Rings, and this safety video below continues on that theme.

The video, developed by Weta Workshop, features cameo appearances including Sir Peter Jackson, and other helpfully annotated by a YouTube commenter:

0:30 Royd Tolkien
1.25 Dean O'Gorman
1:44 Clifford "Quickbeam" Broadway TORN
2:40 Gollum!
3:30 Larry Curtis "McCere" TORN

The launch of this video is accompanied by a contest to win a trip to New Zealand. More details here.

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