The Hobbit Movie Blog

The Hobbit Trilogy Resumes Filming Monday

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:39:00 +0000

The One Ring is reporting that Peter Jackson. his motley crew and cast will resume filming for The Hobbit on May 20 in Wellington, New Zealand. Technically it is a "pick-up" as principle photography had already wrapped but that was before Jackson and Warner Bros decided to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy. As a result a whole more scenes are needed to fill out The Hobbit: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (out 12/13/13) and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (out 12/17/14). Based on rumors, extra listings in the country and actor references, it seems a lot of the filming will focus on the Battle of Five Armies which will basically be the final act of the last film. In the novel, Bilbo was knocked out early on and when the story picked back up it was over. Tolkien didn't really get into details on the battle as a whole but just certain key events. As a result Jackson will have an opportunity to let his imagination run wild.

Official Lego The Tower of Orthanc Set Announced

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:54:00 +0000

Today Lego announced their version of The Tower of Orthanc from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. This is not the same as the fan masterpiece that was created over a year ago. The official version stands 2 feet tall, made of 2,359 pieces and will retail for $200 when it is released in June. The tower is made for play set fun as the front of it is the sheer black, creepy tower, while the back is open with multiple floor of play set items, trap door, glowing palantir and other play features. The set will come with a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and five mini figures. Below is the announcement video with press release and lot more images here.
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Manu Bennett Talks About Playing Azog

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

While he missed out on joining the promotional swing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Manu Bennett has not been forgotten by Empire Magazine. The actor, most famous for his role as Crixus in Spartacus and Slade Wilson in Arrow, is also the voice and body of Azog, the large white orc arch nemesis of Thorin. The actor himself does not appear but instead was the motion captured on stage and inserted into the film, after initial filming had wrapped. Jackson had decided the previous actor wasn't quite working and replaced him Bennett which required going on a green screen and re-creating the role. It seems Peter enjoyed the performance enough that Azog is going to get a lot more screen time in the next two films with Bennett expected to report to work when filming begins again this summer to get the extra footage needed to complete the trilogy. In the meantime, below are highlights of a great interview with the actor or you can read the whole thing at Empire.

Highlights
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The Hobbit Book as One Page Print

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:42:00 +0000

If truly love the story of The Hobbit by JJR Tolkien then you might be interested in the one page print of the novel by Spineless Classics. It takes the entire story and in tiny type puts its on a single poster that is 2.3 by 3.3ft (700 x 1000mm) at a price of around $69 (44.99 pounds) or $366 (240 pounds) for framed version. Its a UK company so might have to contact them to sort out if they provide international shipping. More details are here. (via Kotaku)

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Event Excerpt

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:33:00 +0000

A few weeks ago a live event was held to promote the new DVD/Blu-ray release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The hour long presentation with Peter Jackson included a tour of the post-production studio and then a Q&A session that was mostly questions from Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogy cast. At the end was the good stuff which was uncompleted and behind the scenes footage for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Sadly the video below does not have any of the goodies hopefully they will come later. If you do have the Blu-ray combo set of the movie, you can still watch a video of the live event here.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek Online

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 02:02:00 +0000

Last Sunday Peter Jackson hosted an hour long event to that ended with a brief sneak peak at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug that is coming out on December 13th. An edited version of the event is now up at official The Hobbit website but it still requires you have an ultraviolet code from one of the Blu-ray sets. Also keep in mind the code can only be used three times. The content is dated to last until 5/24/2013/. So if you have your ultra violet code, click here and if you don't you will have to just go with the summary.

Everything Wrong with The Hobbit Video

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 01:24:00 +0000

Below is an amusing critique of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that counts all the problems with the movie. Some of the points are filming errors, many are silly and some are spot on. The result is an amusing piece that is part of CinemaSins occasional series that makes fun of Hollywood hits.

Desolation of Smaug Live Event Summary

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:52:00 +0000

Sunday at 3pm EST (or 8AM New Zealand) time, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug live event was held with Director Peter Jackson and Jed Brophy (Nori). It was available to those that bought the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Over all it wasn't bad. It started with the pair showing off the post-production studios and discussing a little of the film making process in general. It then went to their main editing room where Peter showed how they take multiple takes with various camera angles and put it together for a scene. After that was a Q&A that was about 95% videos from current and past Middle-Earth actors. The main bit of "new" info really is a good look at Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Luke Evans (Bard), and Laketown. Overall if a fan of the film making process it was interesting but was light on spoilers. Below are the movie specific highlights via Bleeding Cool and TORn. Peter did promise more production videos and a edited version of the live event is supposed to be posted at some point but no time frame has been specified.

