The Hobbit Trilogy Officially Announced, Possible Titles

What began as a mention from Peter Jackson at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, then moved into talks has now become official. Jackson has posted that The Hobbit will now become a trilogy with a third film. The name has not been announced for the film or the exact release date except that it will break from tradition with a summer 2014 release date instead of the expected December 2014 date.

The third film essentially splits The Hobbit: There and Back Again into two films by adding and expanding on stories from the Lord of the Rings' Appendix. It is expected additional films will be shot in summer 2013. The announcement comes early enough that it is probable that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (out 12/14/12) could be further edited to account for the new trilogy plan.

The expectation is the third film will get the title of "The Hobbit: There and Back Again". As for the second title, Fusible has found several web domains owned by Thge Hobbit production company that reveals two potential titles. One is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" which refers to burned, dead land around Smaug's mountain base. The other potential title, "Riddles in the Dark", is based on a chapter title from The Hobbit book that is about the riddle match between Gollum and Bilbo just before he finds the Ring. If the Riddles title is used, Journey would need a whole lot of new material to push back that meeting to the second film as it occurs early in the novel.

The Riddles title fits the other two Hobbit subtitles better but the Smaug title makes more sense based on natural big action sequence breaks in the novel for movie making purposes that matches what Jackson did for the Lord of the Rings. In that trilogy the action escalated from a battle with group of Uruk-hai (Fellowship) to Battle of Helm's Deep (Two Towers), to huge Siege of Minas Tirith (Return). While The Hobbit mostly made references to other battles, natural breaks include the Dwarves vs Elves (from the book) or White Council vs Necromancer (part of LOTR Appendices), the second could end with fight against Smaug (very brief in novel so assume more added to it) while the third film will definitely end with the Battle of Five Armies (the battle itself was skipped over in The Hobbit book, expanded a little in Appendices).

Below is PJ's note and the press release announcement of The Hobbit Trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings in 99 Seconds

Below is an amusing video that sings a summary of The Lords of the Rings trilogy using the score as inspiration.

First Look at Younger Gollum

In time for Empire Magazine's September issue, E! has posted images from the issue that depicts the younger look of Gollum with more detail to his face and body thanks to advancements in CGI and motion capture. Its a subtle change as Gollum was already a long lived creature but once he lost the ring he did start to age a bit faster (and nevermind the stress of being tortured by Sauron's minions).

Jackson, WB In Talks for The Hobbit Trilogy

Last week Peter Jackson floated the idea of turning The Hobbit into a trilogy by splitting The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Heat Vision blog is reporting that the idea has turned into a firm decision for Peter Jackson as he and Warner Bros have begun talks for two months of filming in the Summer of 2013. The new footage would be added to existing using material from The Lord of the Ring Appendices (something the films already do but assume Jackson wants to add even more).

WB is on board with the idea but there are financial hurdles to clear. The cast would have to be rehired, a group that is in a much stronger negotiating position than they were a year ago (can't exactly recast after all). Then there is making sure the rights are cleared for certain aspects of the story, made difficult by the Tolkien estate who loath the movies for not strictly following the books yet torn by the huge financial windfall the movies have brought them.

After that you have the cost of the cost that comes with making the film with additional cast, crew, location shoot, probably rebuilding of sets and so forth. While the cost might land slightly less than the cost of doing an entire new movie, it probably will not come cheap once the dust settles. It is safe to assume that if all works out, the third movie (with new subtitle?) would be released for December 2014.

The Hobbit Production Video #8 - Final Days of Filming

As Peter Jackson promised during the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, the production video #8 has been released. The video provides a behind the scenes look at The Hobbit panel held that Saturday. The video teases some of the bits shown during the con (mostly the cast/crew greetings) while the rest focuses on the final days of production with look at the sets, Andy Serkis last day directing 2nd unit, final day of principle photography and a whole lot more. If interested, I have compiled video links to more then 100 panels that were held during the con here.

