Over at Forbes.com, Scott Mendelson analyses the cost of The Hobbit movie trilogy, and why he believes that even at a cost of $561 million USD (with some post-production and marketing expenses still to come), it’s a bargain for the studios.
Imagine you’re a studio executive and you had the opportunity to spend $200 million a pop on three films in a trilogy that was all-but-guaranteed to earn $800-$1 billion at the worldwide box office per-installment.
You’d probably agree in a heartbeat and plan how to spend your bonus. So when you read about the “shocking” news [Demosthenes: I didn’t think the news was that shocking, frankly] from Variety that Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy has thus far cost $561 million, don’t be too alarmed. All-told, it’s actually a pretty smart investment. Continue reading “Why The Hobbit movie trilogy is a bargain”
Posted in:
Share:
That figure includes the major 266 days of filming with actors that was completed last year, although it doesn’t include an additional two months or so of “pick-up” shoots done this year. There will likely also be additional post-production costs as the next two movies are completed.
Through March 31, production had cost 676 million New Zealand dollars, or $561 million at current exchange rates, according to financial documents filed Friday in New Zealand, where the movies are being made.
Distributor Warner Bros. and director Peter Jackson may consider it money well spent. To date, only the first movie in the latest trilogy has been released. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” took in just over $1 billion at the box office. Continue reading “Hobbit film trilogy has cost $561 USD million so far”
Posted in:
Share:
On Monday we let you know about an exciting contest Denny’s are holding this year, where one lucky fan will win a trip to see the World Premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The competition officially launched yesterday, but we were too busy watching the trailer multiple times to post about it!
So, if you’re getting your video entry ready to prove yourself the biggest Hobbit fan out there, here are all the details you need, taken from Denny’s official press release:
Continue reading “Denny’s search for Middle-earth’s Greatest Fan – the details”
Posted in:
Share:
Last year, you may remember that Denny’s had a Hobbit menu in their restaurants during the holiday season. Today we can reveal that they’re doing it again this year, with an all new menu to be launched close to the film’s release; but the REALLY exciting news is the contest they’ll be launching tomorrow, to celebrate their renewed partnership with Warner Bros. and the Hobbit movies.
Denny’s will be hosting ‘The Search for Middle-earth’s Greatest Fan’. This competition will run throughout the month of October, and will be for an AMAZING prize: a two-night trip for two, including flights and hotel, to see the Desolation of Smaug world premiere! That’s right; if you’re deemed Middle-earth’s Greatest Fan, your reward will be that you will get to be in the audience at the world premiere screening of the next Hobbit movie, in December this year.
How do you win such an incredible prize? Full details of the competition will be coming tomorrow, when Denny’s make their official launch, but we can let you know that you’ll need to make a video explaining WHY you are the biggest fan. Tomorrow a website will go live, where you can upload such a video; we’ll let you know details, such as how long it should be and any other rules.
Denny’s will pick their favourite videos. They will then send those videos along to us here at TORn, where we will pick, from Denny’s favourites, what we think should be the top five. This top five will then be sent to Peter Jackson himself, who will choose his favourite to be the winner. Does it get any better than that? – Peter Jackson himself choosing the lucky winner who will get to join him at the premiere.
TORn is excited to be partnering with Denny’s on this. If you read this post last year, you’ll know that we were pleasantly surprised by the care and attention Denny’s gave to their Hobbit menu. This year they’ve been going even further, and have been consulting an ‘Advisory Board’, which includes Senior Staff at TORn, about some of their menu content and giveaway ideas. And of course, we here at TheOneRing.net always love bringing you, dear reader, the chance to win cool stuff – and what could be cooler than this contest?
Check back tomorrow morning – after you’ve watched the new Desolation of Smaug trailer – to get all the details on how you could win those tickets to see the world premiere! Smaug is coming!!
Posted in:
Share:
Audience reaction to Hollywood’s first high frame rate movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was decidedly mixed, but frame rates—along with higher resolution, laser light, immersive sound and second screen experiences were very much on the minds of digital cinema leaders last week at the International Broadcasters Convention.
During the event, this community debated how to respond to the advancements taking place in home entertainment. “TV [technology] is moving faster,” admitted Disney’s vp production technology Howard Lukk during a panel discussion. “What keeps us up at night is how [cinema] stays the premium experience.” Continue reading “IBC wrap-up: ‘We would be fools if we didn’t learn from The Hobbit’”
Posted in:
Share:
Welcome back to another in my occasional series about how I did the research for my book, The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood. (Click here to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)
By the time I got to Wellington for my first research trip, in late September of 2003, principal photography was over. I didn’t expect that I would get to to on set and see Peter at work. In fact, Peter was in London supervising the editing and musical scoring for the first week and a half of my four-week visit. As I described in the second part of this series, I did get a delightful tour of the Stone Street Studios on my first day of active research. At that point, pickups of some orcs, destined to be inserted via CGI into battle scenes, were being shot against a big green-screen as they fired bows (the arrows to be added via computer). One of the cinematography crew members was directing this action. I was briefly in the studio again later and saw a little more filming of orc pickups. Those were my only on-set experiences.
Continue reading “Researching THE FRODO FRANCHISE: Part 5, Watching Peter Jackson Direct”
Posted in:
Share:
