A lucky fan could win a VIP Experience at the London Premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, as the special guest of Evangeline Lilly.
All you have to do is make a small donation to First Book, and you will be entered to win this fabulous trip to London to hit the premiere with Evie! There are other great rewards you can get for making a donation too.
To enter click here, good luck!
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QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND — The Hobbit Fan Contest winners and attending media are here in Queenstown and things have been a little busy. It’s a balance of gathering vs. sitting on a computer and typing (although in the incredible Hotel St. Moritz that is pretty sweet) and I am erring on the side of gathering today. So, no great big post but trust me when I say the photos collected from here can make a grown man cry, even if that grown man is me. Something about here touches me emotionally.
In a quick recap we visited Beorn’s realm yesterday, had a scavenger hunt, traveled to get here, had a jeep excursion to the freezing cold, breathtaking top of the world and then flung ourselves off bridges towards freezing water.
But, for now, I wanted to share a video that Tourism New Zealand put together of the fans in Hobbiton and Rotorua from Day 2 of this event. It really captures some of the genuine emotions people felt at the Hobbiton Movie Set. So, enjoy! Oh and you can watch fans watch the new trailer than you can see too in a couple of days.
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HOBBITON — A visit to Hobbiton Movie Set for winners of the Hobbit Fan Contest had, all-in-all, a pretty amazing day — and then they saw the trailer.
For readers who don’t know, the shooting set for exteriors of the Shire in Hobbit trilogy is preserved for visitors on the farm where it was originally used for the “Lord of the Rings,” films. It provides a fully immersive environment that fans worldwide agree is singularly special and it runs tours daily.
So besIt also didn’t hurt that actors Jed Brophy, John Callen, Mark Hadlow and Stephen Hunter surprised visitors at a feast inside the full-service eatery on site: The Green Dragon. Nor did the flowing drink, the plentiful food, the expertly guided tours, but what else can be done to delight 150 of the most die-hard fans in the world?
Have Peter Jackson, by way of recorded video, introduce the just-finished, and last, trailer for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” It brought the house down.
In the very Hobbity party tent behind The Green Dragon all the gathered fans and media were clearly and repeatedly instructed to turn off our cameras so it was obvious something different was happening. Even the most honored guests, the actors were placed in the front but looking forward with the audience.
Matthew Dravitzki, an Associate Producer on the trilogy and a key figure behind Jackson’s team who usually escapes the spotlight, spoke to the fans and introduced the video. He also required that we viewers not share the details, especially the specifics, so you will not read them here. But I think its okay if I say, it’s serious as a heart attack, gloomy as a storm front and as epic as battle of five armies.
And wow, do my fingers itch to type more.
Afterwards the groups of fans, split up for logistical purposes and took the new (to me) night tour around the set. Under the party tree the groups gathered to finally end a pretty amazing day. In fact, it may be difficult to match during the rest of the trip. To say fans were ecstatic is no exaggeration. There were, at several points, tears of joy and disbelief.
The day started in the rain at the Skyline Rotorua. Fans and reporters were generously offered the opportunity to enjoy various activities that included wine tasting, a zip line, a luge and a skyswing. Then it was off to the movie set for a day that was absolutely packed.
TORn interviewed the four actors together in a group with hilarious results. We will post it at a later date, depending on how quickly we get the video and quickly I can possibly post it but it’s great fan service from four classy New Zealand gentlemen.
The owner of the sheep and cattle farm the set sits on and his son who run it, Ian and Russel Alaexander, were on hand for interviews as well. TORn didn’t catch up with them, but plenty of media outlets did. In the late afternoon, in the guise of introducing The Green Dragon, fans were led into the room where the actors and executives were enjoying dinner and where media was stationed to grab reactions. As anticipated, tears where shed, hugs were shared and memories were made. Staff working on the event expressed a lot of tender emotions while watching fans enjoy the surprise so much.
I was pleased to have time to mix and mingle with fans — and I met a lot of them and enjoyed it every time. Before long it was trailer time. Despite this group’s appointment this week to screen the actual film with director Peter Jackson, the trailer announcement was greeted with great excitement.
Dravitzki promised a triple showing and delivered. All three times fans hushed each other at the start, not wanting to miss any dialog.
Then it was outdoors for the night tour when fireworks were triggered. Then, off to buses and tomorrow, Queenstown.
