Hundreds of items of science fiction art and collectibles created by Weta Workshop will begin their journey to China tonight for a fundraising exhibition set to be visited by up to a million people.
About 150 paintings by artist and Weta designer Greg Broadmore, along with props and rayguns, would be exhibited in The Exceptional Exhibition - Weta Workshop introduces the World of Dr Grordbort's.
The exhibition, running from December 5 to January 15 at the Sichuan Provincial Museum, would raise money for relief efforts following last year's devastating earthquake in the province.
Tickets were priced at $US5, ($NZ7) and it was hoped between 300,000 and one million people would pass through the exhibition.
Five Academy Awards won by Weta for Lord of the Rings and King Kong would also be on display.
Weta effects supervisor Richard Taylor said he first learnt of the world of Dr Grordbort's four years ago, when Mr Broadmore showed him paintings of "retro-futuristic rayguns" on his lounge room wall.
That world had since expanded into an array of high-end collectibles, art and two books, the second of which, Victory, was released today.
Mr Taylor said Weta was hoping to turn Dr Grordbort's into a feature film, and the first step was taking Mr Broadmore's art to the world.
"It's lovely to think a small slice of New Zealand high fantasy is now going to travel to the other side of the world," he said.
Mr Taylor described Dr Grordbort's as "a nefarious corporation set up to produce everything from soap, children's toys to weaponry, sold to the highest bidder".
The collectibles created by Weta had been sold to "an amazing array of very eccentric and wonderful people the world over".
Mr Broadmore said he looked to poke fun at social stereotypes, cliches and linguistic devices with the Venus-based tales, set in the 1920s and 1930s.
Fans of Dr Grordbort's had written to him via a website, and he had responded as characters created by the fans' imaginations, complete with a painting of what he envisaged the character looking like.
Mr Broadmore said the exhibition was a great privilege, and he was excited to see the public's reaction.
Since Infiniti Capital had offered sponsorship for the exhibition five weeks ago, Weta had created, printed, framed and boxed hundreds of artworks and artefacts which would ship to China tonight.
The exhibition weighed 7.2 tonnes, and would be set up in three days, instead of the preferred three weeks, Mr Taylor said.
During the exhibition, Mr Taylor and Mr Broadmore would also offer Chinese students lectures and tutorials on animation, make-up, costuming and illustration.
Mr Broadmore said he hoped to one day have the Dr Grordbort's books translated into Mandarin, but titles such as Dr Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory would prove difficult to translate.
Mr Taylor hoped the exhibition would encourage Chinese artists to exhibit in New Zealand and help build artistic and cultural ties between the countries.
NZPA