The DVD-Blu-day release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on March 19 heralds our chance to get a “first look” at the second installment of the movie trilogy The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Peter Jackson will live-host the sneak peek, which will stream over the internet on March 24 at 3pm EDT.
TVNZ reports that it is believed the sneak peek of the second film will last somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes — but details are yet to be confirmed.
TVNZ says that there is no final word on whether an extended version of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released — but Jackson hinted one was in the works at the Wellington premiere of the film last year.
Bootnote: Somewhat bizarrely, New Zealand Hobbit fans apparently have to wait until May 1 to purchase their copy, while it’s available in the UK from 8 April 2013.
There are several different versions available, all offering different goodies and extras. We recommend this excellent guide by TORn staffer MrCere and Ringer TheHutt if you want to compare the various versions and sets side-by-side.
Over on The Hobbit UK, the cast and crew of The Hobbit have been answering fan questions for the last week or so. So far, Peter Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Jed Brophy, James Nesbitt and John Callen have all answered questions about things as varied as their favourite moment on set, what they’d say to Tolkien if they could have met him while he was alive, and the difficulties of speaking elvish. Continue reading “Hobbit cast and crew answer fan questions”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” became the 15th movie ever to pass the $1 billion mark in international tickets, pushed past the milestone by totals from China, the film’s last major market, where it opened 10 days ago. $301 million of that total is from U.S. ticket sales with the other $700 million coming from the rest of the world.
The studios behind the film (Warner Bros., New Line, MGM) issued a press release to make the announcement.
Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution said in the release, “We could not be more proud to have reached this amazing benchmark. Together with our partners at MGM and New Line, everyone at Warner Bros. congratulates Peter Jackson and his entire cast and crew on the extraordinary success of this film.”
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures said, “From Berlin to Beijing, it is so gratifying to see how the release of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ has been such an event with audiences around the world. We know that moviegoers everywhere are already excited about the next film, as are we.”
The 14th film to do so pass the $1 billion mark was 2012’s “Skyfall,” a James Bond film. Ironically, the two films were the highest profile casualties of studio MGM’s debt crisis. The financial trouble of the studio, which has distribution rights to the Hobbit films and is home of the James Bond franchise, pushed both movies back. “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” were also released in 2012 and are in the select box office club as well. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” is another one of the films.
TheOneRing.net wrote on January 4 that the reports of the film’s financial disappointment were premature and wrong.
Next to the U.S., the top markets are Germany with $90 million, the U.K. with $84.3 million, France at $44.9 million, Australia’s $44.3 million and Russia’s $43.8 million. China with $37.3 million in 10 day has a chance to move past several of those films.
The next film in the series, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” is scheduled for release Dec. 13 and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” has recently been moved to Dec. 17, 2014. TheOneRing will have grass roots line party events for both films around the globe and hopefully Oscar night parties in Los Angeles for both as well.
The New Zealand Government has released a tranche of email exchanges between Sir Peter Jackson and ministerial officials, which lay bare his frustration over the deal eventually done to ensure The Hobbit was made here.
Earlier this month the Ombudsman ordered the Government to release documents about the deal it struck for the movies. Warner Bros’ New Line unit warned that the ruling jeopardised future film-making in New Zealand.
In a statement Jackson today said he welcomed the release of the documents, which he hoped would end “unfounded conspiracy theories” that a Hollywood studio had been dictating terms to a sovereign government.
Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is leading this years Saturn Awards with nine nominations announced overnight. Nominees include Peter Jackson up for Best Director, Martin Freeman for Best Actor and Ian Mckellen for Best Supporting Actor.
Complete list of nominees:
Best fantasy film:
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LIFE OF PI
RUBY SPARKS
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
TED
Best actor:
CHRISTIAN BALE, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DANIEL CRAIG, SKYFALL MARTIN FREEMAN, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
HUGH JACKMAN, LES MISERABLES
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, LOOPER
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, KILLER JOE
Best supporting actor:
JAVIER BARDEM, SKYFALL
MICHAEL FASSBENDER, PROMETHEUS
CLARK GREGG, THE AVENGERS
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES SIR IAN MCKELLEN, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Best Director:
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, KILLER JOE PETER JACKSON, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
RIAN JOHNSON, LOOPER
ANG LEE, LIFE OF PI
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
JOSS WHEDON, THE AVENGERS
Best Production Design:
CLOUD ATLAS
ANNA KARENINA
LIFE OF PI
DARK SHADOWS THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISERABLES
Best Music:
LIFE OF PI
FRANKENWEENIE
ANNA KARENINA
SKYFALL THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Best Costume Design:
ANNA KARENINA
CLOUD ATLAS
DJANGO UNCHAINED THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISERABLES
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Best Makeup:
CLOUD ATLAS
HITCHCOCK THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
THE IMPOSSIBLE
SKYFALL
TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2
Best Visual Effects:
THE AVENGERS
BATTLESHIP THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
JOHN CARTER
LIFE OF PI
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
The Saturn Awards, is compiled by officials from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, winners will be announced at a Hollywood ceremony in June (13).
Once again it has been a long time since I posted in this series, but what with the run-up to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure and the reaction to it, TheOneRing.net has been a busy place, and now we’re coming up on The One Expected Party on Oscar night! But I’ll delay no longer.
In the first entry I recalled getting the permission to interview the filmmakers and going down to start my work, back in September-October of 2003. The second one dealt with my first interview and tours of the Three Foot Six office building and the Stone Street Studios. Now, more of the facilities I visited.
The Film Unit
My third full day in Wellington was Wednesday, October 1. Melissa Booth called and said I could come to the new Film Unit building to meet Barrie Osborne. He, as I cannot stress often enough, was the one responsible for getting me New Line’s permission to interview the filmmakers for my book. This meeting, though, wouldn’t be for an interview. (I interviewed Barrie twice for the book, first a couple of weeks later and again during my third Wellington visit in December, 2004.) He was driving out to the old Film Unit facility that afternoon to give the people working there, sound mixers, editors, and other post-production crew members, a pep talk.
As most readers know, the race to finish The Return of the King was on by that point, and a lot of people were working long hours. I was told that Barrie often gave these pep talks, and the filmmakers really appreciated them; it was part of what gave the production that feeling of being one big family. I could at least introduce myself to Barrie and ride with him to the Film Unit; the half-hour drives there and back would allow us time to talk about my project. Continue reading “Researching The Frodo Franchise: Part 3, Places Full of Magic”
The DVD-Blu-day release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on March 19 heralds our chance to get a “first look” at the second installment of the movie trilogy The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Peter Jackson will live-host the sneak peek, which will stream over the internet on March 24 at 3pm EDT.
Over on 
