Monday afternoon New Zealand time, a severe earthquake hit the North Island of New Zealand, with its center in the Palmerston North area. The 6.3 (or 6.2, according to some reports) magnitude earthquake caused damage to roads and buildings, creating rockfalls and bringing down chimneys and power lines. The quake was felt in Wellington, where one of the giant eagles displayed at the airport, to promote The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, became detached from the ceiling. You can read a full report of the quake, and the extent of the damage which is known so far, here. Fortunately it seems that no one was seriously hurt. We are thinking of all our friends in New Zealand and hoping that all are ok! [New Zealand Herald report]
Category: Miscellaneous
One
of the very best aspects of the Academy Awards is the ability of the nominations and forthcoming telecast to shine a light on smaller films
that would perhaps otherwise go unnoticed by the general public. Such is the case with a film that Martin Freeman shot a couple of years ago
called The Voorman Problem. Directed by Mark Gill and also starring
Tom Hollander, Simon Griffiths and Elisabeth Gray, the film has been nominated for Best Live Action Short at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. We would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Gill and his cast and crew.
The film will be touring in cinemas with the Oscar Shorts starting January 31st, and will appear on iTunes on February 28th. Visit the official site for the film by clicking here. Continue reading “Short Film ‘The Voorman Problem’ starring Martin Freeman nominated for Academy Award”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations
for the 86th Annual Academy Awards this morning, and The Desolation of Smaug received 3 nods.
Congratulations to the nominees! The ceremony will be held on March 2nd. Continue reading “‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ nominated for 3 Oscars”
We all know, of course, that Tolkien’s characters and locations spring vividly to life in the imagination, whenever his books are read. One artist, however, has taken that a step further, and created a sculpture of Smaug from the pages of a copy of The Hobbit. The scaly, menacing dragon leers around the cover of the book, seeking a tiny Bilbo, who cowers under his searching gaze. See more pictures and read about this amazing art work here – it’s really stunning.
The nominations for the 61st Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards have been announced, and The Desolation of Smaug received two nods – Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in an English Language Feature and Best Sound Editing: Music in a Feature (English or Foreign Language).
The films Gravity and 12 Years a Slave led with 3 nominations apiece.
The awards ceremony will be held on February 17, 2014. Continue reading “‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ receives 2 nominations from the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE)”
This past Thursday night, the Visual Effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences met to vote for the five VFX nominees at this year’s Oscars. As expected, voters were highly impressed by the frontrunners Gravity and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But the fellow potential nominees were no slouches either. Presentations of the special effects work behind Pacific Rim, World War Z, and others left quite an impression as well. Continue reading “‘Smaug’ Visual Effects wow at Academy Awards bake-off”