The latest edition of The Hollywood Reporter contains an article all about the upcoming Hobbit movie. Interestingly, the headline calls the films a ‘$1 Billion Gamble’ – though the coming success of the movies doesn’t seem to be a question in the minds of most fans! This latest article doesn’t tell us anything new, but it’s a pretty good summary of the journey so far; and of course, it mentions TORn. There’s no Hobbit’s Tale without a touch of TORn…. 🙂
UPDATE – and there are some pretty amazing images along with the article, including a photograph of Peter Jackson with a caption where he comments of Del Toro’s work on the movies, ‘Some of the things he did I certainly liked and took bits and pieces from it.’ Is this what we’re seeing in the ‘Del Toro-esque’ Dol Guldur orcs, such as Bolg and Yazneg, with their victims’ faces sewn into their clothing?? In another image, there’s a wonderful sketch of a dwarf seated beneath a tree, with runes below which read, ‘Supplies of pipeweed are running desperately low. If we do not find some very soon one of our few remaining pleasures will be a thing of the past.’ Could this be a note made by Ori, in the book we see him carrying around?
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Last week, the artisans at Weta announced 19 amazing items for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, including the Key to Erebor, Thorin’s Map, Thorin Oakenshield statue, Gandalf The Grey statue, Bilbo Baggins statue, Art Prints, Map replicas, and much more. All of the items are up for Pre-Order now with several of them being in-stock ready to arrive to your collection. To celebrate the arrival of these great items, TheOneRing.net and Weta teamed up to give away two of them: Thorin’s Map and the Key to Erebor. Both contests were highly popular with entries hitting the 500 mark for each. It was obvious by all these emails that fans wanted to get one of these amazing collectibles shipped and on the way to their house. We’re happy to announce that the winner of Thorin’s Map is C. Bull of Australia and the winner of the Key to Erebor is B. Sprinkle of Virgina. Congratulations to you both!
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According to Peter Green, at this website, a song by New Zealand musician Neil Finn will be used during the end credits of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Finn has recorded extensively, as a solo artist and also with bands such as Split Enz and Pajama Club; he is perhaps best known as lead singer and guitarist with Crowded House. We don’t yet know anything more about this song, but will update as soon as we do! Given that all three end credit songs for the Lord of the Rings movies were performed by women, it will be exciting to hear a male voice at the end of the first Hobbit movie. The soundtracks for Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King were released at the end of November in their respective years, but the Two Towers soundtrack didn’t come out until 10th December 2002; let’s hope we get an end of November release date for the Unexpected Journey soundtrack!
Thanks to Peter and to ringer spy Dennis for the heads up!
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The Warner Bros. legal team has shut down the development of a free Lord of the Rings mod for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The all-volunteer, unpaid team of game enthusiasts behind the mod say they repeatedly attempted to negotiate a compromise that would allow them to proceed in some form, but Warner Bros. rebuffed all of their proposals. Warner Bros. first requested that the 40-person-strong development team cease all work on the project, called MERP (Middle-earth Roleplaying Project), in July.
“Modding” is a term used to describe when users unofficially adapt or alter a game beyond its original specifications. Modders will often create new characters, character skins, plotlines and dialogue, music or even entirely new worlds for their favourite games.
Mod developer Alasdair Hurst believes MERP’s main problem could be that people need to buy Skyrim first.
“But the mod itself will be available to all the fans for free.” Continue reading “Warner Bros. shut down free Skyrim LoTR mod”
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Today marks the day the New Zealand Post, in an exclusive arrangement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the filmmakers, releases commemorative stamps and coins for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
New Zealand Post’s spokesman for stamps and coins Simon Allison says:
We’re the only country in the world with the rights to produce these highly collectable coins, featuring iconic characters from what is sure to become a classic series of films.
The items announced today are appropriate mementoes of the film, and fit in with the mythology of Middle-earth – New Zealand. We’re committed to honouring the legacy of Sir Peter’s films, by creating stamps and coins of the highest quality.
Hit the break for hi-res pictures of the stamps and coins, and the world exclusive press release for the same, courtesy of our friend Emma over at New Zealand Post.
Continue reading “New Zealand Post Releases “Hobbit” Stamps and Coins… Ian McKellen Gives Seal Of Approval”
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As part of our World Wide Celebration of Hobbit week we, and the folks at Weta Workshop, teamed up to give away one of their amazing Sunrise Upon Edoras Art Print (I just received mine and it is AWESOME). After nearly 500 entries we’re pleased to announce the winner…Congrats to S. Jones of Seattle, Washington. Weta will be sending this masterpiece directly to your door. Please don’t forget to support our contest sponsor Weta Workshop! [Weta Workshop]
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