and this is our leader, Thorin Oakenshield.”

            -Gandalf to Bilbo as he introduces the Dwarves entering Bag End

 Comic-Con 2012 brought us the first look at many things for this December’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyThis was the first time fans have gotten a chance to see the tip of the ice berg of products we will get to buy starting in October. Companies like Weta even got to have exclusives to the show for the movie. The exclusive from Weta was the first statue in the 1:6th range of statues from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The character chosen to lead off the line up is the leader of the Dwarven Party Thorin Oakenshield himself.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Thorin Oakenshield Statue Review”

Our final look at the booths of Comic-Con 2012 ends with Gentle Giant.

Gentle Giant will be doing busts of many of the characters appearing in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Until Comic-Con we had not had a chance to see just what Gentle Giant would have in store for fans. Their booth did not disappoint.

The four characters making an appearance at Comic-Con were: Thorin (Comic-Con 2012 Exclusive), Gandalf The Grey, Gollum, and Dwalin (2012 PGM member exclusive). All four of these busts looked great and I think their quality means fans will be jumping all over this line. Plus the ballpark figure for this range of collectibles will run $70.

Continue reading “Collecting The Precious: Gentle Giant’s Comic-Con booth”

Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – July 30, 2012”

Meredith Woerner of io9.com posted a video interview with Richard Armitage talking at Comic-Con 2012 about his role as Thorin Oakenshield. Asked if he had to update his character for modern audiences he said:

“I never really thought of updating it. I actually did the opposite. I thought of it as more kind of Greek tragedy. I looked at Shakespeare, a lot of my preparation I was looking at Henry V and bits of Richard III, just to find roots in British literature that were deeper. But I think making it feel contemporary the big themes of the story — loyalty and trust and camaraderie — I think those things are contemporary.”

[Complete interview]

I admit, when I first heard talk of “a third ‘Hobbit’ movie” from the floor of Comic-Con, I was skeptical. Reporters Quickbeam and Justin brought back footage from a press conference (that you can watch right here) breaking the story that additional shooting was a possibility, directly from Peter Jackson’s mouth. I downplayed it because from a five-week set visit I knew the team was going to return to shooting right after Comic-Con. I thought the media was being its usual bombastic self by calling a little more shooting “a third “Hobbit” movie. They absolutely had it posted first, breaking the story so kudos to them, but I dismissed it. How quickly things change.

Now it seems inevitable that this will happen. Jackson clearly has the will or he wouldn’t have spoken about it so fully. The studio clearly has the will because they are talking about it instead of dismissing it. So what would this mean besides another year of happy blood sweat and tears at TheOneRing.net? Lets look at all the facts and see if we can’t come to some conclusions educated guesses.

ON THE RECORD, WHAT WAS SAID:

Jackson spoke about this, very likely not by accident, from the television press line meet-and-greet at Comic-Con that took place before the famous Hall H event for fans. (Watch the first two or three minutes of Jackson’s own production diary #8 for the best account of Hall H.) Continue reading “Third ‘Hobbit’ movie: How? What? When? Why?”

One of our very favorite magazines, EMPIRE Magazine, is publishing their ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ edition tomorrow, and they have exclusively shared a few excerpts with us here at TheOneRing.net. This special edition of the magazine will feature a detailing of their set visit in New Zealand, with a special focus on Gollum and Bilbo’s ‘Riddles in the Dark’ sequence.

The excerpt below features Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) talking about bringing their characters and this memorable sequence from book to screen. For those of you who can’t pick up a copy of the magazine locally, check out the iPad edition. The US iPad edition of EMPIRE will be released tomorrow via the iTunes store, and it is a complete steal for only $20/yr, $1.99/mo or $4.99 an issue. EMPIRE is one of the best entertainment magazines out there and have always treated Tolkien fans to some amazing content. Make sure to pick up your copy! [iPad Editon] [iTunes] [EMPIRE Online]

Continue reading “TheOneRing.net Exclusive first look at EMPIRE’s ‘Hobbit Edition’”