The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Available Now

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
Just a little reminder that as of now, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is available nationwide (and few other countries) in multiple different formats without that Star Trek crap that Paramount pulls on their releases where special features vary from store to store and format to format. Nope, here it is thankfully the same. In this case the special features are a behind the scenes look at the film based mostly on Jackson's video blogs and music video. The real goodies are being saved the Extended Edition due sometime around Christmas. Hit the links to order from Amazon, with note on average price for each format.

Versions: BR + DVD + Ultraviolet ($23) | 3D BR + BR + DVD + Ultraviolet ($25) | 2 disc DVD ($17) | Limited Edition Book Ends + 3D Combo Pack ($80)

HobbitCon 2 in Bonn, Germany – April 19-21

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 7, 2014 at 1:43 pm by greendragon  - 

As staffer Garfeimao stated in the post below, convention season is getting going! The same weekend that some TORn staff will be at WonderCon in Anaheim, there is a very exciting convention taking place in Germany – HobbitCon! Message boarder kiwifan attended last year, and shared the fun of this exclusive event with us.  Here’s what she had to say:

“The first HobbitCon last Easter was such a fabulous event that there will be another one this year, much to the delight of the many fans who wished for this happen. Incidentally, the eight Dwarf actors who were among the ‘star guests’ last year enjoyed themselves so much that they are all returning for this one! Anyone interested in reading about our impressions and adventures at last year’s HobbitCon can read more at the message boards, in a thread started by Rosie-with-the-ribbons on the ‘TORn moots and other events’ board.

Although the convention takes place in Germany (at the Maritim Hotel, Bonn), it’s the only international event of this magnitude that focuses exclusively on The Hobbit and other Tolkien-related topics, and according to the HobbitCon organisers, the majority of those who have already bought tickets come from all over the world — other European countries, Russia, America, and even Japan!

Actors present at HobbitCon 2 will be:

Jed Brophy (Nori)Adam Brown (Ori)John Callen (Oin)Mark Hadlow (Dori)Peter Hambleton (Gloin)Stephen Hunter (Bombur)William Kircher (Bifur)Graham McTavish (Dwalin)Dean O’Gorman (Fili)Ken Stott (Balin)and Mark Atkin, who is Richard Armitage’s stunt double as Thorin.

All the actors will be on stage several times in their respective panels and, in some cases, in a couple of comedy shows as well, which, if they are anything like the one last year, will have the audiences in stitches throughout.

Moreover, WETA Workshop’s creative genius Sir Richard Taylor will be giving two talks and two workshops in which he’ll transform a volunteer member of the audience into a Middle-earth creature!

Also present will be Royd Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s great-grandson, who’ll give two panels, and Emil Johansson, the creator of the LotR Project, who’ll talk about The Science of Middle-earth, The Hobbit book and the movie.

Mark Ferguson (who played Gil-galad in The Fellowship of the Ring) will again act as Master of Ceremonies in his inimitable style. Larry D. Curtis, TORn’s own MrCere, will give several talks on The Hobbit and his experiences as an embedded reporter on the film set in New Zealand.

In the Choir Workshop, held in English and German, you can learn the ‘Song of the Lonely Mountain’. A number of talks and workshops on a great variety of topics will be held in German, but several of the workshops will be conducted in both English and German (as indicated by the small letters ‘E’ and ‘D’ in the respective boxes in the schedule).

The film The Hunt for Gollum will be shown at HobbitCon, and the fan fantasy project Myrrdin will be introduced in a panel and a workshop by the film makers. Another screening will be of the Russian film parody The Trouble of the Rings Returns King Size (in Russian with optional English and German subtitles).

The Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft (DTG, that is the German Tolkien Society) will have their own rooms and separate activities. Last year, among other things, they offered a Tolkien quiz (and I, with considerable help from Rosie-with-the-ribbons, won a small plastic collectible figurine of Grinnah the Goblin).

On Saturday and Sunday evening there will be parties and a concert; a Costume Contest is scheduled for Sunday evening, and there will be an Art Show featuring Tolkien-related fan artwork. Many sellers will offer merchandise galore, and you can get autographs and be photographed with your favourite actors (or all of them at once in a group photo) — lots of opportunities to spend money!

