The Sydney Morning Herald recently released an interview they
conducted in 2012 – in which they had a chance to sit down with several of our beloved Dwarf actors. But it turns out that they were in for a bit more than they anticipated. The interview (which they titled “Lesson One: Never Interview Dwarves) began with Jed Brophy, followed by Graham McTavish – and before long, dwarves were being switched in and out in an exchange the Herald called “amusing, informative, long (very long) and occasionally anarchic.” Continue reading “The Sydney Morning Herald sits down with the Dwarves (and kind of regrets it…)”
Category: Hobbit Movie
Warner Bros. reports that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug earned an estimated $31.15 million on Friday, putting it on pace for a likely $75 million weekend. Those figures include the film’s $8.8 million earned from midnight shows, representing just over 28 percent of opening day grosses–an improvement over the 35 percent midnight share of opening day for last year’s An Unexpected Journey. IMAX accounted for 13 percent ($3.979 million) of Friday’s haul. Overall, Smaug‘s opening day was 16 percent lower than its predecessor ($37.1 million).
Smaug‘s projected opening weekend will end up close to expectations following what looked to be lower grosses last night. Winter weather may be affecting things, although the lower share of midnights indicates that fans may have indeed been the audience sector where the most upfront demand was lost (as opposed to general audiences) in the wake of last year’s mixed reception for the first Hobbit entry. Early word of mouth appears solid for Smaug so far with an “A-” CinemaScore and 88 percent of Flixster users liking or still anticipating seeing the film. With a crowded holiday schedule ahead, this second Hobbit pic is aiming to maintain most of its core family audience through Christmas and New Year’s while also bringing in stronger overseas sales than Journey.
We have a pretty fantastic contest lined up for you the fans starting today! We’re pleased to announce that thanks to our friends at HarperCollins Publishers we will be giving away not one but FIVE copies of the amazing art book by Weta Workshop for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This amazing art book is filled to the brim with great images of what it took to bring this movie to life. The cherry on top of the goodness that will be inside for the five lucky fans though is that Evangeline Lilly aka Tauriel has graciously signed these five copies. So not only do you get a great art book but you get one of the fine actors who worked on these movies signature. This contest will run from today through midnight PST on New Year’s Eve. Please when you fill out this form you must include your name, address, email address, and a phone number.
Last Wednesday we told you that MSN UK was celebrating the opening of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug by requesting Skype messages from fans, asking questions of actor Martin Freeman. See which questions were chosen from fans all over the world, and find out what Freeman had to say, in the video below.
Continue reading “Martin Freeman answers fans’ questions on MSN UK”
BEVERLY HILLS – As “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” opens around (most) of the world, we continue or video conversations with its stars. This round has Luke Evans talking about Bard the Bowman and his character’s city of Lake-Town and Benedict Cumberbatch explaining Smaug and his take on the massive creature. TheOneRing.net had a chance to briefly sit down with both actors on the morning of the world premiere. Evans wouldn’t say it on camera but he was not feeling well but soldiered on all the same. Thanks to both for insightful answers. Enjoy
Editor Note: Our next review comes from long time collaborator and friend of TheOneRing.net, David Baxter. David has been involved in some manner with TheOneRing.net since the early 2000s, and is a staple at events in California. Being that he is 6’8″ – he makes a really impressive Gandalf too!
Let me get this out of the way, I did not go into the screening of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug expecting to see all or even many of the events I’d pictured in my head after reading JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and seeing the Rankin & Bass animated version in 1977 (dating myself here). It was impossible after seeing Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Too much of that film had been devoted to setting up or showing events that were never shown in Tolkien’s work and were only mentioned in the appendices of The Return of the King.
Continue reading “Review of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’”