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

Lego Lord of the Rings Video Final Chapter

The next chapter of Lego's video series promoting the upcoming release of Lego The Lord of the Rings Video Game is now out. The first two parts covered The Fellowship of the Ring, part 3 was the end of The Two Towers with "The Siege of Helm's Deep" and this final chapter just blows through The Return of the King. Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Hugo Weaving Comments on The Hobbit Filming Experience

In an interview with the AV Club that kind of acts as a mini career retrospective, Hugo Weaving (Elrond) answered various questions about the movies he was in including The Hobbit. He spoke about how filming on The Hobbit didn't really feel that different from his Lord of Rings experience since it often involved much of the same cast and crew. The Hobbit segment is below, click here to read the entire interview.

AVC: How different was making the Hobbit movies from doing the Lord Of The Rings trilogy?
HW: Well, tonally, I think the film is slightly different, but the experience didn’t seem radically different, to be honest. If anything, it was slightly more green-screen and slightly less set. But a lot of the same people, both in the crew and some of the cast. Going back and standing with Ian McKellen on the set again 10 years later, we felt very much at home, in a way, and very much like no time had passed at all. A lot of the other cast were different from The Lord Of The Rings, but it felt like a very similar experience. Actually, I was back there just the other day doing some post-production and went onto set, and I was just thinking, “Well, it’s been a year since I’ve been here—10 years, really, since we started—but it feels like the same family group has been making films there for that long.”

AVC: In the trailer, Bag End looks exactly as it does when we see Bilbo living there in the trilogy. Is it the same set?
HW: You know, I’m not sure. I would hesitate to say it was. I would think it wasn’t. But there may be some elements. I would have thought not, but possibly, yeah.

Lego Helm's Deep Diorama

While Lego's official Helm's Deep set is so-so, this diorama created by Daniel Z isn't. The detail and how well it is scaled to the mini-fig provides an Legoized look at the Battle of Helm's Deep. Almost makes you wish Lego would do their own Lord of the Rings masterpiece type line like they did for Star Wars. The full gallery of this diorama can be found here.

Lego Lord of the Rings Video Chapter 3

The next chapter of Lego's video series promoting the upcoming release of Lego The Lord of the Rings Video Game is now out. The first two parts covered The Fellowship of the Ring while this skips right to the end of The Two Towers with "The Siege of Helm's Deep". While that battle was deadly serious, the Lego depiction is not. Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

SDCC 2012: More Cast, Crew Interviews

More cast and crew interviews have been posted online from the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con (1st wave here). In an interesting (but hard to hear) video interview with Richard Armitage as he discussed his role and the Tolkien novels with The One Ring. In addition the SDCC cast and crew spoke with Collider about the movie. Hit the links or watch video and read highlights below.

Highlights
- Peter Jackson: Very early in discussions with studio about shooting more material from the LOTR Appencies to either add to There and Back Again, for extended editions are break into third movie.
- Peter Jackson: Movie tone is in between the darker Lord of the Rings trilogy and the children's amusing tone of The Hobbit.
- Martin Freeman: Became aware of the Hobbit size scale once started filming at Lake Town which is populated by normal sized humans.

SDCC 2012: The Hobbit Panel Video

Below is the full The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey panel that was held Saturday at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. The video does not include the 12 minutes of movie footage (summary here) that was shown due to copyright but it does show the Q&A that followed.

SDCC 2012: Jackson On Return to Middle-Earth

In a new interview with Deadline as part of his trip to the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Director Peter Jackson looked back at the events that lead to him directing the films including the technological choices he made. The interview turned out to be pretty long because Jackson provided some pretty detail answers to the questions. Below is a summary but worth reading the entire interview here.

