Air New Zealand's new safety video takes passengers through Middle-Earth

Air New Zealand embraces its country's strong ties to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie trilogies with this awe-inspiring, in-flight safety video. Crediting itself as "the airline of Middle-Earth," the airline takes its geeking-out passengers through a fantasy involving wizards, elves, orcs and New Zealand's remarkable natural beauty, all while teaching us how to fasten our seat-belts. Take a look.

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Titled The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made, the video pays tribute to the filmmakers that arguably did a great deal in helping promote New Zealand tourism, as well as the film's fans who associate New Zealand's landscapes with the fantasy saga. Within just two days, the video has amassed over 3.5M views.

The video stars several Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit cast and crew, including director Peter Jackson, actors Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown), Dean O'Gorman (Fili), and Weta Workshop co-founder Sir Richard Taylor.

Perhaps lesser known to Americans, the video also features New Zealand film director Taika Waititi and Japanese baseball player Naoyuki Shimizu.

This isn't the first time Air New Zealand has modeled its safety video after the fantasy saga. In 2012, the airline released this video celebrating the first Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

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