Spanish Tolkien website El Anillo Único is reporting that a teaser for The Desolation of Smaug will begin showing in theatres in Spain from January 4.
UPDATE: A few readers have informed us that December 28 is a traditional day of pranks (Called inocentadas) and jests in Spain in a similar way to April Fool’s Day. So best to take a huge grain of salt with this one. Well, that’s a bit of a pity.
Boxoffice.com reports that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey recorded the best-ever box office figures for a Wednesday that wasn’t a holiday. According to the site, The Hobbit pulled in $643,000 (Boxoffice fails to specify, but I’m assuming this is USD) around New Zealand. Overall, in the 16 countries it has so far opened in, it has grossed $11.2 million, including $4.3 million across Scandanavia, $2.4 million from France and $2 million in Germany.
The film will open in 55 countries this weekend on approximately 17,000 screens, including 4,045 in the USA. Thanks to Ringer Selfish Narwal for the heads-up.
The unexpected journey begins this December. An anonymous source earlier claimed that The Hobbit faced release delays in some territories. The production team at Wingnut informs us this is not true. They tells us categorically that:
“All is on time and the release has NEVER been at risk of delay.”
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.
Jonathan Handel, a contributing editor for The Hollywood Reporter, covered that tense period during the late summer and early autumn of 2010, when it looked as though the Hobbit production might leave New Zealand. Readers will no doubt remember the labor union issues that raised that threat and the negotiations between Warner Bros. executives and the New Zealand government. Handel has revised and updated his reports into a short book, The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis, available in print form and for Kindle. If you weren’t paying much attention at the time or just have forgotten some of the details, now you can read about that episode secure in the knowledge that The Hobbit‘s production remained in New Zealand!
NWF is teaming up with Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) for the Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the first in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. “As the education partner for the film, we hope the popularity of the books and its themes of courage and nature’s beauty will inspire moviegoers and Tolkien fans to do something to make our Earth a greener place.” So, far, the collaboration includes an official NWF movie poster you can download, and suggestions for outdoor activities and ‘greening’ your own Shire. Read More…
Spanish Tolkien website El Anillo Único is reporting that a teaser for The Desolation of Smaug will begin showing in theatres in Spain from January 4. 