Highlights Read more »

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Out Now on Blu-ray and DVD

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:24:00 +0000

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now officially out on Blu-ray and DVD. The movie comes in three main sku's of 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR 3D + BR + DVD + Digital Copy), Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR + DVD + Digital Copy), and DVD (DVD + Digital Copy). Some stores have exclusive extra content. Below are the prices on top five stores but feel free to add more in the comments. From what I can tell the exclusive content is limited to the Blu-ray Combo Pack.

Amazon
3D Blu-ray Combo Pack - $27.99
Blu-ray Combo Pack - $25.99
DVD - $14.99
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Freeman Interview For The Hobbit Home Video Release

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:04:00 +0000

Today The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is out on Blu-ray and DVD. As part of that Collider has released a video interview (below) with star Martin Freeman as he discussed the movie. The 10 minute interview is pretty entertaining, if only to try and figure out the very dry British humor that sometimes makes it difficult to tell when he is being literal or not.

Highlights:
- Seen movie 6 times, five times in 48fps but not in IMAX
- Thought first day was "exciting". Has rehearsed the Riddles in the Dark (Bilbo meets Gollum) before filming it on that first day.
- Felt he was the guy for Bilbo (and most LOTR fans had agreed as name came up long before The Hobbit has even started pre-production) Read more »

Ask Peter Jackson Site Now Live

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:26:00 +0000

On March 24, 2013 Peter Jackson will present a live first look at The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug as part of the promotion for the March 19th release of The Hobbit: An Expected Journey on DVD and Blu-ray. As prep for that, they are giving fans a chance to submit questions to the director for him to answer which you can do here. As for the release, it comes in three skus of 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR 3D + BR + DVD + Digital Copy), Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR + DVD + Digital Copy) and DVD (DVD + Digital Copy).

Warner Bros Counter Suing Tolkien Estate

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:45:00 +0000

The lawsuits continue to fly around The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as Warner Bros has counter-sued the Tolkien Estate for lost licensing revenue from the sale of online games and casino slot machines bearing images and concepts from the two trilogies. In November the Tolkien Estate sued Warner Bros and Saul Zaentz Company for breach of contract for trying to licensing the movies for those purposes. The Tolkien Estate claims the licensing contract doesn't cover those areas, the other two believe it does.

If I understand it right, basically Warner Bros is suing the Tolkiens for suing them and causing various licensing plans to be halted. To my knowledge you can't sue for being sued so chances are this lawsuit will get thrown out but not before lawyers get to add to their billable hours. The only thing I can think of is Warner Bros is laying the legal groundwork to help their cause when negotiating a settlement for the breach of contract lawsuit. If the previous lawsuits are any indication, this will be settled. While the Tolkien Estate loathes the movies because not a 100% faithful re-creation of the novels), they love the financial windfall. The previous lawsuits between the Estate and WB have all been settled once a dollar figure has been worked out and chances are that will be the case here. Keep in mind that lawsuits are not about right and wrong. Its really about the means to keep paying the lawyers and the will to fight (or really its a game of chicken on the will to fight since jury trials are very unpredictable so lawyers prefer to avoid them).

Sandcastle Minas Tirith

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:39:00 +0000

There have been different artist created versions of The Lord of the capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith. I believe this is the first highly detailed on that I have seen created entirely from sand and water. Yep its a sandcastle of Minas Tirith. I have no idea how artist Joseph Alvernaz created this 10" x 12" replica but worth clicking here to view more pictures. (via i09)

Freeman: Filming Restarts in May

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:20:00 +0000

Since the decision was made to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy was made after initial principle photography has been completed, there is now more to film. According to Martin Freeman it seems the cast will assemble in New Zealand starting in May. No specifics provided on exactly what is being filmed but safe to assume that it will probably involve at least a few scenes for The Desolation of Smaug and lion share probably for There and Back Again. From Hollywood.com:

"I am going back at the end of May for all of June and July. I suppose the thing is, this is not finished. We literally have to go and finish it. It's not a new adventure like on a television show. It's the same story. It's the same gig I started in January 2011. I think it'll be really fun because the crew is quite close and the cast are close and we like working on it. I'm anticipating it."

