The regular Weta newsletter talks about the restoration of Hobbiton as well. The team at Weta including Daniel Falconer are happily involved in modelling a collectible sculpture of Bag End at them moment, which should be ready for purchase in 2010. “>Read Weta’s “News from the Shire”.

Tourists at Matamata’s Hobbiton will soon see Middle Earth come to life before their eyes, according to a recent report on Stuff.co.nz. Vic James of Red Carpet Tours says he is “delighted” by confirmation that Lord of the Rings tourists will continue to be able to visit the site of Hobbiton as filming approaches.

The folks from WIFI, a network of independent film artists based in Wellington New Zealand, send this in: We recently did an interview with Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger from WETA and we thought you may or may not be interested in sharing it with the TORN community. Read the rest of this entry »

Kristin from Reelz Channel sends this in: So we are having a bit of fun in the Hobbit Casting Rumors department. Since there isn’t much else to report on, why not? This time we’ve narrowed the possible monsters that Guillermo del Toro might play in the movie. More..

Mason Brown from Mania.com writes: The Lord of the Rings movies grossed almost $3 billion, so it’s no surprise New Line wants to head to Middle Earth in quest for box office gold. Luckily for them, the LOTR prequel’s already been written, and it’s a beloved classic. In December 2011, The Hobbit will hit the theaters, followed by another hobbit movie in 2012.

There’s only one problem… The Hobbit is a children’s book. And as anyone who ever took a 6-year-old to see Return of the King can tell you, the Lord of the Rings movies are not kid-friendly. So what should be done? It’s easy. Screw the kids! And follow these seven suggestions to make The Hobbit a great movie for adults. More..

An apparent slip by Dept. of Conservation staff seems to confirm what we pretty much expected, that some of The Hobbit would be filmed around the same Queenstown/Lakes area as The Lord of the Rings. Lake Wakatipu is the Z-shaped lake that Queenstown sits beside. Thanks to Muz for the link! More

Latauro (via epleterte) from Australia chimed in to Aintitcoolnews today about a potential casting decision in The Hobbit production. Although nothing is sure, Brian Cox seems to be a strong contender to one of the dwarves. And for what my two cents are worth: That’d be awesome! Brian Cox is beyond cool. Here’s the excerpt:

This is a news item I’d love to proclaim with all-out certainty, but my tried and trusted source(s) aren’t sure if this is a total lock, or whether it’s just someone they’re seriously interested in. Either way, producers of THE HOBBIT have begun looking at casting for the dwarves (dwarfs?), and one name has emerged as a major contender: Brian Cox. He’s a brilliant choice for the role: physically, he fits with the depiction of the the race in LOTR (well, Gimli), and he’s a born Scotsman. Also, he could yell at Galadriel for adding narration. So there you go. If this comes to fruition, you heard it here first!

Brian’s name has been mentioned before, in April we announced he was voicing he audio version of ‘Sigurd and Gudrun’. We also mentioned he was a strong frontrunner in fan casting for Balin.

Guillermo Del Toro paid a visit to our message boards today to confirm that he will definitely be making a cameo appearance in The Hobbit as a small monster:

“I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.”

His comments were in response to a discussion on our Hobbit Movie message board of a German interview about The Strain posted on YouTube, with some English audible and a comment or two about The Hobbit.  Guillermo is known for dropping in from time to time to join in the discussions, awarding us with tidbits about The Hobbit production, or simply how life in Middle-earth is treating him. Follow the link to read his comments and join in the discussion. Guillermo Del Toro Cameo..

Vic from Red Carpet Tours sends in this litte nugget of information he heard down in New Zeland: “Rumour has it that the first six months of filming in 2010 will take place in the studio.” Truth or rumour? Time will tell!

What exactly is going on with the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit? The world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation, including us, but as the calendar turned to November, we turned to a trusted rock-solid inside source and found a dragon’s treasure of updates. Read the rest of this entry »