At the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the third of three films made by Wellingtonian Peter Jackson to retell J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic, The Lord Of The Rings, won the Oscar in each of the categories it was nominated in - a historic clean-sweep.
With 11 wins, The Return Of The King equalled Ben Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the most Oscar victories by a single movie.
The procession of New Zealand Oscar winners was so steady it prompted ceremony compere Billy Crystal to comment: "There is no-one left in New Zealand to thank." Only South African actress Charlize Theron spoiled New Zealand's Oscar party, winning Best Actress ahead of 13-year-old Aucklander Keisha Castle-Hughes, who became the youngest nominee in the category for her performance in the New Zealand film Whale Rider.
Jackson first began work on a trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic, The Lord Of The Rings, a decade ago.
Having secured the rights and studio backing, he enticed an international cast to spend two years in New Zealand shooting three films simultaneously.
It was an exhausting undertaking which Jackson said almost killed him.
"Right now, it feels like I could do it all over again," Jackson told a post-Oscar press conference.
"It was absolutely worth it. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and I had a brilliant team."
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King received Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Jackson), Adapted Screenplay (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson), Best Music (Score) for Howard Shore, Best Song, Best Art Direction (Grant Major, art direction; Dan Hennah and Alan Lee, set decoration), Best Costume Design (Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor), Best Film Editing (Jamie Selkirk), Best Make-up (Richard Taylor, Peter King), Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek), and Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke).
The first two films in the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, each won two Oscars.
"Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a film-maker, so what better film to work on than The Lord of The Rings?" Jackson said.
"It was a privilege every day. It nearly killed me, but right now it feels absolutely fine."
The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been a wild ride for Jackson.
With just one Hollywood film to his credit after several acclaimed low-budget films, Jackson was entrusted with helming The Lord Of The Rings project - one of the most ambitious undertakings in motion picture history.
Jackson said movie studio New Line Cinema had done "the most risky thing I think anyone has ever done in this industry" in backing him to make The Lord Of The Rings.
"I'm so happy for you it paid off. Your collaboration, your partnership and support gave me the most incredible working experience of my life."
So far, the three films have generated well over $US1 billion ($NZ1.47 billion) in box office receipts. On the strength of such success, Jackson has been able to command a reputed world record fee to make his next film, King Kong.
At one stage, The Lord Of The Rings was one of New Zealand's biggest employers.