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!
The Bridge Direct fresh off the success of their line of figures for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are releasing some information regarding when we might see wave two. This wave will commence under The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug which hit store shelves October 15th. This wave will have the same style of figures that we saw in wave one but we will see characters we did not see as well as new characters. The Bridge Direct also announced they will once again have an exclusive figure at Comic-Con in July of this year.
Update: We just received some awesome pictures of a few of the upcoming items. So a gallery has been added to this post.
Per the info we know so far for Wave Two:
3.75” SCALE ACTION FIGURES
o New assortment includes Radagast, Thranduil, Azog, Beorn and Gandalf
o Each figure features 12 points of articulation and replicates the authentic facial features, clothing, weapons and accessories of the character in painstaking detail.
o SRP $7.99 each
3.75” SCALE ACTION FIGURE BOX SETS – Three New Packs!
Mirkwood Pack: Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil, Fili and Kili
Thorin Oakenshield Adventure Pack: Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin and Thorin
Bilbo Baggins Burglar Pack: Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Oin and Exclusive 3.75″ Invisible Bilbo
SRP $29.99 each
6” SCALE COLLECTOR FIGURES
New assortment includes Radagast, Azog and Legolas
Each collector figure features intricate details replicating the character’s facial features, clothing, weapons and accessories.
Empire Magazine chatted with the man behind the performance capture of Azog, Manu Bennett and in the conversation he confirms what many suspected: the CGI Azog was late to the party. (Our story is late to the party too, released a couple of weeks ago but definitely still worth bringing to readers’ attention.) The protagonist and key villain from Thorin Oakenshield’s past says he was the last ingredient to the film and didn’t even meet Armitage, who he acts against in some scenes, until the film premiered. Best known as a veteran of television series Spartacus, Bennett’s character spoke in black speech.
“I was in the studio doing things for Azog four weeks before the premiere! In some ways I was the final ingredient to the whole thing,” he told Empire. Can we expect more Azog in the extended editions due for the holidays?
“No, because when I was brought in they’d already cut the film. For some of the scenes I had to move through frames.” He also confirms he will return for filming this year but hasn’t seen the script. The entire interview is available at Empire Online Thanks to the many spies who brought this one to our attention.
Bolg, son of AzogAzog holds aloft the head of the Dwarven King, Thorin Oakenshield’s grandfather.
2-disc DVD edition of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”After dominating home video sales (which isn’t video at all anymore but remains the common term) the week of its release, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” is back on top of the sales leader board in its fourth week in release. Its opening release pitted it against strong Oscar-winning competition, “Les Miserables” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” but its sales outpaced those title by more than a 3-1 ratio each. (TORn doesn’t have an official opinion of either film but this writer recommends both) And a month later after losing the top spot to “The Bible,” around the Easter holiday, Peter Jackson’s film is back on top.
Despite mostly positive but mixed reviews and media reports of mediocre box office (which proved to be incorrect after its $302 million run in the U.S. and its more than $1 billion world-wide) the film is also impressive with its home-use sales figures. Warner Bros. promoted the initial sales with an exclusive look at this December’s “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug,” but that has come and gone while sales remain strong. We don’t mean to cheerlead for the film’s financial outcome and nobody from the studio is sending TheOneRing.net money, but some bad buzz lingers despite the film being embraced culturally and financially by viewers and it seems perception might not quite match reality. It will be fascinating to see if 48 fps, 3D and the decision to tell the book’s story over three films will remain a topic of media focus or if the film’s success and its impressive cast will shift into the spotlight.
Thomas Edison once said that to truly reach your potential, you must consider all ideas before discarding the poor ones and developing the good ones. (Actually, I just made that up. But it’s an internet tradition to attribute your own beliefs to a famous person to give your thoughts validation and respect. By the way, did I mention Tolkien wants you to buy my book?)
Smaug Destroy Lake Town – John HoweLAS VEGAS – One year ago the first significant screening of footage from “The Hobbit,” made its debut in Las Vegas and at 48 fps. Warner Bros. hoped to wow media and convince cinema owners to upgrade technology. There was a significant mixed reaction from the media and screeners but $1 billion later, nobody seems at all worried and word out of Vegas is, those in the cinema business can’t wait to get another Jackson movie.
But, Warner Bros. has a lineup of loaded films for 2013 and “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” is only a part. Three big time directors were also on hand to introduce their films. Guillermo del Toro, co-writer on “The Hobbit” films was there to introduce “Pacific Rim,” the film he eventually made after historical and monumental delays on the Middle-earth production forced him to leave the project. Zach Snyder was at CinemaCon as director of “Man of Steel,” and Todd Philips for “Hangover 3.” Stockholders must be ecstatic. Snyder is hoping to do with WB’s Superman franchise what Christopher Nolan has done for the company with its Batman flagship. Nolan is a producer on the project.
Variety said the following about “The Hobbit.”
““The Hobbit” director Peter Jackson also appeared in a video with a few brief clips from the “Desolation of Smaug” with Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom appearing.
Jackson’s matter-of-fact presentation was in sharp contrast with last year’s CinemaCon event when WB’s presentation — including 10 minutes of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” — generated a mixed reaction over the pic’s 48 frames-per-second format.”
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!
