A couple of weeks ago we showed you this amazing Helms Deep My Own Creation (MOC). It’s pretty amazing. So we tracked down the builder, Richard Kim, and had a chat with him about his work with Lego. He talks to us about what led to him making the Helm’s Deep pice, after previously making Star Wars MOC’s, which he’s also kindly shared with us.  I must say after viewing his various MOCs I can’t wait to see what Richard comes up with next year 🙂

Continue reading “TORn chats with Richard Kim creator of the 150,000-block Helm’s Deep My Own Creation”

hobbitdosthranduildlrg2Today, 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.

The Hobbit an Unexpected JourneyIt’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!

[Pre-order The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition Blu-ray.]

[Pre-order The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition DVD.]

[Pre-order The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition Blu-ray 3D.]

[Pre-order The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition with Gollum/Bilbo statue.]

The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014
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.

There are a few movie spoiler images. In particular, if you’re avoiding Bear Beorn, you’ll want to look away now. We’ve previously covered the spoiler contents of the book. If you’re interested in those, check out this post from last month. Continue reading “New images from and review of The Desolation of Smaug 2014 Annual”

The Hobbit Visual Companion 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.

This new competition offers the chance to win The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion signed by four members the cast — Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Richard Armitage. Continue reading “Win a copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion that has been signed by the cast members!”