Not surprising to Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie fans, lifestyle and travel blog, BLT, has named Hobbiton as one of its top 16 movie locations to visit. From the blog: “The gardens and crops surrounding the homely Hobbiton featured in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series were actually planted a year before the filming of the first movie. Hobbiton was built and designed with the fictional landscape described by J.R.R. Tolken in the books and the set still stands today. In fact, people travel from all over the world to take a two-hour tour of the set. Hobbiton, although originally just a movie set, is now a permanent tourist attraction.”
Other locations mentioned in the blog include Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England (Harry Potter; Downton Abby), The Hawaiian island of Kauai (Jurassic Park; Raiders of the Lost Arc) and California’s Redwood National Park (Star War’s Forest Moon of Endor). While all of them would be fun to visit, we’re partial to Hobbiton not the least of which is because it’s not just a building or a landscape to look at. As the article mentions, it’s a permanent tourist attraction in beautiful New Zealand, offering excellent guided tours, a store and a pub! What’s not to love?
Check out Hobbiton and the other top 15 movie locations to visit here, and let us know which ones you’d most like to see (after Hobbiton, of course).
It’s almost time to gather in the Big Apple and enjoy all that New York ComicCon has to offer. As ever, TheOneRing.net will be there! Here are a few details for you:
We’ll be at Booth 3040, which – to make life simple! – is the same location as last year! We’ll have all the usual goodies for sale – plus this year we’ll have hoodies from our friends at LotH Hoodies! Of course we’ll have many fabulous things you could win! And we’ll be ready just to chat and geek out with our fellow fans.
Talking of which – if you want to chat in a quieter location than the convention floor, this year we’re leading a ‘Fan Forum’ discussion group! Basically it’s a chance to join us to reminisce about the past seventeen years – since TheOneRing.net was founded and since Peter Jackson began pre-production in earnest on his Lord of the Rings trilogy. What a journey it’s been! Come and share memories with us – and maybe hear a bit about what we may see in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition (which, as you know, screens in cinemas on October 13th!) Find the Forum in room 1E03, Friday 4pm. Click here for details!
And don’t forget about our PARTY! Thursday 8th October 8-11pm at The East Wing – a few tickets remain! Click here to buy. WETA will be co-hosting with us, and as usual your ticket includes the buffet, your first drink, a goody bag and two raffle tickets – all in a wonderful, private venue in Manhattan. Hope to see you there!
You’ll find our WETA friends at Booth 622. Middle-earth guests at the convention this year include Sean Bean, John Noble, John Rhys-Davies and Elijah Wood!
As ever, we have a host of folks supporting us to make it possible for us to be at New York ComicCon. Many thanks to them all:
ROW NYC – making sure hard-working TORn staffers have somewhere to sleep. A great place to stay in Manhattan!
LotH Hoodies – check out their new ‘Galaxy Collection’.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – Tolkien publishers and donors of some great items for the party goody bags.
Cardboardcutouts.com – helping us decorate our booth with their fabulous standees.
Badali Jewelry – alas not exhibiting at NYCC, but they have given us some wonderful items for giveaways!
And of course, special thanks to Weta – party co-hosts!
Salt Lake City – Many years ago when TheOneRing.net was in its infancy, the concept of Line Party events were a big part of TORn. For one of the last times, this opportunity for fans to get together and enjoy the films together is upon us. This applies everywhere, but Salt Lake City had gigantic turn out for those early days line party events. The times we get to experience fellowship in theaters is now rare.
In Salt Lake City tonight, and twice after, we have the chance to gather again and watch Peter Jackson’s translation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth on the big screen. THere are several places to watch, but TORn in Utah has long had a semi-formal engagement with a small (but much bigger now) chain of independent theaters called the Megaplex Theaters.
TORn will unofficially be watching at these theaters, depending on work schedules and such. If you want to join us we would love to see you! Many of you are friends to come say hello to staff and remember the good old days of line party fun.
If not for work schedules, we would be running a trivia contest and such at these showings, but Jordan Commons has served as geek central for Salt Lake City since it was built and The District is a great destination as well. Again, if you can, say hello and wherever you go ENJOY!
Note: TheOneRing and its staffers are NOT being compensated in any way for this and are not affiliated with Megaplex.
A reminder that the extended edition of The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey, will be airing tonight across the U.S.. As we reported back in early August, this is the first in a series of live showings of all three extended editions of The Hobbit movies sponsored by Fathom Events and Warner Bros. AUJ will air tonight at 7:30 local time. Many local theaters are carrying it, so if you don’t have tickets, and feel like having a last minute visit with some of your favorite characters such as Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, Saruman, etc., check your local theater!
Also remember that the EE of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will air at the same time and same theaters this Wednesday, October 7th, with the big wrap-up occurring a week from tomorrow, Tuesday, October 13th with the first public showing of the EE of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, with a special introductory message from Peter Jackson.
Those of you lucky enough to see one, or all three, be sure to leave comments below letting us all know how it was!
The newest member of Thorin’s Company to join our collections is the very funny Dori the Dwarf. Dori made his debut this past July at Comic-Con and last week went up for order. Dori is sculpted by Lindsey Crummett who as you know has turned out some truly amazing Middle-earth pieces. You can get this piece right now as he’s in-stock for $249, and with an edition size of only 1000 pieces you may not want to wait too long.
It’s almost October already – and that means New York ComicConis almost upon us! As ever, TORn will be there.
You can find us at the convention at Booth 3040 – same spot as last year! We’ll have t-shirts, buttons, lanyards and more for sale, as well as the usual cool giveaways and fun stuff. We’re not giving a panel this year – instead, we’re hosting a ‘forum/discussion group’, on Friday 9th Oct 4-5pm. We’ll be chatting and reminiscing about the seventeen years which have flown by, since Peter Jackson got going on pre-production for his Lord of the Rings trilogy and TORn was founded. Come and share your memories of this unexpected journey! Venue TBA – we’ll let you know asap, and hope you can join us! (We very well may also include some gossip on just what might be in the Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies…)
Not surprising to Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie fans, lifestyle and travel blog, BLT, has named Hobbiton as one of its top 16 movie locations to visit. From the blog: “The gardens and crops surrounding the homely Hobbiton featured in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series were actually planted a year before the filming of the first movie. Hobbiton was built and designed with the fictional landscape described by J.R.R. Tolken in the books and the set still stands today. In fact, people travel from all over the world to take a two-hour tour of the set. Hobbiton, although originally just a movie set, is now a permanent tourist attraction.”
