If, like us, you have been repeatedly watching the new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer over the last couple of days, you may have noticed something surprising at the end. In the second screen of credits, right after Tolkien’s name, the screenwriters are credited: ‘Screenplay by Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson’. That’s it; unlike in the credits for An Unexpected Journey, Guillermo del Toro is not credited as a screenwriter for this second movie. (Not in this trailer, at any rate…)
What this means is anyone’s guess. We know of course that del Toro worked long and hard on the screenplays for the movies when he was in position as the films’ director. At that time the plan was for only two movies; it seems hard to imagine, however, that it would be possible to extricate del Toro’s contributions to the scripts to such an extent that it could safely be said that he had NO hand in the screenplay for Desolation of Smaug. Further, del Toro suggested that he would continue to be a part of the screenwriting even after he had left the movies as director; he wrote on TORn’s messageboards, ‘The writing team of PJ,FW,PB and myself will keep moving the screenplays forward.’ (See his post here.)
Perhaps it is simply that the film makers were only contractually obliged to acknowledge del Toro’s contributions in the credits for one movie; movie studios are sticklers for what’s in the contract! Perhaps del Toro himself asked only to be credited in the first movie – wishing the role he played to be acknowledged but also perhaps wanting to move forward from the project, having made that very difficult decision to leave Middle-earth behind. Perhaps, as for An Unexpected Journey, he will be credited at the end of the movie as ‘Project Consultant’. Perhaps he will again be credited as a writer on the third movie, There and Back Again. We’ll have to wait and see; meanwhile, it’s just one of those things which make you go, ‘Hmmm….’
Today, is a huge day! We’ve already gotten the first poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and of course today we got the first trailer for the movie.
Well, that’s not the only thing for the new movie that has made an appearance on this very special day.
Weta has just released the first product and it’s a special preview product for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug with this mini barrel-riding Bilbo Baggins statue. This statue fits in line with the mini-statues you’ve seen us review here from The Lord of the Rings. It’s the very first mini-statue for The Hobbit trilogy. This will also be the first in a line of barrel-riding pieces leading up to the release of the film in December. Bilbo is in-stock for $65 so get you order in now to enter for a chance to win 65 Weta dollars and add this amazing Bilbo statue to your collection.
In the wake of the release of the Desolation of Smaug trailer last night (if you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out here, read the reactions of our staff here, and see some new high-resolution stills here), here’s a few snippets of interesting news for everyone!
The fans are agape at their 1st full-frontal view of Smaug the Terrible, not to mention the ladies seem to be universally trembling over Thranduil’s eyebrows — and of course this kind of ephemera makes for a juicy fun live webcast! Join us TODAY as we pick apart all the details we can see, hear, or smell in this newest piece of marketing for THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG.
We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Promised Royd I Would Read It” Sewell — we will even have special guest Larry Curtis (“MrCere” on TheOneRing.net) join us, the man who was stationed on the New Zealand sets with Peter Jackson, WETA, and all the creative forces behind the camera! 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.!
After the show has completed broadcast you can always watch the archive later at TheOneRing.net’s official YouTube channel:
Hot on the heels of the poster release and trailer news, we’ve received word via Stuff.co.nz that Wellington will not host the premiere of the second Hobbit movie.
Part of a deal signed with Warner Bros and New Line Cinema said at least one of the world premieres had to be held in New Zealand.
Jackson’s spokesman Matt Dravitzki this morning confirmed the second premiere would not be held in New Zealand this year.
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stone to meal;
Slays kings, ruins towns,
And beats high mountains down.
– Gollum to Bilbo
The Hobbit – Riddles in the Dark
We’ve now reached the “we haven’t seen this before” phase of reveals for statues from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first statue to make the scene in this phase is a familiar face to fans of Middle-earth. That’s right! Gollum our lovely precious Gollum as we saw him in the Riddles in the Dark sequence from the movie. This is also the first time we’ve gotten Gollum in traditional 1:6th scale as a regular release in a line of statues based on Middle-earth.
