Royal reception for Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson is best known for The Return of the King – but now it is the turn of the Queen.

Jackson's next film The Lovely Bones will have its world premiere for Queen Elizabeth II in London's Leicester Square.

The charity premiere, known as the Royal Film Performance, is the only time each year that the Queen visits the cinema.

The date of the screening has yet to be announced, but is likely to be in early December. The film is released in the United States on December 11 and New Zealand on Boxing Day.

Details on which Royal Family members will attend will also be announced at a later date. Jackson, as well as the film's stars, including Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Susan Sarandon, are expected to attend.

Jackson said he was "thrilled" that the Queen would be among the first people in the world to see the finished film.

"I am honoured that The Lovely Bones has been selected to be this year's Royal Gala film," Jackson said.

"The film has been an extraordinary journey, for myself as a film-maker and for all of those who worked on it."

The New Zealand premiere for The Lovely Bones is likely to be in Wellington, but the date and decisions on the scale of the event still had to be made.

- © Fairfax NZ News