Australian independent news outlet Crikey reports on The Hobbit premiere and explores the rocky road to making the movie happen: Blockbuster movie premieres don’t get any bigger than the opening of Peter Jackson’s first Hobbit movie. But the road to get here has been anything but smooth.

On a bright and sunny day in Wellington, a giant billboard moves across the blue sky, flying as low as 300 metres above the ground. Continue reading “The Hobbit lands with baggage”

Hobbit cast and crew have been arriving in Tokyo for the Japan premiere of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” According to Warner Bros., the premiere in Japan will be attended by Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Richard Armitage (Thorin), Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond). The premiere is being held at the TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills and will be preceded by a red carpet event similar to the one held as part of the world premiere this week in Wellington, NZ. Live streaming will be available here.

Update: see video of the pre-movie speeches here!

Smaug Destroy Lake Town – John Howe

In the third installment of their ComicCon interview with Peter Jackson Hero Complex/L.A. Times reveals tidbits of PJs comments about Smaug. “The trouble with redesigning dragons I’ve found is… you very quickly can go into science fiction territory, and I don’t want to do that,” the filmmaker said. “I want to present the most venal, scary, decrepit, nasty dragon I possibly can.” In the interview, PJ also confirms a ‘small cameo’ by the dragon in the first film. Could this be the same Smaug sighting by many of our readers in a new TV spot reported here? The linked article includes a 5 minute video of the interview. Check it out here…

Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report will present four nights of Hobbit-themed programming (Dec. 3 to Dec. 6), pegged to the Dec. 14 release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, EW has learned. Guests will include stars Ian McKellan (Dec. 3), Martin Freeman (Dec. 4) and Andy Serkis (Dec. 6), along with director Peter Jackson (Dec. 5). Said Colbert in a statement: “Elen sila lumennomentielvo*… I mean that sincerely.” For those of you who aren’t quite fluent in Elvish, that means, “a star shines on the hour of our meeting.” Read more…


Here’s a few clips and vids of interviews from The Hobbit red carpet in Wellington that have popped up on Youtube so far.

First up, the NOWLive stream has now switched to a short, 60-second highlights loop of the red carpet event. Neat.

Next head to TVNZ where you can check out a bunch of red carpet highlights and interviews, including Peter Jackson’s speech in front of the Embassy Theatre.

Then check out these Youtube clips form the red carpet below!

Peter Jackson’s speech

Hobbit stars arrive for premiere

Hobbit world premiere: Freeman, Jackson and Wood

Hobbit world premiere: Aidan Turner and Dean O’Gorman