The Hobbit Three-peats at Box Office

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won its third consecutive weekend against new movies Django Unchained and Les Miserables. While the two new movies have been critical darlings, none of them are as all ages as The Hobbit so the victory doesn't come as much of a surprise. It will be interesting to see how many weekends it stays at number 1 as there really isn't any serious competition coming out for several weeks. The Hobbit dropped a tiny 11% from last weekend for a domestic take of $32.9 million for a US total of $222.7M. Not sure its international box office but the current total is $464M for a worldwide total of $686.7M. The film should easily be the 15th film to cross the $1 billion threshold.

R.I.P. Mike Hopkins, Sound Editor on LOTR

New Zealand Stuff reports that Oscar winner Mike Hopkins died at the age of 53 after his inflatable raft slipped on the Waliohine River, NZ around 3pm Saturday December 30th. Hopkins won his Academy Awards for Sound Editing on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2003 and another on King Kong in 2006. He was also received an Oscar nomination for Sound Editing for Transformers in 2008. He was the Supervising Sound Editor on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Kung Fu Panda, and more. Condolences to his family and friends.

Desolation of Smaug Editing Done, Has Gandalf Back Story

For those very familiar with The Hobbit, a story point left out of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is detailing exactly how Gandalf got involved in Thorin's quest. In the novel and LOTR Appendices Gandalf found Thrain (Thorin's father and a Ring Bearer) dying near the Necromancer's HQ of Dol Guldur. Before dying Thrain gave Galdalf the map and key to reclaim the Lonely Mountains for his people. Vulture spoke with The Hobbit co-writers Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens who explained that this bit of Middle-Earth history will be seen in The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Jackson also said on Smaug "We've shot it, we've cut it, and we just need to refine it".

"We did try it at the front of this movie, and then we moved it," [Boyens] said. "...it's very important that we're going to be doing that. We will be meeting Thráin, and it may be in unfortunate circumstances. It may involve torture. The discovery of who or what is in Dol Guldur is a fantastic part of the storytelling, so yes, of course we went there."

"There's a lot of potential, isn't there?" Jackson teased. "You never know what we've already filmed as well. But there's certainly a lot of great material, and we'll make good use of it."

The Hobbit: AUJ Tops Second Weekend in Row

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey continues to dominate the box office for the second weekend in a row beating out new films Jack Reacher and This is 40. The film took in $36.7 million over the weekend for a US total of $149.8. The take does represent a rather significant 57% drop so it seems the bad reviews from the 48FPS crowd has had a negative impact on the perception of the film. A near 50% drop for the 2nd weekend is expected but higher then that indicates its long term take will not be nearly as high as hoped with it probably topping out around $300M. At least on the US side. Internationally the film seems to be doing just find at $284M for a world wide total of $434M. At current rate I suspect the film will just barely cross the $1 billion with 70% coming from over seas sales and further indicates why Hollywood is doing more to make tent pole films more friendly worldwide (with casting decisions, locations shoot at, enemy choices and the like). Next up is the Christmas holiday with new competition from Django Unchained and Les Misérables so odds of remaining on top remain high.

Philippa Boyens On Choices Made for The Hobbit Script

Philippa Boyens, the lovely co-writer of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. spoke with Collider about some of the various choices that were made in taking the children's book The Hobbit and converting it for the big screen. Below are few of her comments or can read the entire interview here.

...I think one of the most incredible moments to happen in the Tolkien canon happens in that little story when Bilbo doesn’t kill Gollum. And as Gandalf goes on to point out, the pity of Bilbo ruled the fate of many. It is an extraordinary moment and I think it’s extraordinarily played by Martin Freeman. I think the notion that the seeds of impending doom exist within the film. But you are putting your finger on something that is really important, and it’s something that as writers we knew going in, which is how to tackle this story, which was written as a childrens story. Now that it’s set against the greatest trilogy, which came first. I’m pretty sure that if we hadn’t done the Lord of the Rings first this would be a very different film.

Economic Impact of the Lord of the Rings

Below is an interesting video from Online MBA that is done in a style similar to Minute Physics that break down the dollar numbers of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. Interesting tidbits include around $2.25 billion on the books, $4 billion for the LOTR trilogy, 40% increase in tourism for New Zealand, and more.