The programme (subject to changes, however, since Manu ‘Azog’ Bennett had to cancel, alas) as well as ticket information (tickets for the entire weekend or for any one of the three days) can be found at HobbitCon’s website. As the online ticket shop closed on Monday April 7th, those who don’t have tickets yet and spontaneously decide to attend this marvellous event will have to come to the Maritim Hotel to purchase them directly, from Friday afternoon April 18th onward. The organisers have assured me that there will still be convention tickets and hotel rooms available by then. [But you may want to double-check before travelling to Germany!]

Hoping to see many of you there!”

* * * * *

Thanks to kiwifan for sharing her thoughts and excitement! If you’re planning on going, and would like to meet up with other ‘TORnadoes’ whilst you’re there, you can always head on over to the message boards and start a thread to find out who else will be there!

Posted in Adam Brown, Conventions, Crew News, Dean O'Gorman, Events, Graham McTavish, Hobbit Cast News, Hobbit Movie, Jed Brophy, John Callen, Ken Stott, Lord of the Rings, LotR Cast News, LotR Movies, Mark Hadlow, Meet Ups, Other Cast, Peter Hambleton, Richard Taylor, Stephen Hunter, The Hobbit, WETA Workshop, William Kircher on April 7, 2014 by greendragon

Daniel Falconer: Smaug is the grand-daddy of dragons

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 7, 2014 at 8:53 pm by Demosthenes  - 

SciFiNow spoke to Daniel Falconer, Weta Workshop designer and author of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon (order it here if you haven’t already) about the process of creating what he describes as “the grand-daddy” of fantasy dragons.

He also reveals what Benedict Cumberbatch brought to the role, and why he feels Peter Jackson understands exactly what is required from a fantasy epic.

Don’t forget to click the link to read the entire interview.

SciFiNow: Dragons seem to be enjoying a bit of a renaissance these days; what sets Smaug apart?

Falconer: I think Smaug is special because, at least as far as western dragons go, he really is the archetype upon which all modern fantasy dragons are based. It was something everyone at Weta was very mindful of when the first forays into designing him were being made. He had a lot to live up to. There have been many great dragons on our screens over the years, but I personally always felt that many of them owed a lot to what Tolkien imbued in Smaug. Those qualities have influenced the evolution of most western dragons since. Smaug is an object of awe and dread. He is ruthless and cruel, cunning and proud, avaricious and predatory, but his power and savage beauty are also attractive.

I think we are drawn to Dragons because throughout our histories and fantasies we have tended to ascribe great power to them. Something actor Benedict Cumberbatch said when I interviewed him for the book really struck a chord with me when he observed that Smaug’s allure is actually seductive. The sheer power and superiority he exudes over everything else in his world is seductive, but it is also corrupting. So, I think part of Smaug’s specialness and why we were all so looking forward to seeing him on the big screen has to do with several decades’ worth of build-up. We have seen so many wonderful dragons, but this guy is the grand-daddy of western fantasy wyrms.

SciFiNow: What were the pressures of bringing such a popular creature to life?

Falconer: With great expectation comes great pressure. If there was one common factor I found in talking to everyone associated with creating Smaug for the screen, it was an eagerness to live up to the vision conjured by Tolkien’s characterization. This dragon had to be truly jaw-dropping in every way.

That was the artistic pressure at work, the striving for excellence that, on a project involving hundreds of people, is infectious and has a way of yielding something greater than the sum of its parts. But there was also the technical pressure. I’m a writer and designer, so I’m no expert when it comes to technology of special effects, but I learned a lot as I was researching and writing this book, talking to my colleagues at Weta Digital, Weta Workshop and Park Road Post.

Peter Jackson imagined Smaug on a truly colossal scale. If he were a living, physical being he could waddle out to the airport and stretch out his wings to shade a 747 jumbo-jet under each one with room to spare, but the camera also had to be able to get very close to him, zooming in on his bus-sized head or just his eye and still read detail and complexity. That meant sculpting and painting in all that minute detail that makes a digital creature feel real, down to the last tiny scale, on something with a vast surface area. Every scale was created by hand. How much would be texture mapped and how much would be sculpted into the model itself? Was it even possible in the limited time frame of movie production? And would such an information-heavy model be unwieldy to animate and render?

