The Armageddon Expo's first visit to Dunedin at the weekend has been declared a success by organiser Bill Geradts, although he admitted yesterday to having suffered some pre-event nerves.
Mr Geradts said he hit his target of about 6000 people attending the expo at the Edgar Centre but, to be ''brutally honest'', he had been nervous before the show about how many would come.
Now, he had started thinking about next year's show, for which the weekend's attendance would be a benchmark.
The expo made a small profit, he said, and many of those attending had thanked him for bringing the show to Dunedin.
Peter Hambleton, an actor in The Hobbit, fielded questions from fans like Mackenzie Driver (16), of Dunedin, who wanted to know how long make-up took each day on the film (about two hours).
Josh McFarlane (12), of Mosgiel, wanted the actor to ''do your best Gollum impression'', which he declined, saying he was in awe of [Gollum actor] Andy Serkis. ''It's almost like it's sacred.''
Actors from The Hobbit signed big photographs of themselves in character for $30 or small photographs for $10.
Film fan Malcolm Lay (28), of Dunedin, said getting two photos signed was worth the money.
''It's not often you'd have something this big come to Dunedin.''
He would come in costume next year.
