Our Story

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Who We Are

Wētā Workshop is a five-time Academy Award-winning creative design and practical effects company that services the world’s creative industries.

We’re also a hub of creativity with a diverse and passionate crew who love making cool stuff!

Our tours are our chance for us to share that with you.

weta cave workshop sign

A Little History

Like Wētā Workshop itself, our Tourism offering came from humble beginnings. We got our start in 2008, when Wētā Workshop co-founders Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger – seeing the vanloads of hopeful Lord of the Rings fans pull up outside the workshop each day – opened the Wētā Cave shop. Full of cool stuff to explore, buy, photograph, or simply gawk at, the shop quickly became an iconic landmark in the sleepy suburb of Miramar. But that was just the beginning.

Four years after opening the Wētā Cave, in 2012 we transformed the section of the workshop closest to the shop into a fully-fledged tour space. For the first time ever, we were able to bring visitors up close and personal to the artistry and craftsmanship that happens within the four walls of our Workshop every day.

The rest, as they say, is history.

These days, more than 150,000 visitors flock to Wētā Workshop, and the Wētā Cave, each year to learn about the magic behind the props, costumes, armour, special effects, and more from their favourite movies. And we love to share it with them.

weta cave workshop sign
tour guides at weta cave

Our Crew

Our Wētā Workshop tour guides are storytellers first, tour guides second. Sure, it’s our job to get you from A to B – but where’s the fun in that? Our mission is to take you on an epic journey through the imagination. We’ve got all sorts of tools at our disposal: first-hand anecdotes, behind-the-scenes stories, movie effects secrets, tips, tricks, and more. Just as each tour guide is unique, so too is every tour!

More than simply giving you an insight into our creative process, Wētā Workshop tours are our opportunity to share our passion and love for what we do, with you. We’re privileged to have you along for the ride.

tour guides at weta cave
Auckland Crew 1157 x 720

On 15th December 2020, we opened the doors of our new Auckland attraction Wētā Workshop Unleashed, a fantastical film effects experience! We invented three original movie concepts to showcase how physical effects and props are imagined and then created for the movies. At Unleashed, guests are invited to experience a world where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred.

Auckland Crew 1157 x 720