Why 48FPS Fails

A new article from a photography breaks down why so many critics (and movie goers) disliked the 48 frames-per-second (aka high frame rate) format of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The writer decided to watch the HFR and the regular 24fps version of the movie on the same day. From that experience he realized he not only didn't enjoy the 48FPS version but it gave him no connection to the story. The however completely enjoyed the 24FPS version.

The article is an attempt to explain this conflicting reaction to what is essentially the same movie. What it comes down to is the increased clarity of image cause all details to come into focus. The increase is visual details essentially causes a sensory overload preventing you becoming immersed into the film as unable to track both the events of the story, take in all the details and know what to focus on all at the same time. In addition, the increase in details also means every little mistake pops out more then would otherwise. Click here to read the whole thing to get more detail about why his experience indicates that 48FPS might be dead on arrival.

The Hobbit Breaks Weekend Records

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had an impressive opening weekend, breaking multiple box office records for December. In the States the film made $84.7 million on 4,045 theaters and internationally $138.2M on 18,200 screens. The total first week take so far is $223M. The records broke so far is biggest Friday weekend (at $37.5), biggest IMAX opening in December (at $15M), and biggest December weekend. For comparison, the second highest grosser for the weekend was Rise of the Guardians with a $7.4M weekend. Considering the weak "give me an Oscar" line-up for the rest of the year, it is possible that The Hobbit might have a chance to enjoy Avatar like numbers (its opening was $77M).

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure Review

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a love letter to JJR Tolkien, Middle-Earth and New Zealand from Peter Jackson. The look, the feel, and the use of the source material could not have been handled more skill while New Zealand as Middle-Earth could not look more stunning. The story itself is actually pretty straightforward. A company of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) have called on the assistance of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) on the advice of Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen) to assist them in getting their home and treasures back from Smaug the Dragon. Like any adventure, the path from here to there is never easy or straightforward. Meanwhile, the "B-story" Gandalf has greater concerns then reclaiming lost land as it seems an ancient evil may be returning to threaten all of Middle-Earth.

Jackson and company make changes from the source material but almost always for the better and that approach has not changed with An Unexpected Journey which follows The Hobbit book much more closely than the LOTR trilogy while adding more to it than the initial novel had. The result is an entertaining film that starts slow (takes time to introduce 14 characters) but gets better as you watch.

I watched this in the same format as The Lord of the Rings trilogy as in regular 24FPS as a result I cannot speak to the 48FPS concerns. The film looked and sounded great and hit along the trilogy just fine. If I go back for a second viewing I will give another format a try but I was perfectly satisfied with the regular way of viewing a film.

As someone who had to force himself to read the Lord of the Rings books, it never ceased to amaze me how Jackson took such dry (but imaginative material) and make it come alive. The Hobbit, being essentially a children's story, moves at a much faster clip (again once get past the dinner party introduction of all the characters) so the result if often Tolkien would skip over the amazing (mountain giants fighting) in just a sentence or two or presenting mysteries (where does Gandalf keep going?) that the novel itself never answered. With The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Jackson gets into the those glossed over nook and carnies presenting a much deeper story then the novel itself had. How with depth comes length and at 3 hours you will be starting to clock watch if only wondering when to hit the bathroom. I just can't think of what could have been easily cut short of the action scenes and who wants those to go? Almost all the "dull" talking scenes are necessary and to cut them would have harmed the film more than helped.

The Visual and Sound Effects of The Hobbit: AUJ

Two new videos have popped up online that show some of how the visual effects and sound effects were done for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. As always with things like this is it fascinating to see just how much is done with digital effects, often more then you would even expect. The second video on the sound effects is a lot less informative as it is more sales pitch then informative but still get to see some of the behind the scenes stuff.

The Hobbit Production Video #10 - The Premiere

Peter Jackson has the 10th and final installment (at least for An Unexpected Journey) of his production videos that track the making of The Hobbit trilogy. In this video the focus is on preparation for and the day of the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand on November 28th.

Video #1 | Video #2 | Video #3 | Video #4
Video #5 | Video #6 | Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey #14-18

Warner Bros has posted five new TV spots for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first is an extended version while the next four are to promote this weekend's release of the movie.
TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4 | TV Spot #5 | TV Spot #6
TV Spot #7 | TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9 | TV Spot #10 | TV Spot #11 | TV Spot #12 | TV Spot #13
TV Spot #14

More Behind the Scenes from The Hobbit

Below are two videos that sort of go behind the scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Before getting to those I highly recommend you read the article from FX Guide as they explore the digital effects of the movie that includes video interviews with members of the FX team as they discuss crafting the film. That story is here.

After that the first video from Bleeding Cool is an interview with Joe Letteri who is the senior supervisor of visual FX and worked on the film. The second video is from Tribute.ca as they do a behind the scenes/promotional interview for the film.

Peter Jackson's Hobbit Cameo and the Movie

It turns out that unlike in the Lord of the Rings where Peter Jackson's cameo had to be left until the extended edition of Return of the King, this time The Hobbit trilogy director was able to get his appearance in. According to Empire, he plays a dwarf and might spot him if look very carefully.

If you haven't seen it already, it's probably best if you don't know – but if you have seen the first Hobbit movie already, here's where he was hiding: in Erebor, dressed up as a dwarf, high-tailing it away from Smaug as the wicked wyrm blasted his particular brand of fiery halitosis all upside The Lonely Mountain.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is Officially Released

As of now The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is officially released in the States. Depending on time zone it has either been out for hours or about to come out. If everything is going according to my plan, I am sitting in the theater reading for it roll. To get into The Hobbit spirit below is my playlist of their various videos promoting the movie. If don't want to watch the whole list, just click any one of the links below. Feel free to comment on what you thought of the movie and make sure to mention what format you watched it in.
Trailer #1 | Trailer #1.1 | Trailer #2 | Posters

TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4 | TV Spot #5 | TV Spot #6 | TV Spot #7
TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9 | TV Spot #10 | TV Spot #11 | TV Spot #12 | TV Spot #13 | TV Spots #14-18

Production Video #1 | Video #2 | Video #3 | Video #4
Video #5 | Video #6 | Video #7 | Video #8 | Video #9 | Video #10

Two New Clips from The Hobbit: AUJ

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is just hours away from its midnight premiere in the States. In the meantime here are two clips from the movie. I believe both have been repeatedly used in TV interviews if they seem familiar. The first features Bilbo meeting Gollum and the second is Bilbo reviewing this contract with the dwarves and not liking what he finds.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey TV Spot #13

Not even 24 hours to go, here is TV spot #13 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4 | TV Spot #5 | TV Spot #6
TV Spot #7 | TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9 | TV Spot #10 | TV Spot #11 | TV Spot #12

Martin Freeman On Filming Riddles in The Dark

In an interview with i09.com, Martin Freeman discusses filming the "Riddles in the Dark" scene that first introduced Gollum and his discovered of a gold ring. Highlights below, full interview here.

How did Peter Jackson direct you to handle the ring?
Martin Freeman: With curiosity, I think. That was what we kind of went for. When I first see it, when it drops out of Gollum's pouch in the goblin tunnels, to just literally notice it and go "oh." It's just a flash of color in this dark place. A flash of gold. And as I get closer just to have curiosity and not to imbue it with a great kind of force or a sense of epic-ness. Like a trinket. Then there's something magpie-ish about Bilbo and he thinks, oh I'll have that that might come in handy. But there's no sense of a semi religious import.

Peter Jackson BNAT Q&A

Here we are, less then 24 hours from the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to most countries worldwide. In the 16.5 minute interview from 12/8, Peter Jackson answers a few questions about The Hobbit. Highlights and video below.

Peter Jackson
- Verified there will be an extended edition release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. No date for release. About and extra 25 minutes of footage.
- Around 9 hours of Gandalf the Grey total once include the extended cut versions of the entire trilogy.
- The last shot rendered was Smaug sitting on his piles of gold (essentially a pure CGI shot)
- Gollum has more "digital muscles" so that the performance capture is essentially 1:1 between Andy Serkis and the CGI render.
- Was asked how break up the next two movies but only said that would include a lot more Appendix story lines especially involving Necromancer and Gandalf.
- Would see the White Council in action in the second film.
- Thinks will start filming the pick ups to complete the trilogy footage sometime in June or July of 2013.

Peter Jackson Video Interview

Below is 42 minute video from Hero Complex with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey's director Peter Jackson. The video was recorded at the San Diego Comic-Con back in July before it was announced the then two picture Hobbit would become a trilogy. In the video he discusses his approach in making the movies, 48FPS format, visual effects, and more.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Soundtrack Out Now

Just a friendly reminder that the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack has been officially released. You can find the regular edition or extended edition in stores or can download digitally. If decide to order from Amazon please use links above so site gets credit. The extended edition has six additional tracks and longer versions of seven tracks then the regular version. Below is one of the tracks (and a scene) from the movie. Just three days to go...

Sir Ian McKellen Reveals He Has Cancer

As Sir Ian McKellen continues his world tour to promote Friday's release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the actor revealed to the Daily Mirror that he has prostrate cancer. The 73-year-old acting legend said "I’ve had prostate cancer for six or seven years. When you have got it you monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread. But if it is contained in the prostate it’s no big deal. Many, many men die from it but it’s one of the cancers that is totally treatable so I have ‘waitful watching’. I am examined regularly and it’s just contained, it’s not spreading. I’ve not had any treatment. ...How do you know if it is spreading? You keep being tested."

The actor commented on his overall health saying "I just got hearing aids, I am going to have a cataract removed from my eyes, I am having an implant in my mouth, I am dealing with the prostate…I am absolutely fine thank you very much! I am lucky, I don’t have aches and pains. I do pilates regularly which is a series of stretching exercises and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well you should. ...It is really, really wonderful that in your old age you are protected by specialists who understand your problems and sort them out for you. Well, isn’t that what we all need?"

So to sum it up, the legend is doing fine (a relief) and doing what everyone should do - getting regular check-ups to and being aware when things don't quite seem right with their own bodies and acting accordingly. Good advice that sounds very Gandalf in its wisdom and common sense. Thanks to John W. for the link.

Philippa Boyens Talks Writing the Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies co-writer Philippa Boyens sat down to discuss the films with Bleeding Cool.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey TV Spot #12

Below is the TV Spot #12 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that is now just three days from release.
Trailer #1 | Trailer #1.1 | Trailer #2 | Posters
TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4 | TV Spot #5
TV Spot #6 | TV Spot #7 | TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9 | TV Spot #10 | TV Spot #11

The Hobbit Cast Interviews and 60 Screenshots

The cast promoting tour for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey continues as the movie is just days away from release. The cast participated in an interview with VH1 & AP, Andy Serkis talks Gollum, Richard Armitage talks with TORn and Hero Complex posts 60 photos from the movie (many repeats). Links, VH1 video and highlights below. If have limited amount of time, the Richard Armitage interview was the least repetitive info wise of this group while VH1 video was most amusing.

Andy Serkis | Armitage I | Armitage II | Cast Interview | VH1 | 60 Images
Highlights

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey TV Spot #11

With The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey less then a week away from release here is the 11th TV spot for the film courtesy of Warner Bros.
Trailer #1 | Trailer #1.1 | Trailer #2 | Posters
TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4 | TV Spot #5
TV Spot #6 | TV Spot #7 | TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9 | TV Spot #10

First Image from The Desolation of Smaug

To go along with the first image from The Hobbit: There and Back Again (3rd film), now and image from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2nd film)has been revealed by Entertainment Weekly. The movie will be out on December 13, 2013. In the image Bilbo Baggins is on the pile of treasure that Smaug the dragon is protecting after stealing it from the Dwarves in the opening sequence of An Unexpected Journey.

Creating the Music of the Hobbit

Below is a video with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey composer Howard Shore as he discusses his process for creating the score to the movie along with watching the orchestra as they work on it. Worth watching if a fan of the music. You can listen to the tracks from the soundtrack here. The extended edition and regular edition are available for pre-order and will be released on December 11th.

Hobbit Week on The Colbert Report Clips

This week The Colbert Report held its "Hobbit Week" to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Stephen Colbert is a huge fan of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings trilogy often making references to both on his show. Last summer he was invited to the set for an unconfirmed cameo. Below are links to the full episode and the The Hobbit specific segments from each of the four episodes.

Videos
The Pundit: Or Colbert and Back Again Opening
December 3 - Full Episode | Opening | Sir Ian McKellen | Sign-Off
December 4 - Full Episode | Opening | Martin Freeman | Sign-Off
December 5 - Full Episode | Opening | Andy Serkis | Sign-Off
December 6 - Full Episode | Opening | Sir Peter Jackson | Sign-Off

The Hobbit Treasures of Middle-Earth Contest Winners

The winners of The Hobbit Treasures of Middle-Earth art contest that launched in September has officially been revealed. The winners and 9 runners-up were chosen from hundreds of pieces of artwork submitted by fans. The contest was broken down into four categories - character, creature, weapon and location. The winning art was chosen by Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit artists John Howe, Alan Lee and VFX master Richard Taylor. To view all of the submitted art, click here. Congrats to all.