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Home Video Spots

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 02:36:00 +0000

It looks like Warner Bros is getting ready to start their promotional campaign for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Blu-ray and DVD release with a bunch of new videos. All current eight are below with the first half emphasizing the Peter Jackson teaser for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug that will occur on March 24th. That means you have a short window to get the video which comes out on March 19th. The release comes in three skus of 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR 3D + BR + DVD + Digital Copy), Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR + DVD + Digital Copy) and DVD (DVD + Digital Copy). The details on store exclusives are here.

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The Hobbit: AUJ Exclusive Details

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:28:00 +0000

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is hitting shelves in two weeks on March 19th for Blu-ray and DVD. The discs are coming in three basic forms of the 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR 3D + BR + DVD + Digital Copy), Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR + DVD + Digital Copy) and DVD (DVD + Digital Copy). The only real differences seems to be the number of discs as all the packs have the same special features, mostly the 10 production videos that had been released online over the last year. Despite that there are a few exclusive extras depending on which retailer you choose to buy one of the Blu-ray Combo packs from. Below are the details, prices are really unknown since current listed prices are probably higher then what the sale week price will be.

Best Buy
- "A Hobbit's Tale Part 1: The Journey Begins" - No details on what this is but assume a bit of a documentary on the filming of the first movie.
- Flip lenticular package cover of Bilbo and Gollum

Target
- Lego Bilbo mini-fig
- Behind the scenes Lego featurette - On the upcoming Lego video game, not the movie itself

Wal-Mart
- 64 page "The World of Hobbits" book
- 4 Vudu bonus featurettes
- The Journey Back to Middle-Earth
- Bilbo and The Riddle Game
- Gandalf and the White Council
- Thorin and the Song of the Lonely Mountain

WBShop.com
- Panoramic Poster Set: 8" x 40" poster of the cast walking up the mountain

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Crosses $1B Box Office

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:29:00 +0000

This weekend The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now the 15th film to cross the $1 billion worldwide box office in ticket sales. The threshold was reached thanks to strong international sales of $700 million versus $300 million in the States. For the previous trilogy only The Return of the King was able to cross that point. The successful Christmas release was probably the main reason that Warner Bros felt comfortable with moving There and Back again to a Christmas schedule as the odds are high that the other two films in The Hobbit trilogy will pass a $1 billion also.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again Moved to December 17, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:38:00 +0000

Deadline reports that Warner Bros has decided to abide by Lord of the Rings tradition and move The Hobbit: There and Back Again to December 17, 2014. The film was slated to be released on July 18, 2014. The move means the film will no longer be competing against X-Men: Days of Future Past (7/18/14), Guardians of the Galaxy (8/1/14), and host of other summer films where the competition is so thick most films really have all of two weeks to recoup their costs where in the Christmas season they get around 4 weeks or more.

With the Christmas move, the new competition is Minions (spin-off from Despicable Me), Annie and Night at the Museum 3 (12/25). Basically its a kind of night and day difference in competition and one. Also probably didn't hurt WB's confidence in that time slot that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is on the cusp of crossing the $1 billion worldwide box office threshold (for some reason studios forget that record breakers Titanic and Avatar were both Christmas releases). I always thought the summer release was rather odd as the Christmas release per movie formula also proved successful with The Lord of the Rings trilogy so why break what works. Of course adding five more months to the wait is a touch painful.

Press release: Read more »

The Hobbit Nominated for 9 Saturn Awards

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:32:00 +0000

Today the nominations for the 38th Annual Saturn Awards given out by The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films were announced with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey leading the pack with nine nominations. The Saturn Awards are designed to recognize the genre" movies of science fiction, fantasy, horror and comic book adaptations that will never be recognized by the mainstream awards that Hollywood gives out to itself every year. The awards are given out in 20 movie categories, 9 TV categories and 4 home entertainment categories. While the nominees were announced for some inexplicable reason the award ceremony date and location was not (but then its not really star studded nor televised event) as more symbolic then anything. Any case the categories The Hobbit are in is below, the full list of nominations are here.
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The Visual Effects of Rivendell, The Goblin Caverns

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:10:00 +0000

Weta Digital has added to more videos (below) to their YouTube channel that explores the special effects of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The previous set of vids mostly focused on the digital characters while these two focus on the mostly digital environments of Rivendell and The Goblin Caverns.

