Check out this wonderful Entertainment Weekly interview with Peter Jackson about his experiences with, and memories of, the actor who brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s wizard Saruman to life for millions of loving fans. You’ll chuckle at PJ recalling some comical moments, but have a box of tissues ready because you just might shed a tear too. Read more…
Category: LotR Movies
The long-rumored movie museum for Wellington took a step toward realization after the team behind the dream presented its vision to the Wellington City Council.
Fans of the cinematic versions of Middle-earth will rejoice that the team behind the proposal is led by none other than Sir Peter Jackson and Sir Richard Taylor. The company, The Movie Museum Limited, or TMML, hopes to bring together material from the duo’s many film projects as well as their own “world-renowned movie collections,” according to a release after the meeting this week.
“There is a vast collection of incredible material from the world-famous movies that have been worked on by the companies in Miramar,” said project director George Hickton. “What is less well-known is that Peter and Fran (Walsh), Richard and Tania (Rodger) also have their own personal collections of film and television memorabilia which is one of the best in the world.”
The presentation, according to the release, was part of considering a new site proposed for the museum that will also include a space for gatherings, such as conventions.
Hickton said Wellington has been known for world-class film making for two decades.
“For much of that time, the driving force behind Wellington’s success has been Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor and their partners Fran Walsh and Tania Rodger as well as the Weta Group of companies they established on the Miramar Peninsula.
“From small beginnings, Wellington is today a thriving centre of film-making creativity and excellence, creating thousands of jobs for New Zealanders and attracting major film and television productions and some of the best directors, producers, actors, artists and technicians from around the world.”
The hope would be to give Wellington a tourism draw, both to New Zealand and internationally. Readers of of TORn can probably imagine the appeal.
A three-story building is expected, with top floor dedicated to a meeting space for 1100 with the bottom two floors to house the museum with 10,000 square meters of space. The museum is near Te Papa, Wellington’s world-class museum and sit between Wakefield and Cable Streets.
More details, the release said, would be released once the council decides on the proposal and planning and construction begins.
TORn will update this story with more details as they are available. Click on any of the photos for a larger version. (Cinema fans, this is highly recommended.)
Calling all Ringers in New Zealand and those planning on heading to New Zealand in March 2016. The team over at Welly-moot are arranging an event of special magnificence, assisted by the lovely crew at Roxy Theatre Wellington.
Continue reading “LOTR/Hobbit Extended Edition Movie Marathon hosted by Welly-moot”
Black Friday comes to Middle-earth today at HobbitShop.com, the official online shop of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies! The shop is offering savings of up to 60% on officially licensed jewelry, phone cases, chess sets, collectibles, and more, plus Buy One, Get One 50% Off all shirts! Check it out at http://www.hobbitshop.com !
There’s been a storm raging today over comments director Peter Jackson made about the process of filming The Hobbit trilogy. Staffer greendragon reflects on the debate which has been unleashed…
With the release this week of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition on Blu-ray and DVD, folks have been sitting down to watch the many hours of extras provided in the included ‘Appendices’ footage. Starting with an article on The Guardian newspaper’s website, one particular part of Peter Jackson’s comments (in ‘The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm’) on the making of The Hobbit trilogy has gone viral online, unleashing much debate among fans who love or hate the movies.
Continue reading “Peter Jackson’s comments provoke a ‘Gathering Storm’ in a teacup…”
For fans who have been waiting to get their hands on actual disks before watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition, today is the day when releases begin! The Blu-ray and DVD sets are available today in America, Nov 18th in New Zealand (so almost today already in NZ!), and across Europe and the rest of the world in the coming days. (Read our International Shopping Guide for further details.)
This is the Home Entertainment release which completes the set for all fans of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies. Many have written how the extra footage in the extended cut makes this the version of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies that they wanted to see. (You can read some staffers’ thoughts here.) Others have commented that they had hoped for the full extra 30 minutes Peter Jackson had said would be in this cut, not just the 20 minutes we got. There are certainly more scenes I had hoped to see – but that is where the Appendices come in…
At last we have parts Eleven and Twelve of The Appendices; parts One and Two came out with the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, so this has been a long time coming! It’s great – if sad – to see the end of this journey. The tales from the set, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and memories from cast and crew are wonderful, and give us some insight into moments we perhaps wish had made it into a cut of the movie. Have tissues ready for the filmmakers’ ’emotional farewell to Middle-earth’!
There are over NINE hours of bonus features included in this Home Entertainment release, so it really is an essential part of your The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie collection. In the 2D version, the disc with the film also includes Part 3 of ‘New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth’; Disc 2 contains The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm, The Chronicles of The Hobbit – Part 3; and Disc 3 is The Appendices Part 12: Here at Journey’s End. There is also audio commentary on the film, with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens; I haven’t had a chance to watch with the commentary yet, but I’m sure it’s fascinating. I’d still like, at some point, to have some commentary from the cast – maybe that will come with the ‘super mega all-six-films’ box set….? (For the completists amongst us, you can already purchase the Extended Edition Box Set, also available today.)
Whether you prefer the Theatrical or Extended cuts of these films (and I think most of us come down on the side of the Extended Editions), it is really the bonus features which make this Home Entertainment release a ‘must have’. If you are patient enough to wait, maybe it’s one for your Holiday Gift wish list? (Look out for TORn’s Holiday Gift Guide, coming soon!)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to watching those nine hours of extras….
Click here to purchase The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition (BD) [Blu-ray]