Wētā Workshop Unleashed

Leave the regular world behind for a while at Wētā Workshop Unleashed. Set inside Auckland’s SkyCity, this immersive experience invites visitors into the wildly creative world of practical movie effects.

Unlike their Wellington tours, Unleashed focuses on more than just their familiar film titles. Instead, they thrust you into three original worlds, spanning horror, sci-fi and fantasy. This gives both visitors and the Wētā Workshop artists a huge cinematic sandbox to play around in, as well as a close-up look at how their ideas can grow from an early sketch into a full-blown film universe.

This certainly isn’t a ‘look but don’t touch’ kind of place. From the jump, tour guides are smacking walls, cracking open hidden doors and shaking hands with animatronics, while encouraging you to do the same. Each section feels like its own living, breathing world designed to be explored, with a huge amount of detail tucked into every corner – so much so that it’s hard to see it all in one go. 

The guides are incredibly knowledgeable and friendly (though watch out, they might tease about feeding you to a monster or two) - sharing insights into the world-class techniques, materials and creative problem-solving used by Wētā Workshop artists in their everyday work. Look closely, ask questions and keep an eye out for things hiding in plain sight. 

It’s an easy win for film lovers, but you don’t need to know your prosthetics from your prop-making to enjoy it. Families, curious creatives and anyone who likes seeing how things are made will find plenty to marvel at. Make a little time for the Wētā Cave retail space before or after, too, where you’ll find everything from giant trolls and a sleeping dragon to wall-to-wall shelves of collectibles and keepsakes. 

Fun, strange and brimming with homegrown creativity, this experience is a reminder that movie magic isn’t magic at all, really - but rather a whole lot of wild imagination, brought to life by real people with very skilled hands.