desolation of smaug posterThe British Board of Film Classification has given The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug a 12A rating and revealed a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes. This is in line with Philippa Boyens’ assertion, after the release of An Unexpected Journey, that the next film would run shorter than the first installment.

Continue reading “BBFC announces 12A rating and 161 minute runtime for The Desolation of Smaug”

Lake-Town_TORn

Its always nice to hear from Weta Workshop, but its especially nice when they drop something beautiful in our mailbox. This time it is concept art work from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art & Design,” book. Written by Daniel Falconer, this is likely to be an amazing book. TORn got its first look at a similar book by Falconer for the previous movie and it turned out to be as stunning as we imagined it might be. Those who have had occasion to meet the author, who does extensive design work for Weta, know that he is gracious and smart and passionate about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Click for much larger version
Click for larger version
While the masses in the U.S. are out shopping, you can order one of these now and during the pre-order phase, your book gets signed by the concept artists and comes with a “Dragon’s Gold” for Weta discounts and prizes. As you can see above, the image we received is of Lake-Town, from the desks of Alan Lee (who writes the book’s introduction) and John Howe. And please click for the larger version, it is definitely worth

They also included some previously released Elf concept art which you can see below. You can order the book RIGHT HERE. Expect this art to pop up in other places soon and more will be released as Weta and HarperCollins see fit, but for Hobbit fans, this may be among the very best of seasonal gifts.

Elven_TORn

Fiveish DoctorsThis video will most definitely appeal to those of you who are big
Doctor Who fans, but I’d wager the rest of you will find this immensely entertaining as well.

The short film – titled The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot – was shot to coincide with the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special – The Day of the Doctor. It involves former “Doctors” Peter Davison, Colin Baker,
and Sylvester McCoy doing anything and everything Continue reading “Sylvester McCoy appears in ‘Doctor Who’ Short Film, with Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen cameos”

photo credit to Ron Hall Photography
photo credit to Ron Hall Photography

A few weeks back we reported about how The Grove in LA had been turned into Erebor, even selecting that location for our Pre-Premiere Moot on Sunday night. And then it was suddenly gone, just before The Hobbit and the Greatest of All Calamaties was set to descend upon Los Angeles. Today, the mystery of the vanishing Erebor was solved, it has been moved to the TCL Chinese Courtyard where all those famous footprints can usually be seen. So for those of you coming to LA for the premiere, you will still get to see the Erebor decor, huzzah. And if you have not yet RSVP’d for the Pre-Premiere Moot, here is the  original Moot post

The weather forecast for this weekend looks to be pretty nice with mostly clear skies and sunshine. We will have plenty of reporting from the Premiere before, during and after, so stay tuned to TheOneRing.net for all your Hobbit: DOS news.

Dolby Atmos LogoDolby Laboratories sent TheOneRing.net a press release today that might rank among the least surprising press releases ever. Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” will resoundingly ring out at its world premiere in Dolby Atmos. Some of here at TORn are big fans of the Atmos sound experience with its ceiling mounted speakers that allows sound engineers the ability to create a sound landscape, a step beyond surround systems.

Thranduil, King of the Wood-elves.
Thranduil, King of the Wood-elves.
If you want to find a Dolby Atmos theater, you can just CLICK HERE and find one near you. If you live in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota or South Dakota, enjoy your road trip.

Most people go to films and are happy just to make it through previews, “clever” ways to tell viewers to shut their phones off and then watch Dolby’s promotion for what audiences are about to hear. But being the movie nerds we are around here, some of us celebrate motion picture sound and the chance to be further transported out of the theater and into a three dimensional auditory experience. No surprise, Peter Jackson embraces new technology and never misses a chance to tell the most vibrant story possible. So, just as with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” DOS will have the newest, best sound experience at the premiere and select theaters.

For those readers who aren’t sound nerds, Atmos allows technicians to create sounds anywhere in the theater, not just where speakers are. This sounds too good to be true, and we can’t explain it here, but in the right theater you can listen carefully to the Radagast sequence where he is dashing through the undergrowth and spiders crawl on his house to appreciate it. You will hear it. Anyway, this is great news even if it surprised nobody. Not paid anything by Dolby (but hey Dolby, feel free) I intentionally seek out the Atmos theater in my city whenever possible.

Dolby also has this page dedicated to Atmos and AUJ if you want to do a little home work. And below is a video of director Guillermo del Toro talking about the sound. Below that, the full press release from today. Continue reading “‘Hobbit: DOS’ world premiere to be heard in Dolby Atmos, nobody is surprised”

Hobbit Sky Movies PhotoWe have a slew of new pictures from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for your viewing pleasure today, courtesy of Empire Online, Digital Spy, Mirror.co.uk, & Sky Movies. Thanks to Sander Postema for sending in the links!

These latest images give us a look at Bilbo, Gandalf, the dwarves, Bard and the Master of Laketown Continue reading “New Desolation of Smaug photos from Empire Online and more!”