Ringer Maya sends us this report from today’s signing at the Weta Cave.
The queues were especially long this afternoon at Weta Cave. The cave is usually rather busy and packed with tourists, movie fans, Tolkien fans and other enthusiastic visitors, but today was exception even in busy times’ standards. Like many others, I too arrived at the cave today, my own wee elfling in tow, willing to brave the long queue especially to meet illustrator Alan Lee and to have him sign our copy of The Hobbit 2013 Official Calendar.
It was such a delight to find out that John Howe, the other major illustrator on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies was there as well! Continue reading “Report: Alan Lee and John Howe at the Weta Cave”
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From Stuff.co.nz: Sir Peter Jackson’s plans to build a world-class film museum in Shelly Bay were scuppered when Sir Ngatata Love’s partner sought $750,000 in consultancy fees to help secure the land.
Months before the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust gained the right to buy the former air force base on the Miramar Peninsula from the Crown, Jackson wrote to Sir Ngatata outlining a plan to create a permanent home for his vast array of Lord of the Rings props.
“I have always thought that Shelly Bay would be an ideal site for a state-of-the-art exhibition building of international standard,” Jackson wrote in March 2008.
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The 2013 Tolkien calendar naturally features ‘The Hobbit’ this year including the work of Alan Lee and John Howe. To celebrate, the Weta Cave in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand will host Lee this Sunday to sign this and others of his works.
Lee and Howe have been working on concept art for Peter Jackson’s three-part ‘Hobbit’ movie, headed for a mid-December release but found time to produce some new work for this calendar.
The calendar features 14 paintings, including some created exclusively for this calendar by Alan Lee and John Howe, the two artists whose work has defined the look of Middle-earth over the last 25 years.
This is their first-ever collaboration since the official Tolkien Calendar began publishing 40 years ago.
Each month depicts one of the most famous scenes from The Hobbit, including Bilbo outside Bag End, Smaug the Dragon, the Great Goblin and Bilbo’s Front Hall. As well as classic illustrations from bo
th artists’ celebrated portfolios, the 2013 calendar includes brand new paintings, created by John Howe and Alan Lee exclusively for this calendar.
When: Sunday 9 September, 1-3 pm
Where: The Weta Cave, Miramar, Wellington
A range of Alan’s other titles including The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook will also be available in store. For more details including a map, click here.
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Looks as though New Zealand wins the “firsties” game when it comes to the general release of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey.
Ringer Lissuin stumbled on the news when The Roxy Cinema in Miramar sent out their on-line newsletter announcing Dec 13 as the release date. An email follow-up got this answer: “…according to the release schedule given to all cinemas it is the 13th December for NZ.”
Roadshow Entertainment, the distributor for Warners in NZ, and Lianda Boorett, publicist for The Hobbit, have subsequently confirmed this is true.
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From Jared Smith of taranaki-daily-news: For two years Jay Rei worked as a light rigger on The Hobbbit films. His work is critical: sync-ing lighting scenes and green screens helps with post-production of the films and avoids costly re-shoots.
Mr Rei dismisses the critics who say the recent announcement of three Hobbit films is stretching the source material too thin.
“That would depend on their comprehension, making a book into a movie is a big deal, Pete’s got an amazing brain, brilliant. He tries every variation there is. We got quite enough footage to do the two movies we were away for, and now the third.”
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Tom Scott from dominion-post: A Hobbit movie set discreetly hidden in the Maupuia bush will remain for up to 16 extra months and walkers may be able to get close enough to check it out. The site which was used to film scenes of the town of Dalewas due to come down on August 31 but the Wellington City Council recently approved another resource consent. This consent means the set will remain until December 31, 2013.
This means it will be used for the making of Desolation of Smaug which — if the title is a reliable clue — will deal with the dragon Smaug. The site is privately owned, but walking tracks in the area are open at the owner’s discretion and glimpses of the site ”may be possible” from sites in Evans Bay and Roseneath. Potential spoiler warning
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