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Readers will remember that Richard Armitage appeared as John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at the Old Vic theatre this Summer. Many fans were able to make the trip to London to see the show – and TORn staffer greendragon’s review can be read here.
For those who weren’t fortunate enough to see the production live, the good news is that it was filmed and will be shown in cinemas. Currently there are only dates in the UK – December 4th and 7th – but ‘with further worldwide territories to be announced shortly’. We’ll bring you that updated information as soon as we have it!
Meanwhile, if you’re in the UK, buy your tickets to see a screening of The Crucible here.
Thanks to Ringer kiwifan for the heads up!
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ROTORUA — The first full day is in the books in a historic gathering of Middle-earth fans from around the world. And while there were some tired eyes there were lots more genuine smiles and the excitement of anticipation of a fan’s trip of a lifetime. Along with 150 Hobbit fans, about 30 or so journalists met on the tarmac at Auckland airport to get a photo with the pride of Air New Zealand’s fleet, its Thorin-and-company-emblazoned carrier.
The logistics of making just that happen means many buses, many credentials, many places to store luggage and quite a lot of hustle and bustle.
Tourism New Zealand is out in force to get everybody where they need to be as is Warners Bros. and just some of the many faces behind the many travel details that had to come together to bring this world-wide collection together.
The winners are divided into groups that help everybody keep everybody else organized. Credential lanyards are color coded to signify who is who and where they are from. If you arrived from the Americas, including winner Rori Griffith and her father Derek from Barbados, you are signified a Hobbit and get a green lanyard. Australasia are yellow wizards, Asia are blue elves and Europeans are red dwarves. Anybody else instantly transported to the video game Gauntlet? Oh and the media are signified as white orcs. Oh yes, we media are villains! We find our bus with signs and banners with CGI Azog himself and yes, that is me down in the photo gallery taking a self-portrait to demonstrate our similar haircuts. Staff are purple with the ever-present black “staff” shirts. The very helpful and cheerful staff will be present and recognizable in many, many photos I have no doubt. Continue reading “New Zealand gives Hobbit winners a grand cultural welcome”
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AUCKLAND — It was a great idea to have world-wide winners converge in New Zealand to watch “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” with Peter Jackson. Great concept right? Everybody is pleased and excited that fans get such a great experience.
There are also some unintended and great side effects. This unique gathering is also one of the greatest gatherings of Middle-earth fans anywhere, ever. Imagine 150 people from around the globe converging on Middle-earth and all of them deeply emotionally attached to cinematic Middle-earth, many of them also lovers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. Imagine the flights and the logistics to get people from Mexico and Finland and Ohio and London and Salt Lake City and lots of other even harder-to-get-here places, all together this morning in Auckland. Arriving on the 8 a.m. flight was a pretty amazing mental exercise.
I feel like the American contingent was among the last to arrive, fitting since we sleep on the flight and more or less show up ready to go. Others traveled for 30 or 40 hours with multiple flights and layovers to make it here. It all feels pretty amazing.
TheOneRing is here with, just a guess, but perhaps 30 journalists world wide. That definitely includes the Hollywood Reporter since I met and chatted with their rep this morning. A breakfast started 45 minutes ago, but I wanted to post right away and tell the world, in the immortal words of Penny Lane, IT’S ALL HAPPENING!
TORn is no stranger to Auckland since its where our own Quickbeam, Cliff Broadway, and I (MrCere) spent a week with Air New Zealand filming the very first Middle-earth safety video. In fact, the place just isn’t the same without him! (You can see the video and the behind-the-scenes video about the video in our old post here. While the newest one, in use on our aircraft, is right here.)
Speaking of Air New Zealand, they sure know how to make a flight great. I will sound like a corporate puppet, but they offer better in-flight entertainment, treat customers better and simply provide a better experience than anybody in the business.
It’s worth noting that my very reliable phone bit the dust at the Los Angeles Airport and a some quick cab rides provided me a new phone – that happens to not have a functioning camera out of the box. What are the odds? This makes Twitter much less effective, but we shall see. When I was here for the world premiere of the first Hobbit movie the motherboard on my laptop went out, so I believe its a plot from Mordor to stop me sharing the fan experience with fans. We shall prevail!
Anyway, I feel pretty confident TheOneRing.net just filed the first story from the event and we will continue to share as much as possible. The good news, there will be LOTS of photos of amazing New Zealand. Stay tuned!
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