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The Visual Effects of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Videos

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:19:00 +0000

Below are a bunch of new behind the scenes videos that Weta Digital has posted on their YouTube page that shows off some of how they achieved the Oscar nominated visual effects for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first video covers a wide variety of effects from how Gandalf was inserted into the dinner scenes, to environment effects and more. The laster videos, told with a voice over, get into the individual digital characters of Gollum, The Goblin King, and Azog.

Now back to the first video, it was posted as part of The Hobbit's VFX Supervisor Joe Letteri's presentation about the special effects from the movie where he provided a host of details on how they implemented the amazing effects especially in regards to motion capture where the digital characters had human performances driving every step of the digital creation. Some of the info is repeats from previous behind the scenes videos and interviews but if interested in reading all of it, head over to Collider.

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The Hobbit Wins Science Oscar Awards

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:58:00 +0000

On Sunday The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey received its first Oscar awards via The Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards hosted by Star Trek's Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana. While it does't get much attention, it is recognized that often film requires advancements in science to achieve greatness in some of the flashier categories like outstanding visual effects. In this case Simon Clutterbuck, Richard Dorling, and James Jacobs were recognized for creating "Tissue: A Physically-Based Character Simulation Framework." As Jacobs put it, "The framework is used to construct and simulate the anatomical components of our digital creatures and characters" such as Gollum. Since science doesn't always fall into neat categories, the science awards are recognition of innovation that advances the film industry. Other winners include Richard Mall for his Matthews Max Menace Arm for making it easier to light sets in often difficult conditions and locations and team behind the Light system that combined light, color and rendering into one (which used to require separate passes for each). More details can be found here and here. Congrats to the team and good luck on getting more on February 24th. (via TORn)

Toy Fair 2013 Lord of the Rings Lego Sets

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:46:00 +0000

This weekend the 2013 New York Toy Fair was held where various toy companies showed off their upcoming products to toy sellers and the press. From Lego comes a few additional sets as part of their Lord of the Rings line. The sets are 79005 The Wizard Battle, 79006 The Council Of Elrond, 79007 Battle At The Black Gate, and 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush. Hit those links to view galleries of each thanks to FBTB. Also below are two videos showing off the sets.
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Blu-Ray and DVD Release Date

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:38:00 +0000

MGM has revealed the covers and release date of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Blu-ray and DVD as March 19th with Digital Download available on March 12th. The extended edition is expected to be released in time for Christmas. The movie will come as 3-disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack (BR, DVD, Ultraviolet download), 5-disc Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack (BR 3D, BR, DVD, Ultraviolet) and 2-disc DVD Special Edition. As a bonus, people with the Ultraviolet code will be able to view a live event on March 24th at 3:00PM hosted by Peter Jackson who give a first look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer. No details on what the delay will be before its released to general public online. All sets will have the production videos but no additional information on what the other special features might be. Just in case wondering this will be the 24FPS version of the movie simply because 48FPS playback tech for home entertainment is not (yet) available.

The Hobbit Wins VES Award

noreply@blogger.com (tflamb) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:18:00 +0000

Last night The 11th Annual VES Awards were held by the Visual Effects Society that honors various categories of visual effects in commercials, TV, video games and movies. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won the "Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture" category but lost in the five other categories it was nominated in. While VES doesn't really inform on who will win the Oscars, the near sweep of Life of Pi probably didn't hurt that movies chances either. Below in black is who won in each The Hobbit nominated categories with the full list of winners here. Congrats the VFX crew of The Hobbit.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Joe Letteri, Eileen Moran, Eric Saindon, Kevin L. Sherwood
Prometheus - Paul Butterworth, Charley Henley, Allen Maris, Richard Stammers
Life of Pi - Thomas Fisher, Susan Macleod, Guillaume Rocheron, Bill Westenhofer
The Avengers - Susan Pickett, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams
Battleship - Grady Cofer, Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Glen Mcintosh
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