Peter-Jackson-Doctor-Who

Today, Sir Peter Jackson turned 54 years old! We here at TORN hope he had a most wonderful day and wish him many happy returns. (May the hair on his toes never fall out!)

Thank you, Peter, for all you’ve gifted us with – from the very first online preview for The Lord of the Rings to the Extended Cut of The Battle of the Five Armies. May the coming year, and those after, be most prosperous for you. Continue reading “Happy Birthday Peter Jackson!”

Hobbit Unexpected Journey Movie PosterA reminder that the extended edition of The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey, will be airing tonight across the U.S.. As we reported back in early August, this is the first in a series of live showings of all three extended editions of The Hobbit movies sponsored by Fathom Events and Warner Bros. AUJ will air tonight at 7:30 local time. Many local theaters are carrying it, so if you don’t have tickets, and feel like having a last minute visit with some of your favorite characters such as Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, Saruman, etc., check your local theater!

Also remember that the EE of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will air at the same time and same theaters this Wednesday, October 7th, with the big wrap-up occurring a week from tomorrow, Tuesday, October 13th with the first public showing of the EE of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, with a special introductory message from Peter Jackson.

Those of you lucky enough to see one, or all three, be sure to leave comments below letting us all know how it was!

In our latest Library feature, Katelyn Rushe shares her theory that Smaug doesn’t speak English,  Bilbo gains the ability to speak and understand Dragon when he puts on the One Ring.

Continue reading “How Do You Talk to a Dragon?”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

PJ_NZ_Church
MAARTEN HOLL/ FAIRFAX NZ courtesy of stuff.co.nz

Here’s a nice story from stuff.co.nz: Sir Peter Jackson has come to the rescue of a historic Wellington church. Jackson and wife Fran Walsh have bought St Christopher’s Church in the suburb of Seatoun for $1.06 million in a move that saves the earthquake-prone church and neighbouring hall from potential demolition. The couple made their latest purchase to ensure the buildings would not be lost from the peninsula, trust chairman Richard Stubbs said. According to Stubbs, the community would have faced a huge fundraising effort were it not for Jackson and Walsh stepping in.

“They’ve rescued it. They’ve totally relieved us of that obligation, and that means we can get on and run the facilities … their involvement here is absolutely pivotal. They’ve done this for the people of the peninsula, and indeed for Wellington.”

Read the rest of the article on the stuff.co.nz website here.

BOFTA EE Canadian cover - courtesy of digitalbits.com
BOFTA EE Canadian cover – courtesy of digitalbits.com

Bill Hunt over at Digital Bits.com came out with two updates on The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies yesterday afternoon. The first, which you can read here, is that the street date for the DVD release looks to be Tuesday, November 17th, according to Amazon.ca which, according to Bill, almost always coincides with with Warner Bros. release date. The second update is that the official running time appears to be 164 minutes, which means the EE will be around 20 minutes longer than the theatrical version, not 30 minutes as intimated by Peter Jackson in various news outlets last December.

The shorter running time has been rumored for the last week or so, with the reaction from our Hobbit forum users mostly reflecting disappointment regarding the ‘lost’ 10 minutes.  Of course, there are also the ‘glass half full’ fans that are hoping that quality will beat out quantity in this case. Let us know what your reaction is in the comments, on the forum, or in Barliman’s chatroom. In the mean time, Bill believes an official announcement from Warner Bros should be forthcoming in the next few days.

2012_01_TheHobbitLogoClear your calendars this coming October! Extended editions of all three Hobbit movies are set to show in theaters over three  nights and, of course, you’ll want to see them all! From FarAwayEntertainment.com:

Fathom Events and Warner Bros. are partnering to present the extended editions of all three Hobbit movies. Shown over three nights, the epic Peter Jackson trilogy will be the first time the extended editions have ever been released in theatres. Also included will be an exclusive introduction by director Peter Jackson. First night showing starts Monday, October 5th, 2015 at 7:30pm local. Tickets will be regular admission prices for each movie.

It’s not clear whether the three nights will be consecutive nights, as the AMC Theater website has The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies billed for October 13th. It’s also not clear if other theater chains other than AMC will be carrying the movies. Look for updates here as we get them and if you hear anything from your local theaters, let us know at spymaster@theonering.net.

Update-2 (8/4/15): the Celebration Cinema chain (mid-Michigan) has confirmed that they’ll be participating, but no dates are available yet. We’ve also had confirmation that the AMC 14 in Tustin, CA will be showing all three movies on the following schedule:

The Hobbit: AUJ Extended – Monday, October 5th, 2015 @ 7:30 PM

The Hobbit: DOS Extended – Wednesday, October 7th, 2015 @ 7:30 PM

The Hobbit: BOTFA Extended – Tuesday, October 13th. 2015 @ 7:30 PM

So, it looks like a tentative schedule is starting to materialize: two movies the week of October 5th with the final showing of BOTFA the following week. Exciting news! Thanks to gramma and Ryan for the updates! We’ll continue to report updates here as we get them.