The Winners
Best Character - An Unexpected Party by dstoreystudio (won items from Sideshow Collectibles)
Best Creature - The Great Debate by Glaib (won items from Weta Workshop)
Best Weapon: From the Dragon's Hoard by Shaylynn (won items from United Cutlery)
Best Location - The Hall of Durin by GabeY (won items from Venderstelt Studio)

First Image from The Hobbit: There and Back Again

Entertainment Weekly has posted the first image from The Hobbit: There and Back Again which is the final movie in the trilogy and not coming out until July 18, 2014. The image shows The Bard of Laketown having a conversation with Legolas (Orlando Bloom), likely before the climatic Battle of Five Armies.

“He’s [elven king] Thranduil’s son, and Thranduil is one of the characters in The Hobbit, and because elves are immortal it makes sense Legolas would be part of the sequence in the Woodland Realm,” director Peter Jackson explains. Conferring with Legolas is one of the Hobbit trilogy’s major new faces: the heroic human Laketown warrior Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans). “Bard is an interesting character, but [in the book] he’s kind of a random character who comes in after the fact,” says screenwriter and producer Philippa Boyens. “We take more time introducing him. We know from what follows that he was a father, so we [explore] that. I don’t think we take liberties, because it’s all there in the storytelling.”

Behind the Scene of The Hobbit: AEJ Video

Below are two videos for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first is a 13 minute special from Warner Bros Belgium that shows the cast and crew working and includes interviews with Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman and more as they talk about the first film in the trilogy. The second video is from the premiere of the movie in New Zealand with a little behind the scenes stuff and Richard Taylor discusses the work of Weta Digital.

Jackson Comments on 48FPS Reviews

In a press conference Wednesday to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, director Peter Jackson commented on reviews that nearly universally slammed the 48FPS format of the movie as essentially not quite being ready. Almost all thought that some moments were amazing while others looked pathetically fake. The result are reviews that were more negative then might have been otherwise.

"I'm fascinated by reactions," he told the room full of journalists from across the country. "I'm tending to see that anyone under the age of 20 or so doesn't really care and thinks it looks cool, not that they understand it but they often just say that 3D looks really cool. I think 3D at 24 frames is interesting, but it's the 48 that actually allows 3D to almost achieve the potential that it can achieve because it's less eye strain and you have a sharper picture which creates more of the 3-dimensional world."

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey TV Spot #10

Below is the next TV spot for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that will be out next Friday. While a previous one was numbered #10, it was an unofficially released one while the below one comes straight from Warner Bros.
Trailer #1 | Trailer #1.1 | Trailer #2
TV Spot #1 | TV Spot #2 | TV Spot #3 | TV Spot #4
TV Spot #5 | TV Spot #6 | TV Spot #7 | TV Spot #8 | TV Spot #9

Peter Jackson On Casting Martin Freeman, Trilogy Choice

In a press conference to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Director Peter Jackson discussed the casting Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and defended the decision to expand The Hobbit into another trilogy.

"Martin was the only person that we wanted for that role, and that was really before we met Martin. We knew him from The Office and Hitchhiker’s Guide [to the Galaxy], and we just felt he had qualities that would be perfect for Bilbo. The stuffy repressed English quality. He’s a dramatic actor, he’s not a comedian, but he has a talent for comedy."

Because Martin was contracted to BBC's Sherlock, "We were in trouble. I was really panicking. I was having sleepless nights. We were probably six weeks away from the beginning of the shoot, and we hadn’t settled on anyone else, and I was torturing myself by watching Sherlock on an iPad at 4 o’clock in the morning."

The Production Design of The Hobbit: AEJ

Hero Complex continues their series of articles from behind the scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were they interview more then just the cast but the crew of the movie that are critical part in creating Middle-Earth. The latest is a conversation with Production Designer Dan Hennah who has been designing for the film for the last three years and was the art director for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and won an Academy Award for Return of the King. Segments below, full interview here.

