In my opinion, this is the single-coolest thing related to the Hobbit all year. It’s a preview of the track Radagast the Brown from the soundtrack of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Straight up: it’s fantastic.

The lietmotif is a lurching thing of strings and gearlike percussion that could almost be the work of rock auteurs Nick Cave and Warren Ellis and some of Ellis’s work with The Dirty Three. Throughout the piece, this lietmotif repeats several times, one of the variations adding a piercing choir. Gripping stuff, and really puts me in mind of Radagast working in his digs in Rhosgobel. It’s an unbelievable improvement on the bland canned music that was underneath the second trailer (which incidentally was not the work of Shore). Since, as we all know, writing about music is like dancing about architecture, I’ll just stop at this point and say: go listen to it yourself.

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Fantastic news from Jack Machiela, who runs the Tolkien Society’s Wellington branch. “Wellington NZ is having a Hobbit Line party TOMORROW night!  The Embassy Theatre has agreed to open the Box Office line for us at Midnight 12:01am on EARLY Wednesday morning, so we’re all turning up at 11:30pm tomorrow night. Hopefully people will turn up in costumes as well… :)”

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Theaters, at least some of them, where fans can experience The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 48 frames per second (instead of the decades old 24 fps of traditional film) have been announced for Regal Cinemas. The announcement also says that all 48 fps screenings will be in 3D. It is not known if that pertains only to the Regal Cinemas or if that will be universally true. (Editor’s note: I hope not!) Many states are not listed but Regal is not the only theater chain that is updating its projection equipment to show director Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films as they were shot, in 3D at 48 fps. But, when tickets go on sale November 7, Regal, at least for now, has given consumers the best information about how The Hobbit will be displayed, a win for cinema fans.

The post announcing the high frame rate 3D screenings explains (sort of) to potential consumers the reason behind the new technology and Jackson’s efforts to shoot the films in a new way. It is careful to point out that viewers will be able to watch the film in the 24 fps, stating viewers can see it in 2D, 3D, IMAX, IMAX 3D and “HFR 3D,” the term it uses for 48 fps screenings. (Most everybody else calls it 48 fps, but perhaps that will be confusing when James Cameron shoots at 60 fps so it is branding a term to cover both.) To read the entire explanation from Regal and to see its cinema listing, click here on a page they title “The Hobbit 48.” (Yes, Regal we are available for branding consultation!) We will post more theater and chain information as it becomes available and more on the technology behind these films in the weeks leading up to its opening. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released in the U.S. December 14 with slight variety for markets around the world. Dolby Atmos, a revolutionary new sound system for theaters is also a possibility for The Hobbit but no details of participating locations are available.

Back when The Lord of the Rings movies came out, there were promotional tie-ins at libraries in America, encouraging those inspired by the films to try the books!  Now, the American Library Association has released a similar campaign for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  The poster shows Bilbo reading his contract, with Galadriel, Gandalf, Thorin and Company in the background, and reads, ‘Take an unexpected journey – read’.  Bookmarks and buttons are also available.  Let’s hope these films create a whole new legion of Tolkien fans, who eagerly go back to the source and open up a book!  Thanks to Ringer Michael S for letting us know about this!