Dolby Laboratories sent TheOneRing.net a press release today that might rank among the least surprising press releases ever. Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” will resoundingly ring out at its world premiere in Dolby Atmos. Some of here at TORn are big fans of the Atmos sound experience with its ceiling mounted speakers that allows sound engineers the ability to create a sound landscape, a step beyond surround systems.
Thranduil, King of the Wood-elves.If you want to find a Dolby Atmos theater, you can just CLICK HERE and find one near you. If you live in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota or South Dakota, enjoy your road trip.
Most people go to films and are happy just to make it through previews, “clever” ways to tell viewers to shut their phones off and then watch Dolby’s promotion for what audiences are about to hear. But being the movie nerds we are around here, some of us celebrate motion picture sound and the chance to be further transported out of the theater and into a three dimensional auditory experience. No surprise, Peter Jackson embraces new technology and never misses a chance to tell the most vibrant story possible. So, just as with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” DOS will have the newest, best sound experience at the premiere and select theaters.
For those readers who aren’t sound nerds, Atmos allows technicians to create sounds anywhere in the theater, not just where speakers are. This sounds too good to be true, and we can’t explain it here, but in the right theater you can listen carefully to the Radagast sequence where he is dashing through the undergrowth and spiders crawl on his house to appreciate it. You will hear it. Anyway, this is great news even if it surprised nobody. Not paid anything by Dolby (but hey Dolby, feel free) I intentionally seek out the Atmos theater in my city whenever possible.
We have a slew of new pictures from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for your viewing pleasure today, courtesy of Empire Online, Digital Spy, Mirror.co.uk, & Sky Movies. Thanks to Sander Postema for sending in the links!
Join the team from Life Flight at The Embassy on the opening weekend of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for a special charity screening supporting Life Flight. Book here.
William Kircher (who plays Bilfur the Dwarf) and Joe Letteri ONZM (Weta Senior Visual Effects Supervisor for The Hobbit) will be attending and there’ll be an exclusive Q&A session with four-time Oscar winner Joe before the film.
Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Friday 13 December 2013
Event begins 5.15pm. Film starts 6.05pm
Cost: $30 (includes 3D glasses)
Life Flight receives $9.50 from every ticket sold
The 3D film is the second in a trilogy of movies adapting the ever-popular masterpiece The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves on an epic quest to reclaim the lost dwarf kingdom of Erebor.
Late last night our friends at Weta Workshop sent out a special email with information regarding the details on the final new collectible from Comic-Con 2013. The last of the characters fans will be able to get their hands on is the loveable Wizard himself Radagast the Brown. Radagast was sculpted by the amazing Steven Saunders who has already turned out multiple winners from both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Wizard comes in with a price of $275 and an edition size of only 1,000 pieces worldwide, with expected shipping in February 2014. Having seen this in person at Comic-Con this past July I really think fans are going to love having this in their collections. Its a superb looking statue.
A new day, a new TV spot for The Desolation of Smaug. This one features some previously unseen footage of Bilbo making his way down into the depths of Erebor towards the lair of Smaug. Appropriately, Warner Bros. have titled it Dragon.
As readers will know from this post last week, Richard Armitage recently took the time to chat with TORn staffer greendragon. As ever, Armitage was gracious and erudite. His respect for his fans is evident, and he seems always ready to acknowledge their support, and share some time with them if possible.
The interview covered the topic of getting ready for the upcoming release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and whether there might be even MORE pick ups next year in New Zealand. Also discussed at length was Armitage’s theatre training, and his approaches to the craft of acting. His first love, it seems, is classical theatre; and fans can expect to see him back treading the boards sometime in the not too distant future. Here are the highlights of what he had to say.
Dolby Laboratories sent TheOneRing.net a press release today that might rank among the least surprising press releases ever. Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” will resoundingly ring out at its world premiere in Dolby Atmos. Some of here at TORn are big fans of the Atmos sound experience with its ceiling mounted speakers that allows sound engineers the ability to create a sound landscape, a step beyond surround systems.
Join the team from Life Flight at The Embassy on the opening weekend of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for a special charity screening supporting Life Flight. 
A new day, a new TV spot for The Desolation of Smaug. This one features some previously unseen footage of Bilbo making his way down into the depths of Erebor towards the lair of Smaug. Appropriately, Warner Bros. have titled it Dragon.