Third Hobbit Film Gets Title, Release Date

Warner Bros and New Line of have announced the new title and release date for the third The Hobbit film. As expected, the last film in the trilogy will keep the "There and Back Again" subtitle with a July 18, 2014 release date. The second film will now be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Other possible sub-titles had been Riddles in the Dark and Battle of Five Armies but neither title fit where the likely breaks will occur for each film. This does indicate that much of the second film will focus on the journey to Smaug's cave and the fight with Laketown. The third film will go from those events to build up and then depict The Battle of Five Armies which was completely skipped over in the novel as Bilbo was knocked out at the time.

The Hobbit Trilogy - Release Date
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - December 14, 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - December 13, 2013
The Hobbit: There and Back Again - July 18, 2014

First Look at King Thranduil

NZ Noldor Blog discovered the first look at King Thranduil, the father of Legolas. The image (left) is from the upcoming HarperCollins the kids activity book "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Almanac 2013". The character is played by Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) is also called the Elvenking in The Hobbit novel who commands the elves of Mirkwood. In the novel he was involved with the capture of Bilbo and the Dwarves and leads the elf army in the Battle of Five Armies over the Erebor treasure that Smaug the Dragon hoarding.

Del Toro DNA Still Part of The Hobbit, New Thorin Pic

At one point Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy) was set to direct The Hobbit (now trilogy) with Peter Jackson as executive producer. He participated through most of pre-production of the movie but had to leave due to other obligations when it became clear that the film would probably be about a year late in starting due to then MGM's bankruptcy (WB more or less has taken over financing the films). Based on comments from Jackson, that design athestic informed Peter's take but he did make many alternations to fit his vision. Quote below, video here. Also here is a new image of Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield sporting the elvish sword Orcrist aka "Goblin Cleaver" that Bilbo helps find on their adventure. Goblin and Orc mean the same thing in Middle-Earth.

[Guillermo] had designed a lot of the movie . . . I looked at his designs when he took over and a lot of his designs are very Guillermo . . . it was very much stuff that you would recognize from Pan's Labyrinth or Hellboy. It was his artistic vision and I couldn't make that movie. I looked at his designs and I said the only person who can make a Guillermo Del Toro movie is Guillermo. It shouldn't be me. I can't put my head into somebody else's idea — I have to generate it from the beginning. So really I redesigned the film pretty much. Some of Guillermo's DNA is in there — there were some things he did that I thought were pretty cool and I've taken bits of pieces of his stuff — kind of altering it and changing it as I saw it. But the film was largely redesigned.

Lego Rivendell Diorama

While Lego may have introduced their own The Lord of the Rings lego sets, none is likely to come close to what Lego master builders can come up with. The latest example is from Blake Baer and Jack Bittner who created The Lord of the Rings' Rivendell completely from Lego. What is the amazing is the mix of colors to create this level detail in the "rock" and buildings along with all the "plants" to add additional level of detail. Video tour below, full gallery can be found here.

(via Brothers Brick)

New Zealand's New Middle-Earth Tourist Campaign

New Zealand Tourism is getting ready to launch a new campaign to promote the country as a tourist destination using The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the standing Hobbiton set as its centerpiece complete with slogan "100% Middle-earth 100% Pure New Zealand." The slogan reflects that ultimately all six films will have been filmed in New Zealand as the many locations of Middle-Earth. (via TOR)

No Extra Charge for The Hobbit At 48FPS Screening

While Peter Jackson would probably prefer as many theaters as possible screen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at 48 frames per second (FPS), Warner Bros indicated a few weeks ago only a few locations would actually screen the movie at the frame speed. Most of the likely 3000 screens in the US will have it in traditional 24fps speed. However, if you are in that rare (unannounced) location that gives you a chance to watch it at 48FPS, you now have an extra incentive to give it a try as theaters have agreed to not charge extra for the format. At least for this movie. I am sure they reserve the right to add a surcharge to the sequel if the new format proves popular.

Radagast the Brown Full Costume Revealed

A new The Hobbit Calendar has provided the first clear look at the character of Radagast the Brown as played by Sylvester McCoy. There have been the occasional blurred image but this is the first solid look of the actor in full makeup. The image was posted by ThorinOakenshield.net along with other images from the calendar.

Radagast is a wizard that is part of the White Council that is charged with stopping Sauron *Necromancer). The character does not exist in The Hobbit book and played an unintentional minor part Gandalf's misadventures with Sarumon in LOTR. His part so minor that it was completely removed from the trilogy without disrupting the story a bit. His role in the Jackson version of the book remains a mystery. (via TOR)

Smaug 1st Appearance Hint?

One of the things that is interesting about writing about something like The Hobbit films compared to Transformers or Star Trek is the characters, plot and events are known. Technically there can't be any spoilers because all you have to do is pick up the books or hit up a wiki link to find out for yourself what happened. As a result the question for fans is more about the execution. How will favorite moments be portrayed on film? What changes will be made? What will be added and cut? Things like that. It reminds you that the journey a story take is just as important as knowing the specific “spoiler” details. The details don’t matter without the journey and the journey doesn’t matter without the details.

With the announcement of a third film, one of the new questions is exactly where will Peter Jackson choose to break up the films and introduce Smaug the Dragon played by Benedict Cumberbatch. In a recent interview he provided his own theory on how The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey may end that actually makes a lot of sense.

I think my eye might open at the end of the first film and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second.

If true it almost means that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug would be a fitting title for the second film as it would likely focus on events from Laketown to the final fight with Smaug. Almost wish they would just go with The Hobbit (for part one), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (for part two) and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (for part three). I guess we will find out in a little less than four months.

The Hobbit Score Recording Begins

There are many things that made The Lord of the Rings trilogy a true classic of cinema. One of them is the brilliant and beautiful score of Howard Shore. His work on the film is that rare cinema score that sounds just as good playing solo as it does when part of the film. Doug Adams, author of The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films (and future book The Music of The Hobbit Films), has posted on his blog that Howard Shore and the London Symphony officially start recording the score for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. His full post can be found here, main part below.

This post is going online on Monday, August 20, 2012. Why? Because today marks the official start of The Hobbit recording sessions in London. Today the musical world of Middle-earth begins expanding once again. Today, you can no longer say that you know every note of Shore's music for Tolkien's world. In fact, you only know about half of it. (This is a ballpark figure; I have no idea how long the three Hobbit films will be!) Today the subject of The Music of the Hobbit Films exists not just in concept, but in reality. Today a new journey begins ...

(via TOR)

Guardians of Middle-Earth Battle Profile One

A new video has been posted for the next Lord of the Rings game called Guardians of Middle-Earth. The game is a "defense of the ancients" style format that has you playing as a "hero" character that tries to destroy the enemies base while defending their own and levels up as he kills enemies. This first battle profile gives you a look at Legolas and the Witch-King. The game is set for a December 2012 release on XBox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. I assume the price will be in the $10 range but nothing official has been announced.

Lego Lord of the Rings Gamescon Trailer

Yesterday a new trailer was released for Lego Lord of the Rings that is scheduled to come out on October 30th, 2012. The trailer shows off the light touch they have planned for the game as it Legoizes the entire trilogy.

The Hobbit at 48FPS Get Limited Release

Variety is reporting that a cut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey running at 48 frames per second (or HFR for high frame rate) may only get a limited release when the movie comes out this December. It was assumed it would get as wide a release as possible, at least for the theatres that were upgraded to handle the frame rate.

For the last 90 or so years movies have played at 24fps but Peter Jackson believes that doubling the frame rate will add a new level of immersion and detail to movies. However, a screening of footage at CinemaCon this April was completely trashed by movie blogs and critics as being too realistic by making everything look like a movie set. It seems WB was scared off by the criticism and decided that a gradually release of the format was needed with each Hobbit movie enjoying a more widespread release of the 48fps format then the movie before it.

Lego Lord of the Rings Hobbit Tease, Online Game

Lego has updated their Lord of the Rings website with a new video that shrinks the four short videos summarizing the trilogy into a two minute video that ends with a little teaser for Lego The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with date of Winter 2012. The video can be found here. In addition the site has the flash game called "The Siege of Helm's Deep." Hit the bright lights on the map to initate various mini-games.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer 1.1

Trailer 1.1 is now online for your enjoyment. The unofficial numbering is due to the trailer being nearly identical to the first trailer except for three very brief scenes. The trailer has been showing off and on in theaters but be surprised if most people noticed the difference. Below is trailer 1.1, the video after that is trailer 1 so you can compare. Here are the differences:

0:23 - Bilbo’s reaction to Gandalf arrival to Bag End
1:57 - Bilbo hiding behind a tree in Mirkwood Forest
1:59 - Gandalf, the dwarves, and Bilbo running through forest, enemy not shown

Trailer 1.1

Details on 3rd Hobbit Undetermined

It seems that Warner Bros and MGM have a lot of confidence in Peter Jackson as they agreed to a third The Hobbit film without a budget or script. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson's decision to pursue a third film kicked off a large volume of meetings as they worked towards a decision.

"If anybody had been a big hindrance, it wouldn't have happened," says a source with ties to the movies. "It was such a short window of time to make this decision, if anybody had said no, it would have been two movies."

The Hobbit writing team of Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens started the ball rolling in a meeting with in early July in a meeting with executive producer Alan Horn, New Line's Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood. While the writers went back to New Zealand for pick-up shots, the three executives started working on getting a deal done. This including locking up the cast before the official announcement.

Official The Hobbit 3D Glasses

Italian website HobbitFilm has posted the below images of official 3D glasses for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Much like with a simliar promotion for the last Harry Potter film, the 3D glasses will be available at select theatres for an extra cost when the film premieres on December 14th, 2012. The unusually look is so in part so the "uniquely designed folding arm frame and hammer forged steel look." Not sure what that means, they look like a key to me when folded up, something that fits since a key is needed to enter the Lonely Mountains in the films.