PACKAGING
The overall graphic layout for Gollum’s box stays the same as we’ve seen with previous entries in the line. Per the format we’ve come to know the front of the box gives you a great shot of Gollum, graphic work for the title of the movie, and of course the Weta logo. The sides of the box for Gollum also present a familiar format with different looks at the statue. While the other side of the box presents some of the various products you can get for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey line of collectibles. The back of the box contains a great story on Gollum as well as information regarding details of the character and statue. The Styrofoam on the inside is typical with what we’ve become used to getting with these statues.
SCULPTING
Greg Tozer is back at it on this piece and he got some help from Ben Mauro for bringing this version of Gollum to life. Gollum has been quite the achievement for Weta from the time we first got a great look at him in The Two Towers and ten years later he is even better looking with the new technology. This statue I think captures that improvement in how Gollum looks. The likeness is as good as you’re going to see and the rage Gollum has in realizing he’s lost his precious to Bilbo comes through quite clearly. On his face you get great definition in the wrinkles with how his face squishes together allowing the anger to come through. The body gives you great definition in the rib cage showing how malnourished Gollum is from lingering due to the ring. Two final features on the body that I found very cool are the lack of scars on Gollum’s back and the blood vessels on his arms. The lack of scars of course comes from this being 60 years before The Lord of the Rings and not being tortured by Sauron. While the blood vessels are subtle but a nice attention to detail by Weta.
Gollum really doesn’t have a traditional outfit as we’ve seen with previous releases in this line. He has a simple loincloth with little pouch that he keeps his precious in. The sculpt job done on these are really well done in giving them the look of real leather. Gollum is also the first statue to come with an addition to the base. He’s jumping off a rock deep within the Misty Mountains that makes up his little home area, and it very much comes across sculpt wise looking like the rocks we saw on screen.
PAINT
Gollum does not have the traditional skin tone we’ve seen with the other statues within this line so far. He’s been under the mountain for years with no sunlight so he has a bit lighter look to his skin tone. Weta has of course been able to do this successfully and it once again looks like the Gollum we’ve seen on screen. He even has the nice pinker tone around the eyes you see on screen giving the appearance of someone who gets little sleep. Another success of the skin tone is making sure you don’t lose the wrinkle detail or boney nature of the rib area. One area I mentioned earlier that could have been lost easily is the blood vessels, but they’re really enhanced I believe with the subtle job done by Weta.
Finally, going back to his clothes or lack there of with the loincloth. The paint job does a solid job working with the wrinkles in the sculpt to create the leather look of the loincloth. His rock area has a great worn looking pain job to it with a great lighter tone around the bottom.
Overall
Gollum retails for $249, which is in line with most of the statues so far in the line. Gollum just looks great and works well with the Bilbo statue creating a great scene on your shelf. Weta also did a fantastic job with Gollum making sure he’s able to hold the post by inserting a rod into his leg that goes into the rock. Helping give this statue a great look and feel of that moment in the dark.
PS: The answer to the riddle: Time
SPECIFICATIONS
Gollum is an open edition piece and can be ordered right now from Weta Workshop.
Dimensions:
9.1″ x 14.2″ x 5.9″ (H x W x D)
23 cm x 36 cm x 15 cm
What this means is anyone’s guess. We know of course that del Toro worked long and hard on the screenplays for the movies when he was in position as the films’ director. At that time the plan was for only two movies; it seems hard to imagine, however, that it would be possible to extricate del Toro’s contributions to the scripts to such an extent that it could safely be said that he had NO hand in the screenplay for Desolation of Smaug. Further, del Toro suggested that he would continue to be a part of the screenwriting even after he had left the movies as director; he wrote on TORn’s messageboards, ‘The writing team of PJ,FW,PB and myself will keep moving the screenplays forward.’ (See his post here.)
In the wake of the release of the Desolation of Smaug trailer last night (if you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out 
Hot on the heels of the poster release and trailer news, we’ve received word via Stuff.co.nz that Wellington will not host the premiere of the second Hobbit movie.