HC: Can you start by explaining what your job entails? Production design must have been so important for a film like this one.
DH: A production designer takes responsibility for the look of everything pretty much on the picture except the actors and what they’re wearing, and obviously lighting is a separate area. It starts with liaising with the director, with the script and working out creatively what the director’s vision is. And while it’s permissible for the production designer to have a vision, it’s always good to try and work out what the director’s vision is and to bring that to the screen. That’s the ultimate aim. And it involves liaising really closely, collaborating with the director of photography, the cinematographer and the costume department, because you don’t want purple costumes in a green room. And it’s one of those things that worked really well on “The Lord of the Rings,” and it’s worked again very well on “The Hobbit” — that sort of interdepartmental collaboration. The production designer has to put together a team of people who can execute the director’s vision and have it ready within the budget. Always, always the budget is a really big consideration, and time. And of course always time and money fight with each other; if you haven’t got enough of one, you need more of the other. Apart from coming up with this great grand vision that works with the director, it’s also about attention to detail. Every nut and bolt, every small thing being in the right place. So it’s a big-picture job, but with attention to the detail as well.

The Hobbits Cast Meets Their Mini-Figs

It seems that the cast of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were able to meet their Lego mini-fig counterparts long before the sets were announced back in the summer. At least judging by the photos posted on Facebook that show the actors in full character makeup holding their mini-fig counterpart. The full gallery can be found here.

Six Clips from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Six clips from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have been posted. The first one is Bilbo going over his contract to split the spoils with the dwarves and realizing the adventure could be dangerous, the 2nd is an action sequence as the Gandalf and company deal with bunch of goblins, the 3rd has Bilbo and Gollum meeting, the 4th focuses on the weapons, the fifth is the dwarfs arriving at Bags End, and the last one learning they are being hunted.

Behind the Scenes from The Hobbit: AUJ

Collider has posted a 20 minute video (below) that was filmed from the sets of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It isn't the usual sales pitchy video but a raw sequence of moments from the set as the cast and crew go about creating the epic film. It is interesting to watch.

Hair and Makeup of The Hobbit: AEJ

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is just a touch over a week away from release. In a new article from Hero Complex, makeup and hair designer Peter King discusses the work that went into creating the distinctive looks for 13 dwarves, hobbits, elves and more. The full article here, segments below.

HC: Can you tell us about your process?
PK: I mean, it’s far more work than we had on “Lord of the Rings,” really, because first of all, we had these 13 dwarfs, these main characters who are on throughout the whole film. So Richard Taylor and WETA and Peter and Fran [Walsh] and everyone, it was a very collaborative thing. WETA brought a lot of conceptual work for the dwarfs, and then we whittled it down to the areas we liked for each dwarf, because we had to make sure they’re a band of people, so they all look like the same race. But within that, they had 13 different personalities, so we had to tell them apart and get to know them and understand them. So we went through the process first of all of designing the actual look, and then they were sculpted so we could see what they looked like in a three-dimensional idea. Then it was over to me to actually get all the hairwork done, and we decided on the colors of the hair and how we were going to do it. Then we designed all the prosthetics, and they were made by WETA for us, and then they came to us, and we applied them, myself and Tami Lane who was in charge of the prosthetic team. We started playing with it, really. And then we had this whole series of things we call show-and-tells, which is where we make the character up completely in makeup, hair costume, everything. That’s where the final designing happens, with myself, Peter, Fran, Philippa [Boyens] and heads of lots of departments, costume and so forth. Once we saw the whole thing in front of us, it’s then we started making final decisions about what we designed. Sometimes what we thought was going to look good maybe wasn’t working quite as well, so we had to change things.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Reviews

With the movie still a week out from release, multiple entertainment websites have started to post their reviews of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. All the reviewers saw the film in IMAX 3D at HFR (aka high frame rate or 48FPS), a decision that may have backfired as it seems many of the reviewers were unable to get past the flaws of the new technology. It is a shame because the reviews will give a worse impression of the film that will not necessarily align with the average movie goers visual experience.

Outside of all of them having problems with HFR, those that could seperate the tech from the rest of the movie experience provided mostly positive reviews. On the plus side is the film is gorgeous with great special effects, solid acting, entertaining story and of course fantastic music. The minuses (besides HFR) include Peter Jackson may have been too faithful to the novel to stretch the story to fit a trilogy, too long, and unevenness in tone with occasional bouts of silliness. The end result is the reviewers recommend the film but the enthusiasm is tampered by the flaws in story execution and the untested problems with 48FPS IMAX showing.

