Desolation  of Smaug soundtrack special edition Ringer Simon gives us a quick heads-up that Entertainment Weekly have 30-second samples of all 29 tunes from the special edition of the soundtrack for The Desolation of Smaug.

Howard Shore’s soundtrack is due for release on December 10, and you can pre-order the Special Edition on Amazon here, or the standard release here. My verdict: they sound great but the clips are too short! Continue reading “Listen to 30-second sneak previews of all 29 tracks on The Desolation of Smaug soundtrack”

Deeeeaaaaattttthhhhh!!!! Over the next four weekends — as the debut of The Desolation of Smaug in cinemas around the world approaches — the Barliman’s chatroom will be playing host to movie marathon of each of the extended edition movies that Peter Jackson has thus far released from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

And you’re invited to join us!

Click here to join the viewing party!

We’ll be watching one film each weekend for the next four weekends — starting with The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition this Sunday from Midday ET (New York time). Continue reading “Join us as we watch the LOTR and Hobbit EEs each Sunday for the next four weeks in Barliman’s chat!”

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEYA difficult time on the set of Bag End – or rather a duplicate green screen version – left Sir Ian McKellen to consider that perhaps he would rather not continue on with the shooting of The Hobbit Trilogy. However, what soon followed reacquainted him with the joy he had come to experience during his previous journey to Middle-earth. It was a reaffirmation that even with the massive scale of the production, and all the complicated technology used to craft these cinematic stories – at the end of the day, there was a family dynamic at work on this journey, as there so often has been on Peter Jackson’s many films.

For those who have not yet heard this tale on the Extended Edition release of An Unexpected Journey, it goes a bit like this (bring the kleenex). Director Peter Jackson and his crew had developed a new technique on this trilogy for showing the actors in different sizes. While the proportions for actor Martin Freeman and the dwarf actors worked well enough for them to act in the same room, Sir Ian was required to be in a completely different area for his part of the scenes. Continue reading “Hobbit Family Bands Together to Help McKellen Through Greenscreen Difficulties”

IMG_6615We’ve received many enquiries from readers wondering why the number of figures for Wave 2 of The Hobbit Trilogy line from The Bridge Direct is smaller than Wave 1.

Tonight, via their Facebook page, our friends at The Bridge Direct answered this very question. While Wave 2 is going to be a small wave, it does sound like we could see a larger Wave 3 if all goes well. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – The Bridge Direct Wave 2 Update”

The Hobbit_ The Desolation of Smaug Exclusive Opening Date and Smaug Adult Black T-Shirt | HobbitShop.com -- The Official Online Store of The Hobbit Films and The Lord of the Rings Film TrilogyLooking for some threads to wear on opening day? Check out The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Limited Edition Opening Day Shirts at HobbitShop.com!  Available ONLY at HobbitShop.com and its sister site WBShop.com, these shirts come in two designs and have the opening date on the film printed below the artwork.  They’re available now through Thanksgiving day, November 28th, when they’ll be retired forever.  Buy them now and wear them on opening weekend! [HobbitShop.com]