Summary:
- After Guillermo del Toro left due to other projects and lack of a green light after 18 months of development, Jackson felt "...as producer that I had to do the smart thing here and step up."
- His initial feel at directing was he would be competing against himself, that "I’ve got to shoot this scene better than the one I did 10 or 12 years ago" but turned out that never happened.
- Tonally the Hobbit is lighter due to initially being a children's book but by incorporating The Appendices (from LOTR novels), it was moderated so it does more closely match the trilogy then the books do.
- "It's still a question mark" on whether Lord of the Rings trilogy will be converted to 3D. It has been discussed but the commercial failure of Star Wars: Episode I 3D release put a damper on things.
- By December, there should be many theaters that can show the film in Jackson's preferred 48fps 3D format.
- He said "I think frame rate is a really important issue for the future of the industry" but to take it seriousily have to see 48fps as a full feature film, not just a clip.
- "Why, as an industry where we have dwindling audiences especially among the kids, should we be content to sit back and say that we got it right in 1927? [when 24fps became the standard]. ...It’s an experiment, but I personally think it looks fantastic."

SDCC 2012: The Hobbit Panel with Movie Footage

Saturday was a big day for the San Diego Comic-Con as lots of movie panels were held including the panel for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey where 12 and half minutes of The Hobbit footage were shown. The footage has not been posted online but Peter Jackson indicated that at least some of it would be used in an upcoming production video. The info below is culled from Heat Vision, Collider and The One Ring.

Footage Description
- Shot of the Shire as voice over of Gandalf saying "Far to the east lies..."
- Gandalf, Bilbo and dwarves at Bag End discussing goal of recovering their treasure from the dragon Smaug with Thorin saying "Rumors have begun to spread,” he says, “The dragon Smaug has not been seen in many years… Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected … perhaps it is time to take back Erebor!"
- Discussion of a plan with need of a burglar to steal a map from Smaug that will help with taking Erebor. Something Bilbo agrees with not realizing that is his purpose in the adventure.

SDCC 2012: A Third Hobbit Film?

While at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Peter Jackson revealed to HitFlix that he is in discussions with the studio about shooting additional footage for The Hobbit: There and Back Again. The shoot, that the studio would have to pay for, could potentially split the film into two, creating a Hobbit trilogy or it could be used as additional footage for the extended editions of the two Hobbit films. Quote and video below.

Well, we've been certainly talking to the studio about some of the material we can't film. And we've been asking them if we can do a bit more filming next year. Which I don't know what would come of that, whether that would be extended additions or not. But those discussions are on going… I'd like to shoot a bunch more material that we can't shoot. There's so much good stuff in the appendices that we haven't been able to squeeze into these movies. That's a discussion that we're having, yeah.

SDCC 2012: Cast, Crew Video Interviews

Saturday was the panel for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. Before it was held, Peter Jackson and company held a series of interviews with media outlets. The longest was the Andy Serkis one (see here) with a full panel cast doing an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The rest were around a few minutes in length as each person talked about various aspects of the film.

Peter Jackson and Phillippa Boyen commented on their approach to writing The Hobbit film and adapting the book (with appendices). Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield) spoke a six foot person being cast as a dwarf and that making people who have gravitas and size helped when the actors are "shrunk" for scenes along with new techniques used to film since 3D meant force perspective (used for LOTR) was not possible for most scenes. Sir Ian McKellen spoke about how returning to a "younger" Gandalf makes no difference for a 7000 year old character, his surprise that he was asked to reprise the role, and enjoyment of working in New Zealand.

SDCC 2012: Andy Serkis on Gollum, Directing

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter while at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Andy Serkis discusses his role as Gollum and being 2nd unit director for The Hobbit films. He spoke looking forward to The Hobbit panel, his first scene as Gollum with Bilbo, how he was hired to be 2nd unit director, the amount of trust put in him by Jackson, motion capture and a whole lot more. The 10 minute video of the interview is below.

SDCC 2012: Peter Jackson's Post on Con

Peter Jackson is on his way to the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. Before he hopped on the plane, he added a surprising long post to his Facebook page (below) about his visit. He starts by letting us know that a new trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey can be expected sometime in September and that a new production diary is being prepped. The diary may include footage from the reel that he is showing at Saturday's The Hobbit Panel indicating the reel will not be released online afterwards. The main topic of the post was to address his decision to show The Hobbit reel at the 'Con, citing how bad press undermined his attempt to show off the movie, not the new filming technology.

