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.

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.

Smaug Attacks Clip, New TV Spot, and Featurette for The Hobbit 3

Below are three new videos for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The first is a clip that shows Smaug attacking Laketown while the Bard tries to figure out how to stop him, the second video is a TV Spot promoting the IMAX version of the film while the last video is called "Memories of Middle-Earth."

The Hobbit Marathon Next Monday

Just a friendly reminder that you can see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies two days early if you are willing to buy a $30 ticket to a day long marathon of the three The Hobbit movies on December 15th at participating theaters. The marathon will start at 1pm with An Unexpected Journey, then 4:05 for The Desolation of Smaug and then at 7pm will be the The Battle of Five Armies. Click here to look up theaters close to you and to buy tickets.

Battle of the Five Armies Completes the Six Part Middle Earth Saga

Below is a new video to promote The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies as Peter Jackson and some of the cast discuss how the movie completes the six part Middle-Earth saga as the final film provides the connective tissue to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies World Premiere Set

In a video (below), some of the cast from The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies revealed that the World Premiere for the movie will be on December 1 in London, England at Leicaster Square. Considering most of the core cast and crew are either from the UK or from New Zealand probably most of them will be there. Part of it will include a live stream.

The Hobbit Heading To San Diego Comic-Con

Via a press release, Warner Bros has confirmed that The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies will be part of Warner Bros. panel showing off some of their movies starting at Hall H (the giant room used for the biggest panels) on Saturday, July 26th at 10am. Sometimes things from this get released on the web, but often they do not as it includes special footage meant only for the press to write about. They pretend its for fans in attendance but really its all about getting what works out to millions of free advertising for their films. Still maybe this year will be different since Peter Jackson will be attending and he has already teased that the teaser trailer for the film has been completed but doesn't have a release date.

The Hobbit's Tauriel Gets Statue, Stamp and Coin Collectibles

A few new collectibles are currently available for pre-order that focuses on the new character Tauriel. The character, as played by Evangeline Lilly, will first appear in next week's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Weta has created a 1/6 scale statue of the character that will ship by the end of the month for the cost of $275 and limited to a run of 1000. While expensive, it is a pretty piece. The One Ring has a large gallery of the piece here while you can go ahead and pre-order it here.

Besides the statue, New Zealand has also chosen to honor the new character. Much like last year, the NZ Post Office is releasing official coins and stamps depicting Tauriel, Legolas and Bard the Bowman. The items are technically legal tender in New Zealand but no outside the country. Not like it matters as they are meant to be collectibles anyway. You can find all that is available here.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Premiere Video (Updated)

Monday night was the world premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Los Angeles, California. The video has various hosts interviewing pretty most of the cast of the movie including new additions like Luke Evans along with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and more. Usually these things are rather dry as the purpose of the red carpet is mostly designed to pitch the movie to the media. Still nice to star gaze, especially when some of the gazing includes the incredible eye candy that is Evangeline Lilly.

Update: If, like me, you really don't have time to watch an hour and half long video, then check out the second video below which is WB's highlight reel from the premiere.

Complete Smaug the Dragon Revealed by Air New Zealand

So far the various TV spots and trailers for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has only revealed small portions of the full CGI creature. For the first time, thanks to a time lapse video from Air New Zealand (below), we now have a look at the complete dragon as he was installed on one of their Boeing 777-300ER. The 177 feet long image, according to Weta Digital Visual Effects Eric Saindon, "Capturing Smaug’s presence and the amazing detail in his design while accommodating the windows, doors and wing shape was quite a different experience for us. It was great to see Smaug brought to life, and he appears even larger in the film!"

Journey Through Middle-Earth With Google Chrome

Google and Warner Bros have teamed together to create a new interactive app for Google Chrome web browser that lets you explore Middle Earth. It starts as a very detailed map of Middle-Earth that kind of has a video game element to hit. Currently on three areas are available - Trollshaw Forrest, Rivendell, and Gol Guldur. Those location match areas from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I would be surprised if other areas are added to match the other films down the line. You can find the "Google Chrome Experiment" here.

Air New Zealand's New The Hobbit Ad

Last year Air New Zealand created an airline safety video/ad that took advantage of New Zealand's close association with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. They have now released their follow-up that is more or less a straight up ad but with lots of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug references. There is no new movie footage but its a cute ad that ends with a great slogan of "Middle Earth is Close Than You Think".

