Council-of-Elrond

Peter Jackson to reveal peek at second Hobbit film
Mar 08, 2013 - 5:12 PM - by Bambi
Sir Peter Jackson has revealed he will live-host a first look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second film in The Hobbit Trilogy, on March 25. The news comes as details are revealed of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey's foray onto the small screen. The film, which has already netted over $1 billion in worldwide box office , will be released on DVD and Blu Ray on May 1 in New Zealand, with over 2 hours of production diaries from Sir Peter and the team at Weta. It is believed the sneak peek of the second film will last somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes - but details are yet to be confirmed. There is no word yet on whether an extended version of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released - but Sir Peter has already hinted there was one in the works at the Wellington premiere of the film last year.
2 Replies \| 541 Views

The Hobbit: There and Back Again Moves to December 2014
Feb 28, 2013 - 9:25 PM - by Bambi
Originally planned for release on July 18, 2014, New Line Cinema and MGM have moved the theatrical release of The Hobbit: There and Back Again to December 17, 2014. The new date allows for the trilogy to maintain its consistent December releases and puts it away from Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past in July. December 17 has The Hobbit: There and Back Again arriving just two days before Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me spinoff, Minions and Brad Bird's mysterious Tomorrowland.
2 Replies \| 539 Views

Weta’s FX reel shows why working on The Hobbit made Ian McKellen cry

Feb 15, 2013 - 11:18 PM - by Bambi

From io9.com:

Quote:

Months before The Hobbit premiered, Sir Ian McKellen revealed an exceptionally personal (and completely understandable) moment about how working tirelessly for hours talking to imaginary beings in greenscreen can wear an actor down.

In an interview with Contact Music, Gandalf explained how working in this environment eventually brought him to tears

Quote:

"In order to shoot the dwarves and a large Gandalf, we couldn't be in the same set. All I had for company was 13 photographs of the dwarves on top of stands with little lights – whoever's talking flashes up. Pretending you're with 13 other people when you're on your own, it stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits. I cried, actually. I cried. Then I said out loud, ‘This is not why I became an actor'. Unfortunately the microphone was on and the whole studio heard."

We never fully understood the magnitude of what McKellen was truly talking about until this amazing FX reel from Weta was released. The video is bananas; the people at Weta are absolute wizards and should win every award for creating such a lush world out of nothing. However, watching McKellen talk to a green set of nothingness during one of the more human moments of the movie is downright creepy. We totally get it now, Sir. How could you not lose your mind? it's eerie! And yet, we never suspected a thing in the final cut.

2 Replies | 638 Views

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug To Reveal First Footage In March Livestream Event
Feb 06, 2013 - 12:47 AM - by Bambi
The Blu-ray release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won't just be a chance to see many, many hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the production of the massive movie. It will also be your first look at the next installment of the trilogy. Announcing the March 12 arrival of The Hobbit on Digital Download, plus a Blu-ray and DVD release a week later, Warner Bros. revealed that Peter Jackson will be hosting a live event first fans to get a first look at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. To participate in the event, happening on Sunday, March 24 at 3 pm EST, you'll need the UltraViolet code that comes with the purchase of a 3D Blu-ray or regular Blu-ray or DVD. There will also be an edited version of the footage archived on the site for fans to access, but it's unclear if the preview will ever be released to general audiences. The website thehobbit.com/sneak is supposed to provide more info. source: cinemablend.com
0 Replies \| 624 Views

Middle-earth theme park?

Feb 02, 2013 - 4:24 PM - by Bambi

According to TORN via tolkienbrasil.com

Quote:

minas_4110037Our sister site tolkienbrasil.com has posted and sent word of some very interesting verification that there is at least a possibility of a J.R.R. Tolkien inspired Middle-earth theme park. In records obtained by the website from the U.S. Patent office, the Saul Zaents Company, has registered in a goods and services document, several uses for Middle-earth properties that includes theme parks. When rumors of this first surfaced there was no credible source, or even really any source, that this was being explored. It didn’t even rise to the level of a rumor but now, those floating ideas are officially documented.

The Zaents Company owns Middle-earth Enterprises and that company gives Warner Bros. and other studios the right to produce Hobbit films and all that springs from them. The author, Tolkien sold his movie rights before his death to pay for medical expenses.