Just about to jump on the plane to Comic Con

Looking forward to giving fans a glimpse of the Hobbit, answer questions and share a few stories about our return to Middle-earth.

For those of you who won't be attending Comic Con, we have several things in the pipeline to share with you over the next few weeks. Our new video will be ready very soon - in fact our video blog crew has already left for Comic Con, and we'll be capturing a behind the scenes look at our experiences there. We're talking about possibly including a few clips from our Hobbit reel in the blog.

SDCC 2012: Elijah Woods Talks The Hobbit

Today Elijah Wood spoke with I Am Rogue about his reprisal of Frodo for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. He was there to promote his TV series Wilfred and I would not be surprised if he pops up for tomorrows The Hobbit Panel. In the video (below) he spoke working with Peter Jackson again and how it was a no pressure role is small, and hinted that he might actually appear in both movies when he indicated he bookends the series. The actor also stopped by the Weta booth with Andy Serkis and Richard Taylor (visual effects guru). Those pictures can be found at The One Ring.

SDCC 2012 Weta Booth, Character Posters, Toy Teases

Thursday was the first full day of the San Diego Comic-Con 2012. The official panel isn't until Saturday but there is still Hobbit stuff going on. Toys have been teased, new characters posters set up and Weta has a booth to show off their wares. Links to all this below.

The Hobbit Character Posters
In a corner of the exhibit hall, 16 new posters from The Hobbit were discovered. The 3D posters show off all the major characters from An Unexpected Journey with Bilbo, all the Dwarves, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Gollum.

Weta Booth (and show floor) - AICN | Collider | 1st Showing | Coming Soon
Above are links related to the Weta booth on the show floor. The booth served the dual purpose of promoting the Hobbit movies while showing off their latest collection of Hobbit related statues. One of the cool features of is the three Cave trolls (from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) that seemed popular. At the links are ton of images of many of the booths on display including the Weta booth.

Peter Jackson Confirms Hobbit Reel for SDCC 2012

The San Diego Comic-Con 2012 official began yesterday with Preview Night that gives a chance to tour the various booths and dealer tables being set up at SDCC to promote upcoming products and the like. One of the movies that will be on hand is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Hobbit panel is scheduled for 2:30-5:00pm PST on Saturday July 14th. While it was assumed something would be shown from the movie, Peter Jackson has now confirmed to Hero Complex that he will screen a reel during the panel. Of note is the decision to run the film in 2D at 24 frames per second after the huge amount of negative press he received when a 3D at 48 fps clip was show at CinemaCon. His reasoning on this decision is hard to argue with. Hopefully the video will be put online shortly after the panel ends for those of us that could not go the convention.

HC: How would you frame the Hall H appearance as far as the stakes?
PJ: I think it’s more about protecting the downside, rather than helping the film in any significant way. There is a huge audience waiting to see “The Hobbit,” and any positive press from Comic-Con will truthfully have little impact on that. However, as we saw at CinemaCon earlier this year, with our 48 frames per second presentation, negative bloggers are the ones the mainstream press runs with and quotes from. I decided to screen the “Hobbit” reel at Comic-Con in 2-D and 24 frames per second, so the focus stays firmly with the content and not the technical stuff. If people want 3-D and 48fps, that choice will be there for them in December.

HC: If you had one sentence — a take-away message — for the Middle-earth fans who don’t get a seat in Hall H, what would it be?
PJ: We’ve all loved returning to Middle-earth and now look forward to fans stepping back into this world with us.

