Warner Bros. Pictures has released two more TV spots for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The first appears wholly a recut of existing material, but the second features new lines from both Balin and Bilbo. To my mind it indicates more heft is being given to the Balin character and the friendship that we see between the pair in Tolkien’s novel.
Given what Balin says to Bilbo in the second clip, it’s probably worth briefly revisiting the official character description of Balin from mid-2011 (so long ago!). I’ve hidden it under white text for those avoiding spoilers — highlight the section to read. Continue reading “See TV spot #4 and #5 for The Desolation of Smaug”
Posted in:
Share:
If you’re keen to attend one of the LIVE FAN EVENTS being held next week on November 4 in various (or November 5 in Sydney and Wellington), then best hurry as many of the competitions to win tickets close today.
Below are links to all the contests we know about right now (and if you know of one that’s not listed, please e-mail us at spymaster@theonering.net). Note: tickets to these events cannot be purchased.
Continue reading “Today is your last chance to enter many Desolation of Smaug LIVE event contests!”
Posted in:
Share:
Ringer Rohirrim Rider — an insider in the UK cinema industry — provides the following news that provides additional support for our October 18 report about the running time for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
We’ve now got our Hobbit screenings programmed in — we’re working with a runtime of 160 minutes.
Continue reading “UK cinemas programming 160 mins for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug; UK tix on sale from Nov 1”
Posted in:
Share:
Empire Magazine is debuting a special The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug edition this week, and (similar to last year), their talented artists have created four different limited-edition Hobbit covers.
Your choices are Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) in Mirkwood, Gandalf the Grey in the dark domain of Dol Guldur and Bilbo clutching Sting as he treads through Smaug’s lair in Erebor. Last but not least is Luke Evans’ Bard the Bowman, a debutant in the second part of Peter Jackson’s trilogy, seen here defending Lake-town from fiery menace.
Empire’s December issue will be on newstands both physical and digital from Thursday. Continue reading “Check out Empire Magazine’s four covers for their Desolation of Smaug edition!”
Posted in:
Share:
Yes, this story will be riddled with spoilers in it, and some snark.
With less than 2 months to go before The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, we at TheOneRing.net thought you might like a little survival guide if you happen to be Arachnophobic or Drakonophobic. The Lord the Rings: The Return of the King was a little hard on many avowed Arachophobe Tolkien fans, this reporter’s sister being one of them. She watched the entire Shelob sequence from behind her purse every time she saw it on the big screen. It was only when she saw it on DVD that she could watch it unfettered.
Long before Tolkien conceived of Sam fighting off Shelob to try and save Frodo, he placed an entire Colony of giant Spiders in Mirkwood to trap the Company of Dwarves for Bilbo to rescue. This was Bilbo’s first real challenge to help the Company and he rose to the occasion. Here you can see the fear on Bilbo’s face, but he conquers it to save the Dwarves, and you can conquer your Arachnophobia too. 
As for Drakonophobia, that may have been made up word, not quite sure, but better safe than sorry. Now, to be fair, there are probably more Arachnophobes than there are Drakonophobes in the world simply because there are more spiders in the world than there are dragons. We have all those Knights in Shining Armor to thank for that. Except in China, where the dragons settled in the Rivers and became good luck symbols and come out every Chinese New Year. Gung Hey Fat Choy!!!! 
Dragons as seen in Tolkien’s Middle-earth can easily instill Drakonophobia in man and beast alike , and Smaug is the most famous of those dragons. There was fear, mixed with anger and sadness when Thorin told the story of Smaug’s attack on the Lonely mountain, killing so many and driving out the few survivors. Thranduil would not risk his own people to help and Dale was completely destroyed. The entire area around the Lonely Mountain was called the Desolation of Smaug while the Men of Lake-town built their town on stilts over the lake in the hopes of surviving future dragon attacks. Smaug has not been seen in 60 years, and yet Drakonophobia is still affecting the people of Lake-town to this day. But no one is really sure he is still really alive since it’s been so long since he was last seen, at least not until Bilbo makes his fateful first burgal attempt. 
So, without further ado, here are a few helpful pointers on how to survive your inner phobias when spiders and dragons appear onscreen.
1) Read The Hobbit before the film opens, familiarity makes it easier to handle shocks of this nature, at least the chapters in Mirkwood through Bilbo entering the Lonely Mountain.
2) Go with a really tall friend and sit behind them. If you have no tall friend, find a tall person in the theater and sit behind them.
3) If you prefer to see the film unfettered, then bring a jacket or purse to put in front of your eyes during the spider or dragon scenes.
4) Failing a jacket or purse, buy a soda or popcorn to raise up, my preference would be popcorn, because if you spill it from fright, it is less messy and certainly not cold or sticky.
5) Bring Litzi (Red Envelope with money or gold in it) purely to use as a Chinese New Year gift/bribe
6) Put on your Ring of Power and hide
7) Hold hands with your best friend, try not to cut off the circulation.
8) Run out of the theater during the scary bits (works for children)
9) If running out of the theater seems to be a waste of money, just close your eyes, but you may need to hold your hands over years ears too, those spiders seem to make some creepy noises. Smaug, on the other hand has a rather awesome voice.
10) Wait for the film to come out on DVD/Blu-ray
Posted in:
Share:
Fairfax entertainment reporter Giles Hardie visited the set of The Hobbit on the same two-day press junket that Dark Horizons, IGN and other media outlets went on.
His article is a bit of a fluff piece, and probably doesn’t divulge much that’s new to regular TORn readers, but the bit about McKellen preferring to not reprise his roles is certainly interesting.
Benedict Cumberbatch has had a bad week as The Fifth Estate bombed at the US and UK box offices, but his next film is as close to a guaranteed box office winner as they come. In fact, it might be said he will set the box office ablaze, as Cumberbatch voices the dragon Smaug in the forthcoming second Hobbit movie. Continue reading “Five Hobbit films that did not get made”
Posted in:
Share:
