Today, marks the day you can start seeing products for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and our friends from Weta Workshop have released the first of 20 brand new products you will see before the end of the year. These two items were just a couple of the many amazing things that Weta had at their booth during Comic-Con 2013. The first item is a truly elegant and finely detailed statue of the Elven King Thranduil. You can pre-order Thranduil right now for $275 with a limited stock shipping in November with more stock arriving in December. Don’t wait to order your Thranduil as he has an edition size of 1000 pieces worldwide. The other item is the awesome prop replica of the daggers you will see Tauriel carry during the movie. You can snag the Daggers of Tauriel right now for $149 with a limited supply in-stock ready to ship. These daggers also have an edition size of just 1000 pieces so they’re sure to not last long.
It’s almost here! Before we get to The Desolation of Smaug, we can start that Unexpected Journey all over again with the Extended Edition of the first Hobbit movie! The digital download of the movie will be available October 22nd – that’s just next week! – with the Blu-ray 3D and DVD versions to follow on November 5th in the US, November 11th in the UK.
The word from the official press release is that this extended version ‘Features a 13-Minute Longer Cut and Nearly Nine Hours of New Special Features.’ The digital download will be available exclusively on iTunes from 22nd October, before being made widely available on 4th November.
The press release quotes Peter Jackson:
“I’m thrilled that the Extended Edition will give fans the opportunity to experience certain key scenes in the film as they were originally shot, as well as an abundance of special features,” said Jackson. “It’s exciting to present this expanded and enriched version of An Unexpected Journey to allow fans to fully immerse themselves in the movie, before seeing the second part of the trilogy.”
Here’s what we can expect in those nearly nine hours of special features:
• Commentary with Peter Jackson, Director/Producer/Screenwriter and Philippa Boyens, Co-Producer/Screenwriter
• The Appendices – A multi-part chronological history of the filming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, covering pre-production in the various departments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, the boot camp training for the main cast, the work done on set chronologically through the three shooting blocks and in the world of its digital effects.
• New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth [A documentary film we assume, though the press release doesn’t say anything else about this feature.]
Once the Extended Edition is available in ‘hard copy’ in November, you’ll be able to choose from a 5-disc Blu-ray 3D set that features the Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray versions of the Extended Edition, or a 5-disc DVD set. The Blu-ray 3D and DVD both include UltraViolet versions of the movie, allowing download and instant streaming.
As soon as we have more details to bring you about the Extended Edition – for example, any different sets or packaging, and any international variations – we will of course bring you that news! Meanwhile, just over a week and we can see those extended scenes… Let the countdown begin!
The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014 If you’ve been thinking about grabbing yourself a copy of The Desolation of Smaug 2014 Annual, the folks at German website Premium Format have posted up a bunch of great images (instead of the terrible ones you usually see that use way too much flash) that showcase just how good this hardcover book looks.
Our friends at Harper Collins — the publishers of Tolkien in the UK -– tell us that they’re running another competition in addition to their How do you see Smaug? that is on right now.
If you’ve wanted to get your hands on any of TheOneRing.net’s merchandise available at shop.theonering.net, now is the time! We’ve been asked to remove the vast majority of our designs and will be permanently retiring them as soon as the remaining stock is sold out. Some of our most popular styles, including OBEY, May the Dwarves Be With You, and Shirebucks Coffee will be never again produced and will be relegated to live on in your vast geek culture shirt collection! Alas, we will also be removing our ‘This is Our Fight‘ poster featuring Tauriel. So as cliched as it sounds…everything must go! As always, your purchase helps support the internet’s only fully not for profit Tolkien community – TheOneRing.net! Thank you for your support! [Shop.TheOneRing.net]
Our good friends at Harper Collins – Tolkien publishers in the UK – are running a competition where they want to see YOUR version of Tolkien’s mighty dragon Smaug! They say:
‘Smaug is an incredible and mysterious character, his sleep and anger equally frightful. J.R.R. Tolkien described and illustrated the dragon with awe-inspiring words and artworks. Now it’s your turn to create your version of Smaug, as you imagined it when you first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s descriptions. Illustrators, designers, Hobbit fans of all ages – anyone can enter the competition and submit their Smaug’s artworks to win a fantastic grand prize!’
That prize is a copy of your own illustration, beautifully mounted on canvas! The winner will also get a collection of Harper Collins Hobbit books. Ten runners-up will win an exclusive, deluxe print of their artworks.
Get out those pens, pencils, inks, paint and whatever else takes your fancy, grab a copy of The Hobbit, reread Tolkien’s description of the fiery worm, and get illustrating! Full details of the contest, and where to submit your artwork, can be found here. The contest runs until December 13th, when (in many countries) we’ll finally be able to see Peter Jackson’s Smaug in all his glory on the big screen!
Harper Collins will be releasing various movie tie-in books for The Desolation of Smaug on November 7th. We’ll bring you details – and a chance to win copies! – nearer the time. Meanwhile you can find more information at Harper Collins’ website, here.
Today, marks the day you can start seeing products for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and our friends from Weta Workshop have released the first of 20 brand new products you will see before the end of the year. These two items were just a couple of the many amazing things that Weta had at their booth during Comic-Con 2013. The first item is a truly elegant and finely detailed statue of the Elven King Thranduil. You can pre-order Thranduil right now for $275 with a limited stock shipping in November with more stock arriving in December. Don’t wait to order your Thranduil as he has an edition size of 1000 pieces worldwide. The other item is the awesome prop replica of the daggers you will see Tauriel carry during the movie. You can snag the Daggers of Tauriel right now for $149 with a limited supply in-stock ready to ship. These daggers also have an edition size of just 1000 pieces so they’re sure to not last long.
Our friends at Harper Collins — the publishers of Tolkien in the UK -– tell us that they’re running another competition in addition to their 