Lego The Hobbit, LOTR and More at SDCC 2012

This year is turning out to be a big one for Lego, especially at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012 that started today. Lego will be providing sneak peeks at their upcoming lines of products. Things kick off with a look Lego The Lord of the Rings and Lego The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey play sets. As part of that they will show off their short videos that will soon air on Cartoon Network, have a scavenger hunt to build Bilbo Baggins, and a contest to build a scene from the Lord of the Rings trilogy for a trip to Legoland California. The company will also show off their upcoming Lego Lord of the Rings video game, Lego Superheroes line, and more. They will have multiple displays, one of which will include life size Lego versions of Gandalf and Bilbo (images with below press release). The Gandalf (Ian McKellen) model is over 6 feet tall, weighs 170 pounds, took 405 hours to complete and has 34,307 Lego bricks. The Bilbo (Martin Freeman) model is also over 6 feet tall, over 100 pounds, took 320 hours to build and has 21,112 bricks.

The Hobbit Scroll with 10 Scenes

Entertainment Weekly has posted "The Scroll" which is 10 different scenes from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in one long impressive almost painting that teases some of the highlights of the first film. The One Ring has posted a breakdown of the 10 images. If you have read the book, then familiar with it but otherwise consider it spoilers. The scenes in order are Gandalf showing up at Bag End, dinner with the dwarves, Goblin dinner time, climb up Misty Mountains, White Council at Rivendell, Gollum and Bilbo about to meet for the first time, escape from the wargs, Gandalf with Beorn the Skinchanger, Bilbo in Mirkwood forest, and last is escape from elves via barrels. Click image below to view full size or here for image with built in magnifier.

Warner Bros has also created a Wallpaper Generator app so can create your own computer wallpaper from The scroll. The app can be found here.

First Look at Lego The Hobbit Mini-Figs

The Hollywood Reporter has posted an image (below) that teases the upcoming release of Lego sets based on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Sets based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy has already been released but this is the first look the next wave of sets Lego is planning based on films. Chances are another look might be provided later in the week for the San Diego Comic-Con. Below, in order, are Gandalf, Dwalin, Bombur, Bofur, Bilbo and Balin.

New Hobbit Poster for SDCC

Peter Jackson has posted a new poster on his Facebook page to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in time for the San Diego Comic-Con. Jackson and others will be appearing at the Con to promote the movie next Saturday.

The Hobbit Wraps Principle Photography

Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (out 12/14/2012) and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (out 12/13/2013) have official wrapped. After 266 shoot days, The Hobbit has ended principle photography in New Zealand and now enters the long road of post-production. Weta and their team of magicians will do their work with editing, visual effects, sound effects, and a whole lot more. The actors may be mostly done but Peter Jackson and the crew is just getting started.
From Peter Jackson's Facebook page:

We made it! Shoot day 266 and the end of principal photography on The Hobbit. Thanks to our fantastic cast and crew for getting us this far, and to all of you for your support! Next stop, the cutting room. Oh, and Comic Con!
Cheers, Peter J

Congrats to the cast and crew of The Hobbit.

Weaving on Hobbit in 3D, Returning to Middle-Earth

In an interview with Collider, Hugo Weaving (Elrond) spoke about his recent movies with Last Ride, Cloud Atlas and The Hobbit. While light on details, he did talk glowingly of returning to the world of Middle-Earth and how he thought "will work incredibly well" for the films. The entire interview is here, The Hobbit related portions below.

What was it like to be on The Hobbit set, for the first time? Did it feel weird to be playing Elrond again, but 60 years before The Lord of the Rings? How was the tone and world different?
WEAVING: Yeah! In some ways, it was a lot of fun to go back and be on a Rivendell set again with Ian McKellan. It was really lovely to see some old friends and old faces again, and to go back into a similar world, which is tonally a little bit different. You’re in the same world, but the story has a different tone. Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh] are just lovely people, and there’s a particular frustratingly wonderful energy about working on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The project is so massive and there are so many people. It makes it frustrating for everyone because things just take time and you don’t know what’s happening. You don’t know what’s going on, despite all the best intentions, but the people are so lovely that you just accept, “Well, this is the way this particular world is.” You live from day to day and from moment to moment, doing the best you can. There’s a delightful atmosphere there, so it was lovely. I’ve literally just come back from there a couple days ago, having done post-production on that, so it was really nice to see everyone again.

