From WETA’s latest Newsletter: From Monday 22 August and for the next three months, we’re delighted to have a special Weta Cave at SKYCITY in Auckland. At the very root of Auckland’s impressive Skytower (when we say ‘you can’t miss it’ – we really mean it), the cave doors will open and we’re looking forward to seeing all you Aucklanders and other visitors. skycityauckland.co.nz
Category: Production
Alright, Ringers today is the day! The Orthanc Pre-Ruin environment has gone up for Pre-Order! Orthanc of course is the 
newest environment to join the environment line with amazing pieces like Bag End and Rivendell. The price of this Orthanc is $250 and for the first 400 orders you will get a 24k gold Sauron Eye pin as well as a numbered piece. After this the piece will be an open edition but don’t wait too long as this will be a piece you will be kicking yourself if you never add it to your collection. Don’t forget after you order to enter what you want the official name of this piece to be when it ships. The contest ends August 5th at 5pm PST! [Orthanc naming contest]
In 2010, the artisans at Weta, brought to life through help of the members of the Shadow and Flame forum, one of the most well 
loved places in Middle-Earth. That place would be none other the hole under the hill, Bag End. The home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins would finally be turned into something The Lord of the Rings fans could bring into their collection.
Weta would not settle though for just making one version of Bag End for collectors to choose. They would go out and make a traditional open edition, and for the collector who wanted just a little bit more they also made a Collector’s Edition. The difference between the two types is the collectors edition has an edition size of 1,111 to help honor Bilbo’s 111th birthday, and on the backside of the environment you also get some truly finely sculpted rooms in Bag End.
Oh and by the way, you can win one of these if you enter our naming competition with Weta for the brand new Orthanc Environment.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta’s Bag End Collector’s Edition Review”
With the break in filming (that including filming in the U.K. with Christopher Lee) players in the two-part Hobbit movie are heading back to New Zealand. Word is that Peter Jackson is there now after his surprise stop at Comic-Con and we learned today from his own Twitter (@stephenfry) that Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown is headed there at well. He tweeted:
Flying from Cape Town to Jo’burg to Sydney to NZ tomorrow. Will be Tuesday by the time I land in Wellington. Hobbitry beckons.
Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman) told us at the Con that he hasn’t stepped a foot on set yet but is scheduled for training and costume fitting soon. We do know the production is busy with decorating sets and getting costumes and extras ready for the ramp up of another 200 days of filming.
RingerDingerDoo! writes: David Poland at Movie City News was invited to Wellington to meet with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to talk about Tin Tin and see some new footage. He took some pictures that reference Weta. More..
Howard Shore on Houston Public Radio from Doug Adams on Vimeo.
QuackingTroll sends in this link to an interview with Howard Shore talking about his Houston shows and a little about The Hobbit.