Welcome to this months “Getting to know you” Q&A, this month we’re talking to the lovely ladies from The Happy Hobbit, Kili and Fili.
Category: Production
Sir Peter Jackson’s second instalment of The Hobbit movie has become music to the ears of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
The NZSO will record the soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Wellington Town Hall, most probably in September, before the century-old venue undergoes $43.7 million of earthquake strengthening.
The orchestra will work with Oscar-winning Canadian composer Howard Shore.
“The very first music ever recorded for Howard Shore’s magnificent score for The Lord of the Rings was done here, in Wellington, back in 2001 in the town hall,” said Sir Peter. “The piece, written for the Fellowship’s journey into the Mines of Moria, was beautifully performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and showcased the exceptional acoustics of this over 100-year-old building.” Continue reading “NZSO to record Desolation of Smaug soundtrack”
Jackson, who shares photos and videos on his Facebook page, captioned a photo of Bilbo waving goodbye:
“Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.
We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!”
All reports and word from Jackson indicates there will not be pickup shooting next year but Jackson had a period of these after ever LOTR film and it is tempting to suggest there will be more next year. But with such a large principal cast, such an effort might be impossible because of scheduling.
Still in Wellington are the Company of Dwarves which could mean a heavy dose of battle scenes as audiences will want to follow each of them in battle. The book plotting calls for ferocious and deadly action.
Luke Evans, playing the enigmatic Bard the Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” also tweeted that his last day on the film is over. Evans’ Tweet suggests he is off to work as Dracula after a summer where his “Fast & Furious 6” did big business at the box office.
Graham McTavish also tweeted his farewells to Freeman.
Weta Workshop has a couple of really neat items for you with their latest releases. These items are fantastic and they allow you to stretch that collecting budget all at the same time. The two newest collectibles from Weta are a very cool prop replica of Bilbo’s Acorn Buttons and a pin celebrating Durin’s Day. The buttons are an exact replica of the buttons used on the jacket by Martin Freeman. You can order one of these buttons for $11 or you can order them as a set of 5 for $45. The Durin’s Day pin celebrates the day that will be of the utmost importance to Thorin and company for getting into Erebor. The pin has some great looking Dwarvish script and a Thrush on it. Fans can order this pin from Weta’s website right now for $11. All of these items are in-stock right now and will be shipping from the New Zealand warehouse.
Today join us again for our weekly webcast TORn TUESDAY, as we our big presence at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con as we present all the juicy dish on THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG!
Let’s have a closer look at what brings such huge interest and different fandoms together at this amazing show — and prep you for what we will reveal during our presentation! Bring your questions and comments to the chat!
We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Make Excellent T-shirts” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!
WE APOLOGIZE that there is no available archive of this particular installment on our YouTube channel —- it was a “sneak preview” after all!
————————————————-
Follow us on Twitter: @theoneringnet
Follow Cliff Broadway: @quickbeam2000
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/theoneringnet
Posted in:
- Barlimans
- ComicCon
- ComicCon Rumos
- Conventions
- Director news
- Director Rumors
- DragonCon
- Events
- Fans
- Green Books
- Headlines
- Hobbit Movie
- Hobbit Movie Rumors
- MrCere in New Zealand
- Out on a Limb
- Peter Jackson
- Production
- The Hobbit
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- TheOneRing.net Announcements
- TheOneRing.net Community
- TORn TUESDAYS Live!
The Summer of Smaug is in full go, as we get closer to Comic-Con 2013. We have had the first teaser poster, first trailer, and the first of Sir Peter Jackson’s Vlogs for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Now, we get the first product for the second film capturing a key moment in the Traveling Party’s journey to Erebor. The moment captured in this mini-statue is one of the participants in the barrel escape. The first character to be done in this series of mini-barrel riders is our loveable Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. This statue is a pre-release before the movie and shows the awesomeness of the collectibles to come from what we will see in the second film.
PACKAGING
The overall graphic for this mini-statue box is the same as we’ve seen from other statues for The Hobbit be it smaller than say a normal 1:6th statue box. Per the format we’ve come to know the front of the box gives you a great shot of Bilbo, the title of the movie (now saying though The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), a special wax looking stamp saying it’s a preview collectible, and of course the Weta logo. As we’ve seen before you get a couple of shots of the statue on one side of the box. However, the other side gives you information about the statue and how it’s tied to the second film. While the back of the box gives you a look at a couple of items that you can buy from Weta.
SCULPTING
Brigitte Wuest is a name many fans that have collected statues based on the characters of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit should know quite well. Ms. Wuest is back with another amazing piece. Doing a statue of this size and its smaller than even some of the previous mini-statues you’ve seen reviewed here before is a challenge. Well, the job done to make this statue detailed and capture a likeness was a successful one. When you look at this piece you see Martin Freeman and at a full 1:6th scale that’s a great thing, but even more so when you look at the size of this statue. Ms. Wuest did a superb job of making sure that we are able to have a great likeness of Mr. Freeman as he plays Bilbo in this moment.
The outfit is also very well done and there is great amount of detail within what you do see with this statue. His jacket very much looks like its real cloth, as do his pants. His hair also has some great detail in it very much looking like the hair he has on his head as we see it on screen. The barrel Bilbo is holding on to is a very detailed piece with all the little bits and pieces we see in barrels here in the real world. You also get the rushing water of the river, which we will see all these barrels making their way through. There is quite a bit of detail here when you examine the statue seeing how it’s made to look as if the water is a treacherous ride for the company.
PAINT
The skin tone on this piece is well done as usual by the folks at Weta Workshop. You look at Bilbo and you see someone who very much looks healthy and alive, which is something you want in your collectibles. Aiding the sculpting detail of the clothing is the paint job, which puts the final touches to create the cloth look we expect. The barrel as I said has a great sculpting job done to give it the proper details, but the job to put the cherry on top comes with the paint job. This allows for the barrel to look like its truly made of wood and something you would see in the real world. Of course you have the water, which is, has a great blue paint job creating the illusion of water. However, the coolest aspect of the paint job is the clear lacquer that’s been applied to this statue. In order to give it the proper wet look Weta applied a clear lacquer to the Bilbo, the barrel, and the water. Weta did a fantastic job of doing this so it has the proper wet look but not something that looked slimy.
Overall
Bilbo retails for $65, which is a fantastic price along with something most collectors can fit into a tight budget. The price will also make it much easier for collectors to get all the members of the Traveling Party. As I said the sculpt and paint on this statue is really well done and even more so when you factor in the size of the piece. I want to add that with every release in this line Weta is just continuing to show how great they with these statues.
SPECIFICATIONS
Bilbo is the first in this series of mini-barrel rider statues. He is an open edition and can be purchased for just $65.
Dimensions:
2.7″ x 4.1″ x 4.1″ (H x W x D)
6.8 cm x 10.5 cm x 10.5 cm
Weight:
.7 lbs (320g)
PHOTOS