What are your thoughts on the film shooting in 48fps and also in 3D? Did it help to immediately be able to see how it would look in playback?
WEAVING: Yeah, absolutely. I think the 3D will work incredibly well for The Hobbit. I don’t think it does for everything, and I don’t think it should for everything. To some extent, 3D is just a gimmick, but sometimes it works wonderfully well. With something like Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the Werner Herzog film, you think, “Why is this in 3D?,” but it’s actually wonderful in 3D. It’s a documentary, but it works incredibly well. And then, there are some other films where you think, “This might be in 3D, but the way in which it’s been put into 3D or the way in which it’s being used is too obvious or it seems gimmicky.” I don’t get a lot from the 3D experience, generally, but for certain films, I think it works really wonderfully well, and I suspect The Hobbit will be one of them. For that particular world, I think it’s probably a really fabulous natural exploration of it. With some other things, the 3D doesn’t work so well. I’d rather see something like Last Ride or a small film on a flat screen, rather than with black glasses. That’s impressive enough, as it is.

The Hobbit Entertainment Weekly Cover, Gallery

It has been a while since we have had anything cool come from the Hobbit outside of the production videos but thanks to the San Diego Comic-Con, that drought may come to an end. It starts with this week's Entertainment Weekly issue that is a preview of next week's con with 10 pictures to enjoy. Some are from filming, some seem to be frames from the movie but most are just the actors in full character makeup looking awesome. The pictures show Bilbo in Mirkwood Forest, Gandalf in front of Bags End, the company of Dwarves, Elrond, Galadriel, and more. The start of the gallery can be found here.

The Hobbit at SDCC 2012

Next Wednesday, the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con starts where Hollywood comes out for the geeks to promote their upcoming movies and television shows. The schedule is finally up for this year and the highlights include a 10th Anniversary panel for Firefly (oddly without any of the ladies attending), Iron Man 3 and The Hobbit. TV Shows, both new and current are also represented including Warehouse 13, Psych, Merlin and so forth. Comics, cartoons and toys are also represented but can get lost of the all the noise for the more famous events.

The Hobbit will have two panels. One is fan specific panel hosted by The One Ring Thursday morning. The other is the official panel from Warner Bros on Saturday. The 2 and half hour panel shares its time with Pacific Rim and Man of Steel so exactly when the Hobbit portion starts and how long it lasts is unknown. Since Director Peter Jackson, writer Phillipa Boyens, Andy Serkis (Gollum, 2nd unit director), Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Richard Armitage (Thorin), and possibly Guillermo del Toro (initial director, pre-production design) might be on hand, hopefully the movie will get a lion's share of the time. Below is the Hobbit related panels and descriptions. The full schedule is here.

Lego Lord of the Rings Video Chapter 2

The second chapter of Lego's video series promoting the upcoming release of Lego The Lord of the Rings Video Game is now out. This one takes us "Through the Mines of Moria" with the usual Lego light touch. From what I can tell this is a "new" video series in the sense that its not just lifting the footage from the game with slight edits but something unique that is used to summarize the major events of the movie and the game with a comedic touch. Chapter 1 is here.

Guardians of Middle-Earth Gameplay Trailer

Below is the latest trailer for Guardians of Middle-Earth video game that is coming to XBox Live and Playstation Network. The previous teaser trailer showed off a little but this is the first time we get to see gameplay footage which is in the DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) format where heros and their troops fight to press forward on a gameboard to destroy the opposing teams base.

A shadow grows over Middle-earth as the greatest armies of the Third Age prepare for the coming battle. Take up arms in the clash over Middle-earth with the most powerful heroes from the greatest fantasy epic of all time. Form memorable and unlikely alliances with and against friends as the wildly popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre comes to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

For more information, go to www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com.