In an interview with Collider.com regarding ‘The Lovely Bones,’ Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub was able to get the skinny on what is going on with the start of the filming of ‘The Hobbit’ movies and when they are targeted for release. According to Jackson, the plan is to still release the first film in 2011. Follow the link for the story and video. Thanks to Mr. Weintraub for the heads up!
Category: Hobbit Movie
December 2, 2009 – We’ve already reported that The Hobbit, the Peter Jackson-produced follow-up to The Lord of the Rings, has been pushed back a few months and won’t start filming until the middle of next summer. But what does that mean for the DVD and Blu-ray release dates? According to Blu-ray.com, it means we shouldn’t expect to see it on our home-theater systems until at least 2012.
This is the second blow in recent months for Tolkien fans, following the announcement in September that the highly anticipated Blu-ray release of Lord of the Rings has been postponed until further notice (most likely timed to coincide with the eventual theatrical release of The Hobbit). More..
A few days ago, we reported here that Peter Jackson has indicated filming for The Hobbit will be delayed to mid-2010. Doing the math on how long it took to film The Lord of the Rings movies was sobering with respect to achieving a 2011 release, but we found reason to be optimistic in the fact that many sets, set designs, etc. won’t have to be created from scratch. Today, however, we’ve been alerted to more sobering news on the release from the WaxWord blog over at thewrap.com:
“Executives close to the project said that Warner Brothers is now likely to release the first film at the end of 2012, and not at the end of 2011 as had been hoped for by the fans. The second part would be pushed to 2013.”
No need to lose hope for a 2011 release yet though. The article also quoted PJ as saying a final decision about the release dates won’t be made until the screenplays, budget and schedule are complete. More than ever, all eyes are on Guillermo, Peter, Fran, Phillipa and the studio.
I was recently invited to do a podcast with the guys from JoBlo.com. These guys are hardcore movie fans after my own heart and I had a blast chatting with them, take a listen! From Joblo.com: If you’ve ever looked for something on the internet related to the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy you’ve probably ended up on our guest’s website. TheOneRing.net’s Editor in Chief and founder, Michael Regina joins Moreno and I to talk about the site, dish out some juicy HOBBIT info, and let us know how he’s planning on macking Jenna Busch. Strong language warning here! More..
Several reports are coming in that filming for The Hobbit will be delayed from the original estimate of March 2010 to mid-summer 2010, possibly July. The German site, moviereporter.net, reports that, as part of an interview regarding The Lovely Bones, PJ estimates filming will begin towards the middle of next year:
“We’re currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next. When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget. We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we’ve received no green light from the studio yet.” (- translated from German – read the original quote here).
PJ didn’t elaborate on whether this will affect the proposed release dates of December 2011 and 2012. More than two years elapsed between the start of filming for The Lord of the Rings movies in October, 1999, and the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001. However, they are only tackling two films this time, plus the previous movies provide them a head-start on on a number of pre-production items such as some of the set and location designs (Bag End, Rivendell). This is sure to cause quite a bit of buzz! Be sure to join in the discussion in our Barliman’s Chat or our Hobbit Movie message board.
Stephen Fry’s name has long been bandied about by fans as a possible and worthy choice to play a Dwarf in the upcoming two-movie film project “The Hobbit.” Today, spy “Dave” sent in a bit from the Twitterverse that leads us to think Jackson’s team and the project’s director Guillermo del Toro may be thinking the say way. Continue reading “A another candidate for a dwarf?”