Middle-earth

The document, dated January 22, 2013, could be the company simply protecting its rights to develop a theme park in response to the message board rumors late last year or it could be actively considering such a development as a real possibility. It isn’t clear if this park would be in New Zealand or in one of the established theme-park regions of the U.S., such as Flordia or California, or perhaps both. Warners recently had a successful port of its Harry Potter movie franchise to a well-received theme park experience. The possibilities of what to do with such a park, is a nearly limitless source of message board content.

Read the original article, including the report from tolkienbrasil here.

Attached Files

Middle-earth.jpg (51.1 KB, 1 views)

3 Replies | 594 Views

Side effects of Oscar changes

Jan 31, 2013 - 4:22 PM - by Bambi

The Hobbit almost missed it's special effects nomination.

Quote:

The late-year steering committee meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science's visual effects branch is always a long night. This past November, though, things got heated as well.

The accelerated Oscar nominations calendar put the vfx selection process under new pressures, and that led to an unprecedented compromise: One film was voted into the bakeoff even though most of the committee had not seen it.

By design, the bakeoff selection process isn't transparent. What happens in the committee stays in the committee. This time, though, there were leaks. I spoke to four members of the vfx branch. Two asked not to be identified or quoted in this article, but all agreed on the essential story. The process didn't work as intended, and the Academy was arguably lucky that the nominations worked out as well as they have.

A little background: The 40-member committee meets to choose the pics that compete in the Oscar vfx bakeoff. At one time, there were so few vfx contenders it was easy for all the steering committee members to see all of them. As vfx became more ubiquitous, the Acad added a step, announcing a "long list" of 20 pictures the committee needed to see before the meeting.

Visual effects steering committee chair Craig Barron explains, "The reason it's a big committee is we want to know what's going on. We want people to say 'Hey, this film is good, we need to see this.' " They try to cast a wide net. Even so, vfx insiders have long whispered that the single biggest factor in the bakeoff selection is who's on the committee, and therefore which vfx studios have reps in the room to argue their case.

This cycle, with the accelerated calendar, there was no time for the long list. The steering committee met early, on Nov. 28. Christmas is traditionally a date for vfx tentpoles, but the committee couldn't wait because the bakeoff, too, had been moved up by weeks, to Jan. 3. The bakeoff pics had to be announced to give time for reels to be assembled.

Just one problem: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," was a month from opening and just beginning to screen. The committee would have to vote on whether to include the movie in the bakeoff sight unseen.

That didn't sit well with some members. "What are we voting on? A trailer?," pleaded one. The meeting got quite emotional, by more than one account.

Barron told Variety "Ideally we'd want to see the film. But it was pretty obvious this was going to be a major film and it should be on our list, that's a no-brainer."

Still, said committee member Jonathan

... [Read More]