Denny's Joins with Desolation of Smaug for New Menu, Look at Beorn's Home

Much like last year, Denny has joined with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug to create a Hobbit inspired menu in time for the Holidays. Just as important for fans is exclusive content that looks at the making of the movie starting with a look at Beorn's house which is built to the scale of a near giant compared to the much smaller hobbit and dwarves. The video and press release on the new menu is below.


Press release:

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek, Fan Event Video and New Poster

Today was a good day for The Hobbit fans. Warner Bros held a "fan event" (1st video below) for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug that let people at four theaters ask questions to the cast and crew. Those that participated included Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Peter Jackson, Luke Evans, and others. During the event a sneak peak was shown (2nd video) as was production video #12 (3rd video below). Last but not least a new poster is out that shows off all the new cast members.

Highlights from the fan event:
- The 10 weeks of pickups over the summer included filming the Battle of Five Armies and footage for Desolation of Smaug.
- Evangeline Lilly said Tinkerbell influences how she played Tauriel as "she's tiny and she's cute but she is fierce. You do not wanna get on the wrong side of Tink." She figured since her character is young by elf standards, she tried to avoid copying Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett.
- Even though Legolas is 60 years younger than age in Lord of the Rings, for an elf those 60 years are a "blink of an eye" so had no influence on how played character.
- Luke Evans explained that while it appears he is holding his bow incorrectly, it is actually correct for that type of bow due to the longer arrows.
- Said the last day of the shoot was emotional due to goodbyes to cast and crew and more but "underneath it all is a sense of relief" as moves on to post production on "putting the second movie together" which he was looking forward too.
- Never released a blooper reel for Lord of the Rings but open to the idea. Main problem is a bunch of 35mm film to go through to find them and the quality of the images will likely be similar to VHS

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer Attached to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

A creative tweet (below) from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb reveals that the movie's first trailer will be attached to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug when it is released on December 13, 2013.

pic.twitter.com/K3v62T6Npl

— Marc Webb (@MarcW) October 29, 2013

The translation:
"WATCH FOR THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 TRAILER IN FRONT OF THE HOBBIT IN 3D"
I don't know if that means its only for 3D or if it will appear in front of all versions of the movie. Probably doesn't really matter as sure it will also debut online a few days before. Still it is a nice little extra incentive to see the next addition to The Hobbit Trilogy.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Official Synopsis

Turns out the Warner Bros. has not released the official synopsis for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug until now. Normally these get the released around the same time they first start teasing the movie so not sure why the delay.

Of note is the Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, and Hugo Weaving are not mentioned. This could mean they have no role or the role is much smaller than even in An Unexpected Journey. I suspect they are not in the movie as there was no means to insert them into the middle story events. All the characters are still on the same journey they were when left Rivendell in Journey so really no reason to swing back to those three in an organic way. Below is the synopsis.

New Zealand - Home of Middle-Earth

As part of the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign to promote tourism in the country, Warner Bros has posted a great video below with the actors of The Hobbit trilogy discussing the beautiful land that helped Middle-Earth come to life. I especially enjoyed how in short portions they would show a camera sequence used in the movie with the same sequence as it was filmed highlighting that while the movie had a lot of special effects, the land itself didn't really require any.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Event Excerpt

A few weeks ago a live event was held to promote the new DVD/Blu-ray release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The hour long presentation with Peter Jackson included a tour of the post-production studio and then a Q&A session that was mostly questions from Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogy cast. At the end was the good stuff which was uncompleted and behind the scenes footage for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Sadly the video below does not have any of the goodies hopefully they will come later. If you do have the Blu-ray combo set of the movie, you can still watch a video of the live event here.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek Online

Last Sunday Peter Jackson hosted an hour long event to that ended with a brief sneak peak at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug that is coming out on December 13th. An edited version of the event is now up at official The Hobbit website but it still requires you have an ultraviolet code from one of the Blu-ray sets. Also keep in mind the code can only be used three times. The content is dated to last until 5/24/2013/. So if you have your ultra violet code, click here and if you don't you will have to just go with the summary.

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)