in the cave

Our first stop was the newly-opened Weta Cave on Camperdown Road. Just a few buildings down from Weta Workshop – the facility that churned out hundreds of weapons, props, costumes, creatures, and miniatures for “The Lord of the Rings” – the Cave is essentially Weta’s retail outlet. Visitors can watch a 20-minute video in a dark, cave-like room that showcases Weta Workshop’s and sister company Weta Digital’s skills, incorporating short clips from films they’ve worked on and special behind-the-scenes footage.

Afterwards, curious fans can peruse the Weta shop. With weapons, costumes and props from movies like “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Hellboy” on display in glass cases, and everything from T-shirts to sword replicas to stone busts of favorite characters for sale, a film fan could conceivably spend hours – and large sums of money – in the small, faux-stone-lined shop.

But our group was on a strict schedule. It was in and out, with only enough time to view the video and browse through the store for about 15 minutes afterward. Even in the short time we spent there, though, I noticed a steady trickle of visitors into the Cave. As I was waiting for the cashier to ring up my two key chains, I asked him how many visitors the site saw on an average day.

“On a day like today?” he asked, pausing briefly to think about it. “Probably between 50 and 100. But that’s a slow day.”

“And what’s a not-so-slow-day like?”

“I’d say maybe 250 to 500 people come through here when we’re really busy.” I was impressed. For such a small shop with relatively expensive things for sale, that seemed like pretty decent business. But, then again, I suppose if you’re the sole store connected to an industry giant like Weta, you’re bound to garner a good bit of attention.

There were a few groans as we were eventually ushered out the door by Vic and Raewyn.

“Don’t worry,” Raewyn said in what I guessed was an attempt to assuage any mutinous tendencies brewing within the group. “This next bit will be worth it.”

“I didn’t even get to look at all the ‘Narnia’ stuff,” Echo mumbled, glancing back rather longingly over her shoulder. “Then again,” she murmured, turning to Lisa, “it’s probably a good thing. I may have bought them out.”