0 Replies | 599 Views

The first ever Oxford Tolkien Spring School will be held in March 2013
Jan 25, 2013 - 12:23 PM - by Bambi
Organised by the Faculty of English Language and Literature where J R R Tolkien taught for most of his career, the spring school is aimed at those who have read some of Tolkien’s fiction and wish to learn more. 'Many people will have read novels such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, or seen the filmed adaptations, but have had little opportunity to take this further,' says Dr Stuart Lee of the English Faculty, who is organising the school. 'At the spring school, world-leading Tolkien scholars will talk about Tolkien’s life, his work as an academic, his mythology, the influences of medieval literature on his fiction, his languages, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and his other lesser known works. 'There will also be panel discussions on Tolkien and opportunities to see some of the University’s Tolkien collections.' During the school Dr Lee will lecture on The Hobbit, with some thoughts on the film. Even the social part of the school will be Tolkien-themed, as an evening is planned in the Eagle and Child, the pub where Tolkien and the Inklings used to meet. The school will be held from 21 March to 23 March and is open to members of the public, aimed at those who have read some of Tolkien’s fiction but wish to develop a deeper critical appreciation of his mythology. Timetable Thursday 21st March 1.00-2.00 - Registration, tea/coffee 2.00-2.15 - Welcome 2.15-3.15 - 'Tolkien's Life', John Garth 3.15-3.45 - Tea/coffee 3.45-4.15 - 'Tolkien the Academic', Thomas Honegger 4.15-5.15 - 'Tolkien and Word-play', Edmund Weiner Close Informal Evening meet-up in 'The Eagle and Child' public house [frequented by the Inklings.] Friday 22nd March 9.00 - Tea/coffee 9.15 - 10.15 - 'An Introduction to Tolkien's Mythology', Carl Phelpstead 10.15 - 11.15 - 'The Hobbit', Stuart Lee 11.15 –11.45 - Tea/Coffee 11.45 - 12.45 - 'The Lord of the Rings', Anna Caughey 12.45 - 2.00 - Lunch 2.00 - 3.00 - 'Medieval Influences on Tolkien’s Fiction (Old English)', Mark Atherton 3.00 - 3.15 - 'A Tour of Tolkien's Oxford', Maria Artamonova 3.15 - 3.30 - 'Tolkien's Manuscripts', Stuart Lee [Both talks will be basic introductions with handouts. Delegates will then be able to tour Oxford seeing some of the major sites related to Tolkien, and also see a small exhibition of Tolkien's manuscripts specially displayed at the Bodleian Library for the day.] Evening - Banquet, Balliol College Saturday... [Read More]
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McKellen and Stewart Will Bring Pinter and Beckett to Broadway in the Fall
Jan 24, 2013 - 4:23 PM - by Bambi
The theater and film stars Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, known for their chemistry in the “X-Men” films as friends-turned-foes Magneto and Professor Xavier, will return to Broadway together in the fall for an unusual two-play repertory of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” the producers announced on Thursday. Directed by a fellow Englishman, Sean Mathias, the two plays – both bleakly funny existential classics by Nobel Prize-wining writers — will run in rotation, sometimes on adjacent nights and possibly on the same days as matinee and evening performances. Such repertory schedules are fairly common in British theater but rare on Broadway; the three-play cycle of “The Norman Conquests” played in repertory in 2009 and the three parts of “Coast of Utopia” ran during the 2006-07 season, but those productions mostly featured actors sticking to the same roles. By contrast, Mr. Stewart will play Vladimir in “Godot” and Hirst in “No Man’s Land” while Mr. McKellen will play opposite him as Estragon in “Godot” and Spooner in “No Man’s Land.” Additional casting for the plays will be announced later, as will the performance dates and theater. The plays will be produced by Stuart Thompson (the current Broadway revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) and NOMANGO Productions, a consortium of British and American investors assembled for these plays. More here
2 Replies \| 509 Views

Iconic building that fed young Tolkien's imagination to be restored
Jan 23, 2013 - 10:39 PM - by Bambi
A seven-storey tower that is thought to have inspired the writer JRR Tolkien is to be restored and opened to the public - if enough funds can be found. It is believed that Perrott's Folly Tower in Edgbaston, Birmingham fed The Hobbit author's imagination when he lived nearby it as a child. Trident Reach the People Charity, which manages the imposing landmark, needs to raise £1 million to restore it to its former glory. Tolkien grew up in Birmingham and drew inspiration for his novels from local landmarks, including Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog. He lived in Stirling Road as a young boy and would have passed Perrott’s Folly and the neighbouring Edgbaston Waterworks tower on his way to and from school. It is believed these two structures made such an impression on the young Tolkien that they inspired the book 'The Two Towers' - the second part of his world-famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. Trident hopes to eventually open the 18th Century building - which has been closed for 20 years - permanently and use it as a centre for young artists and art exhibitions. The 96ft tower, one of Birmingham's oldest architectural features, has a spiral staircase of 139 stone steps that links each of its seven rooms. The homelessness charity - which provides accommodation and support services for vulnerable young people - has now started the restoration campaign by installing an 'artist in residence’ Lizzy Jordan in the building. She is planning a series of community art projects over the next year to raise awareness for the cause. The dilapidated tower is a Grade II listed building and is on the national Buildings at Risk register. Trident's Benjamin Bradley, said: "Perrott’s Folly is an awe-inspiring structure which towers over the nearby suburbs. "It is steeped in history and, as a model for the Twin Towers, is believed to be a key inspiration behind The Lord of the Rings – one of the best-loved stories of all time and a fantasy which has gripped the imagination of millions of people worldwide. "Such an impressive landmark should be brought back into use for the community to safeguard its future and to allow the public – including Lord of the Rings fans – to enjoy it for many years to come." More
0 Replies \| 478 Views

News Archive
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