Peter Jackson "Winged It" While Filming The Hobbit Trilogy (Updated)

The Hobbit trilogy director Peter Jackson admitted that due to a lack of prep time, he had to kind of make it up as he went while filming The Hobbit trilogy (video below). The main cause was Guillermo del Toro having the leave late in pre-production forcing many of the designs for the film being restarted from scratch while also trying to meet a hard start deadline for filming. As a result everyone in the cast, including Jackson, would have to take each day as it came without the advance (nearly 3 year) prep they had for The Lord of the Ring trilogy. I assume this new info is part of The Appendices that came with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition and as another site mentioned, the honestly is rare and refreshing. While some sites have glommed onto this confession to explain why The Hobbit wasn't that good, to me the problem was there simply wasn't enough source material for three films. Without the stretching I suspect most would have found the films to be a perfect companion to LOTR. If anything the confession is a sign of just how fantastic Peter Jackson, WETA and everyone in New Zealand are at their job as even at their "worst" The Hobbit films were better than a mass majority of films released in that 3 year period. Their idea of a "rush" job is better than most directors best efforts with all the prep time in the world.


Update: The mainstream media failing to do their usual jobs of not providing context (cause context would prevent them from making mountains out of molehills) has resulted in Weta and Peter Jackson to release the below statement in response to all the negative headlines based on the snippet of video below. Those few minutes were taken from the four hours of behind the scenes footage in The Appendices (which I highly recommend watching) that would have provided more info not just on the problems they faced but the solutions they devised.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition Available Now

Just a friendly reminder that the final Middle-Earth extended edition is now available where ever Blu-ray and DVD is sold. The movie includes about 25 minutes of extra footage edited back into the film with completed special effects, score and sound effects. More importantly (to me anyway), it includes the final edition to The Appendices which is quite simply the most comprehensive behind the scenes footage you can find for any film. If you are a movie buff who likes to know a little bit about how the sausage is made, all the extended editions are worth buying just for that. Its all content without all the cheer leading "this movies is the greatest, these actors are the greatest, please buy/watch this movie!" garbage that takes up most behind the scenes stuff. Nope this is as pure as Hollywood is able to get without a marketing flack doing the editing but there is a PR flack watching as of course all the on set friction is removed and you know there had to be arguments. What job doesn't after all. Still the level of detail is greater than anything else released as extras that I can think of. As far as pricing, the average price I have been seeing is $22.99 including Amazon so hopefully that tidbit will help you on where to get it.

The Hobbit Trilogy Extended Edition In Theaters Trailer

Below is the trailer to promote The Hobbit Trilogy Extended Edition that will show in select theaters in October. Its not all three movies in one day but each movie on three days spread over two an eight day period. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey EE will be on Monday October 5, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on Wednesday October 7 and finally The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on Tuesday October 13. For full details hit up Fathom Events.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition Set for November 17 Release

MGM and Warner Bros has finally revealed the cover art and release date for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition home video release as November 17th with an early digital HD release on October 20. It also verified that the additional 20 minutes of footage was enough to cause the film to get an R-rating. Really though if parents were okay with their kids seeing the PG-13 theatrical cut, it is doubtful there is anything anymore violent that should cause concern as the MPAA's rating system is really more of a numbers game than anything. As in literally if see X acts of violence then its PG-13 but X+1 makes it an R. It doesn't mean the additional stuff is "more" violent, it just means that there are more scenes of the same level of violence which for an hour plus long battle sequence shouldn't be a surprise for anyone.

Back to the Blu-ray and DVD release, the real reason (to me) to be interested isn't so much the additional footage but the sadly final parts to The Appendices which are quite simply the greatest movie behind the scenes documentary ever created and really all 12 parts over all six extended edition movies should be a must see for any film student or just really big film fan. In addition a box set of The Hobbit Extended Edition will also be released on the same day. Currently only the regular Blu-ray edition with Digital HD copy is available for pre-order on Amazon.

The Hobbit: Extended Edition Trilogy Heading to Theaters

This October all three extended editions of The Hobbit trilogy will be showing in theaters this October over three consecutive nights.The full details have yet to be revealed including which theater chains and their locations that are participating, that dates could change. From Faraway Entertainment:

Fathom Events and Warner Bros. are partnering to present the extended editions of all three Hobbit movies. Shown over three nights, the epic Peter Jackson trilogy will be the first time the extended editions have ever been released in theatres. The films follow hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is convinced by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to accompany thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Also included will be an exclusive introduction by director Peter Jackson. First night showing starts Monday, October 5th, 2015 at 7:30pm local.

The event is part of the promotion for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition which is set for release sometime in November with 30 minutes of extra footage.

Everything Wrong with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

For your enjoyment, here is the amusing countdown of "Everything Wrong with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies." As usual this is in fun and purposely over (if accurately) over analyzes the movie.

Honest Trailer and HISHE for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

For your amusement here are the Honest Trailer and How It Should Have Ended videos for the just released on home video The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Home Video Out Now

Just a friendly reminder that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is now available (at least in the US) on Blu-ray and DVD. Hit the links here to order from Amazon or at least get the details on the extra features. To order rom Amazon, click here: 3D Combo Pack | Combo Pack | DVD

So far it seems that thanks to cover gimmicks and the like the average cost depending on store for the Combo Pack is around $25, the 3D combo pack is around $28. and DVD for $15. The extended edition is still expected sometime around Christmas time but no details yet.

