A sculpture to mark The Hobbit premiere will be hoisted onto Wellington's Embassy Theatre from tomorrow, but exactly what will peer over the red carpet remains a closely guarded secret.

The installation has been created by director Sir Peter Jackson's art department and will take two days to lift on to the theatre's roof, depending on the weather.

But Sir Peter's spokesman Matt Dravitzki is giving no clues about what will adorn the theatre's roof or when it would be revealed.

"It's become a bit of a tradition, certainly around the Tolkien films, for there to be an installation on the Embassy, and this will be no exception.''

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The first part of Sir Peter's Hobbit film trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, will have its world premiere at the theatre on November 28.

Previous installations to mark Sir Peter's Lord of the Rings films have included a Ring-wraith and the character Gollum.

The road next to the Embassy will be closed from 6am to 9pm tomorrow and next Sunday to enable a crane to lift material onto the balcony.

If bad weather strikes, the work will be carried out overnight in the week before the premiere.

Other parts of Wellington have already been decked out with Hobbit creations.

Wellington Airport has a 13m long sculpture of Gollum suspended from its ceiling, while the fifth floor of the New Zealand Post building has silhouettes of Bilbo Baggins and dwarfs.