Our friends at Weta Workshop have released two new products from the hit movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. One of these new products just happened to be teased a while back for any of us who bought the statue of the Elven King Thranduil statue, where we saw a sneak peak of the Staff of King Thranduil. This fantastic prop joins a range of prop replica’s from The Hobbit Trilogy. You can snag this replica right now for $179 with an expected release date of February 2014. The other item announced by Weta is a new book in their awesome series of art books for The Hobbit Trilogy. This book is all about one thing and that is the greatest dragon we’ve ever seen, Smaug the Terrible! Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon is written by author Daniel Falconer contains 96 pages of all the details that went into bringing this dragon to life. For only $19.99 you can get this book to add to your collection. If you order by the end of March you can get a signed copy of the book.
Category: Production
We recently shared this on our Facebook page, but our friends at Weta Workhop have a Holiday greeting for all Ringers the world over.
So from the fabulous folks at Weta Workshop and all of us here at TheOneRing.net, we wish you all the happiest of Holidays.
There is good news and bad news for Warner Bros. and Peter Jackson at the box office this weekend. Despite the strong opening of “Anchorman 2,” projections show that “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” will be the number one movie for the second weekend in a row. Different outlets have different takes on the same story. Variety talks about “The Hobbit,” winning the weekend while Boxofficemojo features comparison charts on its front page and complete Middle-earth showdown charts inside.
The comparisons do reveal that DOS may fall well short of its predecessor which makes its run toward $1 billion world wide pretty interesting. As Variety mentions above, the film has managed to gather up $300 million world wide Meanwhile BoxOffice.com has every possible movie in its headline, now in its sixth update.
They say “better late than never”. I hope that’s true – because my review is coming a bit late. I love discussing cinema, but I’m not always very fast at collecting my thoughts. Many times, as on this occasion, I don’t even have a complete handle on the film until a second viewing. Also, I tend to write
on impulse – which means that something as organized as a film review takes me a little while to put together. I’m never able to discuss as much
as I would like to – so you can expect a few elements of the film to go uncovered. Otherwise, I could go on forever about each of these movies.
I also didn’t know how to approach this review. I had two very different reaction to this film – one as a Tolkien loyalist, another as a cinema lover. To the chagrin of many, I’m sure, I’ve chosen to focus on the latter. I’ve always viewed the books and PJ’s cinematic offerings as two completely separate things – and I think I must remain true to that. This is a film review of The Desolation of Smaug – which I unabashedly loved – and not a checklist of book vs. film differences. I look forward to such a discussion in the future, and hope you, dear readers, will indulge me in a different conversation at the present moment. Continue reading “Aragorn the Elfstone reviews ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’”
The same company that publishes the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, obviously including “The Hobbit,” and “The Lord of the Rings” announced an app companion to the latest Peter Jackson Middle-earth film, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” From the looks of things, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt means for this to be an immerse and interactive version of the film books. Jude Fisher provides text and many of the images are 3D and interactive. We will include a gallery of images from the app below the official press release.
The app is produced by the United Kingdom publisher of Tolkien’s work, Harper Collins UK in conjunction with Warner Bros. and developed by Ardman Digital.
Below is the full press release with images of the product:
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT ANNOUNCES THE HOBBIT: OFFICIAL VISUAL COMPANION APP
December 20, 2013
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, official U.S. publisher of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, is thrilled to announce THE HOBBIT: OFFICIAL VISUAL COMPANION APP, an app designed to accompany the film experience of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, directed by Peter Jackson. A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opened worldwide on December 13.
The app, produced by HarperCollins UK in association with Warner Bros., was developed by Aardman Digital. The app aims to engage with book and film fans on a digital and interactive platform, and is packed with content from the The Hobbit Trilogy, including text by Jude Fisher, details and images of the characters and a beautifully rendered 3D map.
Nick Perrett, Group Director of Strategy ＆ Digital at HarperCollins said, “This is the first step toward HarperCollins’ vision for persistent storytelling worlds that will act as a hub for fans of The Hobbit worldwide. This exciting new experience brings The Hobbit universe alive and, will over time, develop as a platform for discovering the world of Middle-earth.”Sanj Kharbanda, VP of Digital Strategy at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt said, “At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, our strategy is to create great experiences across many touch points including books, ebooks, apps, and the web. We are thrilled to partner with HarperCollins UK to bring this to life for The Hobbit and celebrate the magic of Middle-earth with a new generation of readers with this app.”
Created using the Unity engine – more typically used by game developers than book publishers – THE HOBBIT: OFFICIAL VISUAL COMPANION APP is designed to enrich users’ experience of the films, enabling them to navigate a map of Middle-earth in its entirety, while discovering facts about the characters, locations and artifacts recognizable from the films and book. The app also features interactive trivia, allowing users to unlock additional app features.
THE HOBBIT: OFFICIAL VISUAL COMPANION APP will be updated with a rolling schedule of content for the next two years, including cast interviews, content for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is the official U.S. publisher of film tie-in books for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, directed by Peter Jackson.
THE HOBBIT: OFFICIAL VISUAL COMPANION APP is available from Samsung’s Apps Hub (Samsung Web, Samsung Mobile) and Apple’s App Store (Premium, Lite).
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT TRADE PUBLISHING
For nearly two centuries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade division has published some of the world’s most renowned novels, non-fiction, children’s books and reference works in hardcover, trade paperback, and eBook formats. Its distinguished author list includes eight Nobel Prize winners, forty-seven Pulitzer Prize winners, thirteen National Book Award winners, and more than one hundred Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, and Sibert Medal and Honor recipients. HMH publishes such distinguished authors as Philip Roth, Temple Grandin, Tim O’Brien, and Umberto Eco, and a celebrated roster of children’s authors and illustrators including Lois Lowry, Chris Van Allsburg and David Wiesner. HMH is also home to The Best American
series®; The American Heritage® and Webster’s New World™ dictionaries; Betty Crocker®, Better Homes and Gardens®, How to Cook Everything®, The Gourmet Cookbook, and other leading culinary properties; the Peterson Field Guides®; CliffsNotes; books by J.R.R. Tolkien; and many iconic children’s books and characters including Curious George®, The Little Prince and The Polar Express. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The screenplay for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson & Guillermo del Toro, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Jackson also produced the film, together with Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner and Fran Walsh. The executive producers are Alan Horn, Toby Emmerich, Ken Kamins and Carolyn Blackwood, with Philippa Boyens and Eileen Moran serving as co-
producers.
New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Present a WingNut Films Production, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), with New Line managing production. Warner Bros. Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television distribution being handled by MGM.
Just a couple of hours ago, the Hobbit Production Video #14 popped up on Peter Jackson’s Facebook page. This final video blog covers the recording of Howard Shore’s magnificent musical score for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The score was recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by renowned orchestrator/composer Conrad Pope. We’ve got the video for you just below in HD, courtesy of Peter Jackson’s YouTube page. Enjoy! Continue reading “Peter Jackson releases final Production Video of 2013!”