[Read More]

Posted in Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Falconer, Hobbit Movie, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on April 7, 2014 by Demosthenes
Source: SciFiNow

Pre-Order EXCLUSIVE Day 2: Free Bard!

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Bring home The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and take part in an Adventure

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is released THIS WEEK on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download!Having survived the beginning of their unexpected journey, the Company travels East, encountering along the way skin-changer Beorn and a swarm of giant Spiders in the treacherous forest of Mirkwood.  After escaping capture by the dangerous Wood-elves, the Dwarves journey to Lake-town, and finally to the Lonely Mountain itself, where they must face the greatest danger of all-a creature more terrifying than any other; one which will test not only the depth of their courage but the limits of their friendship and the wisdom of the journey itself – The Dragon Smaug.

Richard Armitage chats with the German Tolkien Society

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 11, 2014 at 6:44 pm by Demosthenes  - 

Chairman Tobias M. Eckrich of the German Tolkien Society (Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft) recently chatted with Richard Armitage about his time on the Hobbit set. What he says about the Erebor interior scenes in the confrontation with Smaug being shot inside nothing but a great green box is interesting — one wonders whether a theatre background helps with the adjustment to such an absence of visual cues.

Don’t forget to follow the link at the bottom for the complete interview. You can find the English transcript immediately below the German translation.

DTG: Did you know there is a petition on Facebook, to prevent Thorin from dying in the movies? What do you think about that?

RA: I think you’ve just given away a massive spoiler for everyone who hasn’t read the book (laughs). I didn’t know there was a petition and I have to say I think it’s going to be fruitless, unfortunately.

DTG: How did your involvement with “The Hobbit” come about? Did you go to a regular casting or were you approached by the film makers?

RA: It was a fairly traditional process, actually. I auditioned and was approved by the film makers and then I met Peter Jackson […] and that was it, I was casted [sic], it was fairly straightforward.

DTG: Is being part of “The Hobbit” like any other acting job or is there something special about the project?

RA: I don´t think it has been like any other acting job that I´ve ever done. I mean it´s very rare that you get to play one character over three movies with a continuing storyline. And for such a long period of time and away from home, on the other side of the planet, so it´s not like anything I´ve done before. There was also lots of material that needed researching and has such an interest in complicated characters that needed preparation and transformation. So yes, it´s quite unique.

DTG: Was there a scene that was particularly difficult to shoot, in terms of acting or external influences?

RA: I think the end of the second movie when the dwarves fight the dragon in the mountain, that was complicated because nothing existed. It was just a green box, there was no dragon, there were no forges, and we were completely relying on Peter´s description and the art department creating images for us so that we could visualise the world we were entering and really see the beast that there was in our mind´s eye.

[Read More]

Posted in Characters, Fellowship of the Ring, Green Books, Hobbit Book, Hobbit Movie, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, LotR Books, LotR Movies, Return of the King, Richard Armitage, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, The Two Towers on April 11, 2014 by Demosthenes
Source: Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft

‘Laketown – Entering the World of Men’ Featurette

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 8, 2014 at 7:53 pm by Aragorn the Elfstone  - 

Warner Brothers UK has posted a short new featurette on YouTube showcasing Laketown and Bard. Curiously, while the video appears to be meant as an advertisement for the new Blu-ray/DVD release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the video itself is not present in any of the bonus features on the set.

The same is the case for the previously posted video “Beorn the Shapeshifter“. The Blu-ray/DVD releases do, however, feature an all new 40 minute documentary titled “Peter Jackson Invites You to the Set”.

Posted in Blu-Ray, DVDs, Hobbit Movie, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luke Evans, Merchandise, MGM, Miscellaneous, New Line Cinema, Peter Jackson, Production, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Warner Bros. on April 8, 2014 by Aragorn the Elfstone Source: YouTube