My overall take is see the film, just don't see it in IMAX 3D. See it The Lord of the Rings style at good old fashioned 24FPS and then if really loved the film, see it a second time at the more expensive formats so can make a proper judgement and comparison of the film without that enjoyment being hampered by flaws in new technology. Below are highlights from some of the posted reviews.

Beorn, Fili and Radagast Discuss The Hobbit

In a trio of articles actors from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey discuss the movie and their roles. In a TORN translation of the Swedish paper Nöjesbladet, Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and Andy Serkis (Gollum) praise Mikael Persbrandt in his role as the shape-changer Beorn (main form being a big bear). According to Peter Jackson, "“You’ll have to wait for film two to see him. I look forward to it in the second film.”

Meanwhile Hero Complex had a conversation with Dean O'Gorman who plays Fili, one of the 13 dwarves in the trilogy. The actor didn't learn he was close to being cast in the role until nearly a year after his audition when writer and producer Philippa Boyens called and told him. "“That relationship triangle does offer a lot of content,” O’Gorman said. “Especially the journey that Thorin goes on — Fili and Kili relate. They’re very much involved in Thorin’s journey, and that dynamic gets involved throughout the movie.”

Andy Serkis Return to Middle-Earth

Andy Serkis, the literal voice and body of the digital character Gollum, talks with AFI about his return to Middle-Earth and his most famous role for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. However, his work didn't end there as Peter Jackson decided the actor would make a perfect second unit director. Below are segments where the actor discusses his two "roles" he has for the trilogy. The full article can be found here.

“Working in a performance-capture suit is no different than acting under heavy costuming and make-up,” said Serkis in an exclusive interview with American Film™. “The actor authors the role, same as any live-action performance. You just have to be willing to appear on screen not as yourself. It seems obvious for an actor, but not everyone is willing to do that. I thirsted for it; it allows me to lose myself in the role. It’s the essence of acting, an amplified truth about the human condition. At the end of the day, finding the character is the same, and you as an actor take full responsibility for it.”

Q&A with The Hobbit Costume Designer

One of the challenges of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is trying to create distinctive costumes for all the new characters, especially the 13 dwarves that all need distinctive looks so audiences can easily tell them apart. Hero Complex spoke with The Hobbits costume designer Ann Maskrey about the challenge the trilogy presents. Below are a few of the questions, the full Q&A is here.

HC: Each dwarf has such an individual look. What was it like to develop those costumes?
AM: It was quite a challenge really, simply because there are 13 of them, and Peter Jackson wanted them to have such a distinct, separate look from each other. He really was very keen on them having a different silhouette even before we started talking about the different colors they would all have. And then beyond that, he wanted distinct characteristics, and also distinct hierarchy, because some of the dwarves are more noble than others. So I had to emphasize all of that in just the choice of fabrics and the level of decoration, and by the time you get to dwarf No. 7 of 13, you’re thinking, “How are we going to make the next one look different?” It’s difficult, but great fun, actually too. I did learn an awful lot as I went along. Even though I’ve done a lot of other movies in the past, I’ve not really done anything quite like that with so many key principals really up front the whole time, and had to design it to the level of detail that we’ve done.

The Hobbit's "Re-visualized" Special Effects

In a new article from Deadline, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey visual-effects supervisors discuss how creating the visual effects for The Hobbit is much different then how they did it for The Lord of the Rings.

“It’s changed almost completely,” [Joe] Letteri says. “On the outside, you want Gollum to look like the same character, but he’s completely different” underneath.

“Our facial capture has progressed leaps and bounds,” [Eric Saindon] says. “Now we actually capture all of Andy’s performance, when he’s acting with Martin (Freeman) in Gollum’s cage on set. We have a small camera attached in front of his face that captures his exact facial performance. Rather than an animator going in and doing it frame-by-frame, the computer analyzes Andy’s performance and then fires Gollum’s muscles to do the exact same thing. So the first half of the animation, which is the raw mo-cap data, is really Andy.”

“We know so much more about how the face works,” Letteri adds. “When people communicate face to face there are so many things that are going on that you really have to study now and put into the characters. We hope that people recognize that there’s this extra layer of depth.”

“We did try to capture rain on set; it worked OK, but it was very easy to get rain on the mirror for the 3D, and then the stereo breaks instantly. The lighting was (also) very hard to control with the rain. So we did it for about a day and then we decided that it would be better just to do the rain in post. Then we added the stone giants, which are basically these mountains that come to life to have a thunder battle.”