Visual Effects of The Battle of the Five Armies

Weta Digital has posted to their YouTube channel the below video that provides a bit of a peek in how they did some of amazing VFX sequences in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Home Video Release Details

Warner Bros. has now released the details on the home video release of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies theatrical version. The movie will be out on March 24, 2015 and come in Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack (3D BR + BR + DVD + digital copy), Blu-ray Combo Pack (BR + DVD + digital copy) and DVD. The special features titles are listed but no specifics on what each will show but expect it to be the usual behind the scenes/sales pitch stuff of previous releases. The detailed behind the scenes stuff is going to be part of the Extended Edition that will be released at the end of the year. To pre-order from Amazon, click here: 3D Combo Pack | Combo Pack (not yet available) | DVD

Special features:
- Recruiting the Five Armies
- Completing Middle-earth
- The Last Goodbye: Behind the Scenes
- The Last Goodbye Music Video
- New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth, Part 3

Behinds the Scenes of the Visual Effects for Five Armies Battle

Below is a new video that looks into the how some of the special effects were done for the Battle of the Five Armies sequence and Smaug the Dragon. Sadly the movie didn't get a Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination it deserved with the slot going to the less deserving Interstellar.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Gets Sound Editing Oscar Nom

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies only received a single Oscar nomination this year in the category of Sound Editing. Personally I think it also deserved a nod in the Visual Effects category. Sadly it is unlikely to win as the technical categories (VFX, Sound, etc) get voted on by the entire Academy which is mostly comprised of 60+ old white men actors and as a result they tend to just vote according to what their favorite film is that had nothing to do with the category itself. As a result its really between American Sniper and Birdman. The full list of Oscar nominations can be found here.

Sound Editing
American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar – Richard King
Unbroken – Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

The Hobbit 3 Opens Big

The box office data is in for the first weekend of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and the movie has done very well in its first weekend. Considering the over all light competition, I suspect the film will own the box office through the holidays. For the three day weekend the film opened to $54.7 million in the US and $89.1 once include its Wednesday and Thursday sales. Foreign sales add another $269 million for a worldwide total of $358.1 million. There is a good chance the film could cross the $1 billion threshold but that will depend in part on how well the film continues to do in the US.

Leaving Middle-Earth Featurette

Below is a new video to promote The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as the cast and crew say good-bye to the franchise.

Three Now Playing TV Spots and Mini Review for The Hobbit 3

Below are three new TV spots for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies that is now officially released in the United States. I saw the movie as part of The Hobbit Marathon on Monday and I did enjoy it. Having said that, I didn't enjoy it enough to spend the effort writing a more formal review of the film so here is my quick summation.

Like the other two movies, Five Armies doesn't come close to the quality and emotional depth of The Lord of the Rings but that didn't surprise me because the book didn't have that either. Jackson caps the movie with an epic battle sequence with a great fights that completes the character arcs for the primary characters with an ending that that ties into Fellowship of the Ring in a rather predictable and forgettable way. If you liked or were somewhat entertained by the first two movies than this movie will easily satisfy you has it has the most visual stuff happening on screen (even if the actually story beats are the most simplistic of the three films).

My main complaint about the film is the same I think most people had - there simply wasn't enough depth material to warrant three films and the result of all that stretching weakens what otherwise would have been timeless films. Instead The Hobbit Trilogy will probably land in the same area as the Star Wars prequels where people know they exist but can't be bothered to watch them when they can enjoy the superior other trilogy instead.

Stephen Colbert Interviews Smaug the Dragon

On Thursday, The Colbert Report had a surprise guest in the form of Smaug the Dragon. Not in a costume or as some voice but Weta actually used their CGI Smaug creation to do an "on stage" interview with Stephen Colbert that was both fantastic to watch and quite hilarious. In part because it seems the voice of Smaug, Benedict Cumberbatch, came to play as he made digs at Colbert, himself, Sherlock and Martin Freeman. The result is fantastic and highly recommend you watch.

Five More TV Spots for The Battle of the Five Armies

Here are five more TV spots for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Final Trailer for THe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Below is the final trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (and the Middle-Earth Saga) that also kinds of acts like a summary of the previous two films.

Seventeen Years of the Middle Earth Saga Featurette

Here is a short video that attempts to summarize the 17 years of the Middle-Earth Saga started when The Lord of the Rings started filming and ends with the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Stephen Colbert Covers The Hobbit For Entertainment Weekly

With the final Middle-Earth movie about to come out, mega fan Stephen Colbert introduced his take on The Hobbit characters for this week's Entertainment Weekly magazine. He was in full makeup and costume as Gandalf, Bilbo and Legolas and interviewed Peter Jackson for the issue. Colbert's love of Middle-Earth can not be over estimated as he would occasionally make references to the movies and the books at a kind of level that pretty much only a Tolkien scholar would understand while hosting the soon to end The Colbert Report. The show ending in the same week that the final Hobbit film comes out seems kind of apropos as Colbert moves on to replace David Letterman next year (and tragically gets neutered in the process). Below is the segment the covers from Report.