One of the awesome Weta pieces from Comic-Con 2015 is now available to order. If you enjoyed the look Azog took in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, or if you’re like me and just want more Azog, then this item is something you and I will both be adding to our collections. Azog: Commander of Legions is now up for Pre-order. The statue captures Azog with all his really cool armor and that new sword he implanted in his arm after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The new Azog statue has an edition size of just 1000 pieces world-wide, and given the success of the first Azog statue I wouldn’t wait to order this one. The price tag is $349 and will be shipping in the first quarter of next year.
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There’s been a storm raging today over comments director Peter Jackson made about the process of filming The Hobbit trilogy. Staffer greendragon reflects on the debate which has been unleashed…
With the release this week of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition on Blu-ray and DVD, folks have been sitting down to watch the many hours of extras provided in the included ‘Appendices’ footage. Starting with an article on The Guardian newspaper’s website, one particular part of Peter Jackson’s comments (in ‘The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm’) on the making of The Hobbit trilogy has gone viral online, unleashing much debate among fans who love or hate the movies.
Continue reading “Peter Jackson’s comments provoke a ‘Gathering Storm’ in a teacup…”
For fans who have been waiting to get their hands on actual disks before watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition, today is the day when releases begin! The Blu-ray and DVD sets are available today in America, Nov 18th in New Zealand (so almost today already in NZ!), and across Europe and the rest of the world in the coming days. (Read our International Shopping Guide for further details.)
This is the Home Entertainment release which completes the set for all fans of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies. Many have written how the extra footage in the extended cut makes this the version of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies that they wanted to see. (You can read some staffers’ thoughts here.) Others have commented that they had hoped for the full extra 30 minutes Peter Jackson had said would be in this cut, not just the 20 minutes we got. There are certainly more scenes I had hoped to see – but that is where the Appendices come in…
At last we have parts Eleven and Twelve of The Appendices; parts One and Two came out with the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, so this has been a long time coming! It’s great – if sad – to see the end of this journey. The tales from the set, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and memories from cast and crew are wonderful, and give us some insight into moments we perhaps wish had made it into a cut of the movie. Have tissues ready for the filmmakers’ ’emotional farewell to Middle-earth’!
There are over NINE hours of bonus features included in this Home Entertainment release, so it really is an essential part of your The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie collection. In the 2D version, the disc with the film also includes Part 3 of ‘New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth’; Disc 2 contains The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm, The Chronicles of The Hobbit – Part 3; and Disc 3 is The Appendices Part 12: Here at Journey’s End. There is also audio commentary on the film, with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens; I haven’t had a chance to watch with the commentary yet, but I’m sure it’s fascinating. I’d still like, at some point, to have some commentary from the cast – maybe that will come with the ‘super mega all-six-films’ box set….? (For the completists amongst us, you can already purchase the Extended Edition Box Set, also available today.)
Whether you prefer the Theatrical or Extended cuts of these films (and I think most of us come down on the side of the Extended Editions), it is really the bonus features which make this Home Entertainment release a ‘must have’. If you are patient enough to wait, maybe it’s one for your Holiday Gift wish list? (Look out for TORn’s Holiday Gift Guide, coming soon!)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to watching those nine hours of extras….
Click here to purchase The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition (BD) [Blu-ray]
In celebration of the release today of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition Blu-ray and DVD, we have another EXCLUSIVE clip to share with you! From the behind the scenes footage in the Bonus Features, this gives us a little more insight into dwarven armour. (Cosplayers, who will be the first to make Thorin’s unseen ‘Ram’s head’ armour??)
Thanks to Warner Bros. for sharing this with us!
Shaun Gunner, Chairman of the Tolkien Society has let us know that they’re currently offering this must have addition to our Tolkien bookshelves for the wonderful price of just £10. So, if you’re looking for something extra special for the Tolkien fan in your life, or for yourself, grab yourself a copy of “Celebrating 50 years of The Lord of the Rings“.
Today sees the release of an exciting new publication from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It’s a beautiful book of Tolkien’s art: The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien, with text by well-known scholars Wayne G Hammond and Christina Scull.
All of the art in this amazing book is by Tolkien himself, and more than half of it has never been published before. Included are maps, inscriptions, plans and sketches, all printed in colour. Through rough drafts and early ‘jottings’, we see the development of designs such as the inscription on Balin’s tomb, and the wonderful Doors of Durin. It is fascinating to see, for example, an early idea for Dunharrow become a beautiful ‘finished’ illustration – on the back of which, as his ideas changed yet again, Tolkien wrote, ‘no longer fits story’.
There is so much to see and learn in this edition – it is crammed with riches! At the very end of the book, for instance, is an Air Raid Warden’s Report Form, on which Tolkien has sketched some kind of contour. It wasn’t only exam papers which the Professor used for notes and ideas!
This gorgeous publication, filled with details and insights, is a must for any Tolkien collection. It is available for purchase online; but thanks to our friends at HMH, you can WIN a copy! The publishers are giving one lucky winner a copy of the book, and a mug which reads ‘Second Breakfast is the Best Breakfast’. Just click here to enter.
(Sorry, everyone outside the US – this competition is for US mailing addresses only. You must be 18 or older to enter.)
Click here to enter to win The Art of the Lord of the Rings.
Click here to purchase your copy!