Air New Zealand - The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made

Air New Zealand - The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made

Air New Zealand, which has been the first airline to reinvent the flight safety video before other airlines got cool with their safety instructions, on October 22nd went back to the Hobbit theme with its latest video.

Dubbed The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made (10+ million views so far), the video includes Hobbit directors and actors Sir Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sylvestor McCoy, Dean O’Gorman, Sir Richard Taylor, and Naoyuki Shimizu, who each play themselves.

The 4:30 minute journey begins with two Tolkien obsessives racing through the airport to make their ANZ flight. Once seated, their jaws drop when they realise that they are sitting across the aisle from Frodo Baggins himself. After their own safety video starts, they are transported into the rolling green hills of the Shire.

There, cabin crew dressed in Air New Zealand uniforms with Elvish touches of twinkly headbands, cloaks and pointy ears, inform viewers that smoking is illegal on aircraft, and the emergency landing position is demonstrated by a dragon-riding Gandalf.

Sir Peter Jackson pops up to instruct viewers to turn off all electronic devices. Then, much like in the films, it all culminates in a huge battle scene, except they all end up hugging each other.

This is the airline’s second Hobbit-themed safety video. The first - called An Unexpected Briefing (12 million views) was released in October 2012 as part of its partnership with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey movie.