The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to premiere in Wellington in late November 2012, director Sir Peter Jackson and Prime Minister John Key announced today at the Hobbiton set in Waikato. Wellington previously hosted the world premiere of the final Lord of the Rings movie, Return of the King, in December 2003. Over 100,000 people packed into the city’s CBD to watch the preceding parade. “I think Warner Bros in particular were blown away by the Return of the King premiere – no one in the international industry could quite believe how the country got behind that,” Sir Peter said today.
See the full 11 minute press conference here. More..
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Quint from Aint it Cool News has been embedded with the film crew and will be posting photos and stories every few weeks from New Zealand. Be sure to check out the ‘Behind the Scenes’ or BTS posts on the website. More..
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It’s official! Peter Jackson made the announcement today from the Hobbiton set: Wellington will host the world premiere of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in late November 2012. If you’re lucky enough to have your own dragon hoard, it’s time to start booking that dream vacation! [Video: PJ and NZ Prime Minister John Key]
More good news: It was also announced that Hobbiton, on the outskirts of Matamata, will remain as a permanent visitor attraction after filming is completed.
Three News NZ also has a comprehensive write-up of the press conference by Daniel Rutledge for those who prefer to read these things. [News Story: Hobbit to premiere in New Zealand]
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Moahunter, our New Zealand message board member, has informed us that Sylvester McCoy was interviewed on TVNZ this morning and, among other things, was asked about his role as Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit.
Concerning his schedule, McCoy states he was down in Wellington, New Zealand earlier this year for about 8 weeks, shooting in the studio, and now he’s back there again for a couple of weeks for location shooting. In addition, he’ll be returning again in February 2012 for a couple of days.
The man couldn’t say much about his role though (apparently he’s been programmed by Weta to gag himself the moment his mouth utters the word “Hobbit”), though he could reveal that the main character he’s interacting with is Ian McKellen’s Gandalf the Grey.
The video can be accessed from this link.
Note it may not be available to people outside New Zealand, but a few of our board members, including myself, have been able to access it nonetheless.
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From empireonline.com: It’s ten years on since four little hobbits set off from the Shire on an epic quest that spanned Middle Earth and took in vast battles, demonic monsters, wizardry, Orcs and, ultimately, enough Oscars to fill the Lonely Mountain. It’s ten years that have seen the rise and fall and rise again of two-part prequel The Hobbit, now firmly in production in Wellington, offering moviegoers an imminent return to Middle Earth.
Obviously this all called for a big celebration so a celebration is what Empire is having. The new issue is more bursting with revelry and nostalgia than a Friday night at the Prancing Pony. There’s tall tales – well, tallish tales – memories; behind-the-scenes pics from Aragorn himself, Viggo Mortensen; Oscar night reflections from Ian McKellen, Peter Jackson and Mortensen; and rarely-seen concept art.
Best of all, though, is a gathering of the four hobbits themselves: Elijah Wood (Frodo), Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry). It was so momentous it called for its own trailer – and here it is for your perusal pleasure. Sadly the Nazgûl got stuck in LA traffic.
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Lord of the Rings and Hobbit actor Andy Serkis took a break from filming at the weekend to pay a short visit to Queenstown. While in the resort Serkis, who plays Gollum/Smeagol, took a ride with Ziptrek in the exhilarating Kea 6-Line Tour, which features the world’s steepest tree-to-tree flying fox. More..
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