Joe LetteriIf you’re a die hard fan of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth adaptations, chances are you probably know the name Joe Letteri. Winner of four Academy Awards, Mr. Letteri has been an instrumental part of bringing the magical world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books to life through the art of visual effects.

Now Mr. Letteri has once again been nominated for his work – this time for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Los Angeles Times’ Cristy Lytal took some time to ask him some questions ahead of the Oscar ceremony – which will be held on March 2nd. Naturally, the interview focused mostly on the creation of the film’s visual centerpiece – Smaug. Continue reading “Oscar winning visual effects artist Joe Letteri speaks with the L.A. Times”

The SilmarillionIt’s the film project that many of us fear we may never see. Yet surely, with time, all may be possible. In this article, Rud the Spud takes a look at how a trilogy based on Professor Tolkien’s The Silmarillion might be constructed – should such a project ever come to fruition – and discusses whether or not it could possibily live up to the Professor’s massive collection of stories. Continue reading “How would ‘The Silmarillion’ fare as a film trilogy?”

 

KiliAs you may recall, we teamed up with Gentle Giant to pick the next Dwarf who would get turned into a bust for their The Hobbit Trilogy line. The winner of the poll was one of the ‘Hot Dwarves’: Kili the Dwarf. Kili is the archer of the company, but this piece gives us him holding his Dwarven sword, which is a nice change for fans with more than one collectible of this character. Kili comes in with a price tag of $75 for non PGM members and only $67.50 for those of us who are PGM members. You can expect Kili to arrive into your collection around the fourth quarter of this year.

Continuing on from our post earlier today about the Home Video release of the Theatrical Edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, here’s some further information we’ve gathered about different versions which will be available around the world.

In the UK, where the release happens on April 7th (one day earlier than anywhere else!) it looks like there will be the same editions available as will be in the US – namely Blu-ray 3D combo pack (£18.00), Blu-ray combo pack (£16.50) and DVD (£14.50).  It seems likely there will also be a Collector’s Edition in the UK – most likely those same Noble Collection Dwarven bookends – but we don’t have exact details on that yet.

Continue reading “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Home Video release – some worldwide information”

DofS box set2Read about it here at TORn before this information is available anywhere else! Thanks to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, we can now bring you all the official information about when you will be able to take home The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  These are the release dates worldwide:

Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Home Video release”