Moments ago, the new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug went live on the internet.
The details? No full shot of Smaug, but a lot of glimpes! And a hint of Bilbo riddling with the dragon. “Smaug the Stupendous!” No Beorn in human form, but was that him as a bear? We also have Bard, The Eye of Sauron and an army of orcs!
Thranduil offering help to the Thorin and company, and telling Tauriel not to encourage the affections of Legolas. Gosh, won’t that cause a stir?
“We have been blind and in our blindness our Enemy has returned.” Gandalf the Grey.
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!!
What a busy man Andy Serkis is! His new film studio, The Imaginarium, specializes in Performance Capture Technology, and they have all kinds of projects on the go. Recently, Serkis and his team at The Imaginarium bought the film rights to a new book called The Bone Season. On Monday, TheOneRing.net will be bringing you an exclusive interview with Serkis, where he tells us more about this book, his interest in bringing it to the big screen, what else he’s working on, and how Gollum remains a part of his life. He’ll even have something to say on the question of whether or not we might get another glimpse of our favourite performance capture character, before The Hobbit movies are over…
TORn staffer greendragon (’tis I!) had the good fortune to read a preview copy of The Bone Season this summer. It’s a real page turner. Author Samantha Shannon has created a detailed, complex world, which offers enough depth and richness that there will be plenty to explore in future books; this first novel is the beginning of a planned series. Even the minor flaws I found in the writing style didn’t stop it being impossible for me to put the book down – if the secret of a good story is keeping you wanting to know what happens next, then Shannon has certainly cracked that! Set on earth – but an earth of the future, run by a race quite different from humans – The Bone Season is a tale of action, fantasy, suspense, intrigue and yes, even romance. If you’re looking for the next series in which to lose yourself, this is definitely one to try; I suspect it will be the next big literary hit.
You can order a copy of The Bone Season by clicking here. Don’t forget to check back at TORn on Monday 30th, for our exclusive Q&A with Andy Serkis!
TORn’s LA staffers hosted their 11th annual Baggins Birthday Bash today in Griffith Park. We’ve always held it here, but have been a couple different positions over the years. Today, we moved over to the Mineral Wells area, past the Harding Golf Course, and it finally afforded us some much needed room, since the party has been expanding the past couple of years. There must have been close to 150 folks eating, drinking and having a Tolkien Good Time.
The design motif this year was definitely Dragons and Spiders, we had spiders all over the cake and cupcakes, they were on every table, in the trees and all over the food tent. But there were also dragons, also on the tables and in the trees, but it was Smaug sitting on his pile of gold that got the most attention. You may not be able to notice it, but there are some jewels under his belly in this image, look closely and maybe you will see them. Nothing remains of Smaug, he was desolated when one child ate his head and another ate one of his wings. Someone else asked for a foot, no word on what happened to the tail. There was plenty of Dragon Gold to go around as well, thanks to Wonderland Bakery and their amazing cake designers.
Many games were played, including everyone’s favorite Hobbit game, Golfimbul. Prizes of Hats, Bags and Shirts were given out to winners of Golfimbul, both in the Adult and Youth divisions. There was also a very interactive Trivia game contest, two rounds, to determine who knew their Hobbit material best. There are only a few images here, check out the facebook page to find the Baggins Birthday Bash photo album to see the rest. In the crowd, you will notice many Hobbits, Elves, Dwarf women and Gandalf, among other Middle-earth notables.
Yes, we will be hosting this party again next year, so if you find yourself in Los Angeles the weekend of Sept. 20/21, look for the Party Sign and party like a Hobbit, or Dwarf, or Elf, or even a Wizard or two.
As we celebrate September 22 and the birthdays of two of our favourite hobbits, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, we are joining with our friends over at WaterTower Music to give away some special little mathoms – 5 digital copies of Howard Shore’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Original Soundtrack.
All you have to do is email earl@theonering.net with the subject “Hobbit Day” before midnight EST on September 22.
As the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Extended Edition format approaches, Empire Magazine examines whether studios are giving the format their full support. Perhaps what’s on offer in the AUJ EE works as a counter-example against Empire’s critique? Tell us your thoughts!
Moments ago, the new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug went live on the internet. 
As the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Extended Edition format approaches, Empire Magazine examines whether studios are giving the format their full support. Perhaps what’s on offer in the AUJ EE works as a counter-example against Empire’s critique? Tell us your thoughts!