The Hobbit Box Office Update

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.

Despite a bunch of new releases, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug remains on top of the box office for the third week in a row. Practically unheard of nowadays. The movie has benefited from the good reviews and word of mouth. Probably didn't hurt that all the other films released in December has been more for Oscar bait then big budget action fair as the studios released all those during the crowded summer. Since they are using the same game plan in 2014, the final Hobbit film will likely enjoy the same lack of meaningful competition.

Any case for this final weekend of 2013, The Hobbit took in $29.8 million for a US total of $190.3 million. Add in the foreign gross of $614 million for a worldwide total of $614.1 million. It is assumed the movie will just barely cross the $1 billion threshold joining its brother The Unexpected Journey in that rare list of movies.

Pre-order Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 3, 2014 at 1:29 am by Kelvarhin  - 

Witness the return of Sauron’s army to Mordor, the attack on the Black Gate and the origins behind Talion’s quest for vengeance in the Official Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Story Trailer – Banished from Death.

Also today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions confirmed the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ship date for October 7, 2014, and revealed the game’s official box art and pre-order bonus pack.

Pre-order bonus details:

Fans who pre-order Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will get access at the game’s launch to The Dark Ranger exclusive bonus pack. Available at all participating retailers, the pack will provide exclusive content and challenges for players including:

Dark Ranger Character Skin Begin your own quest for vengeance with a new Dark Ranger character skin that embodies Talion’s darker side“Test of Power” Challenge Mode Face Sauron’s Captains and defeat them to earn powerful Runes and gain a head start in the gameAccess to Exclusive Leaderboards for “Test of Power” Challenge Mode Test your speed, skill and strategy and measure yourself against your friends on the leaderboards in this challenge mode

The Palantir app, which is available on the Apple Story here, will sync with game assets and the final game, to reveal additional layers of information, insights and fan-authored content, creating a unique second-screen experience. Enable Palantir’s sync mode while the Official Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Story Trailer – Banished from Death plays to try it out.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers a dynamic game environment where the player orchestrates their personal plan of vengeance as they bend Mordor to their will. The game begins on the night of Sauron’s return to Mordor, as his Black Captains brutally execute the Rangers of the Black Gate. Players become Talion, a ranger who loses his family and everything he holds dear, only to be returned from death by a mysterious Spirit of vengeance. As Talion’s personal vendetta unfolds, players uncover the mystery of the Spirit that compels him, discover the origin of the Rings of Power and confront the ultimate nemesis. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will be available on October 7, 2014 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.

            

Posted in Gaming, Headlines, Merchandise, Video games on April 3, 2014 by Kelvarhin

Speaking of Legolas…

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 4, 2014 at 6:37 am by Demosthenes  - 

Here’s the second of our four semi-final contestants in our 2014 March Madness contest — Legolas, member of the Fellowship of the Ring.

In this piece, Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez discusses the paradox of Legolas — “both old and young, both wise and yet inexplicably ignorant of the wide world around him”.

Don’t forget to click the link at the bottom to continue to the full essay.

by Michael Martinez

I decided to set myself a challenge and write something about Legolas which hasn’t been said before. There seems to be a lot of curiosity about this Elf. People want to know all sorts of things about him, such as what color was his hair, who was his mother, when was he born, was he at the Battle of Five Armies?

If someone were to produce a television series based on the Fellowship of the Ring (the company, not the book), they would have to come up with their own history for Legolas. The inevitable exploration of each character’s background would result in episodes where Gandalf first learns that Middle-earth is dangerous even for Maiar (say, within a year after he steps off the boat); where Aragorn tracks down his first Orc; where Gimli learns to cope with being the son of Gloin; where Frodo remembers the day his parents drowned; where Pippin watches as his sister Pearl takes Lalia the Fat for her last ray of sunshine; where Merry goes into the Old Forest for the first time; where Sam capers about with Rosie Cotton and her brothers, and he first realizes he loves her; and where Boromir tries to come to terms with the fact that he’ll never be King of Gondor.

What would Legolas’ past conflict be? What sort of experience would an immortal Wood-elf have such that it would help define the character of Legolas as he revealed himself to the Fellowship? There is really only one moment of doubt for Legolas in the story that Tolkien did tell us. That was when he recognized the Balrog. That is not to say Legolas was always sure of what to do. In typical Elf fashion he does not give Aragorn clear advice on what to do when they and Gimli are pursuing the Orcs which have seized Merry and Pippin. “My heart bids me go on,” he says. “But we must hold together. I will follow your counsel.”

Legolas’ moment of doubt before the Balrog was a defining event. He panicked. He recognized the Balrog for what it was and lost heart. “Ai! Ai!” wailed Legolas. “A Balrog1 A Balrog is come!” He dropped his arrow to the ground, rather than shoot the thing. Nonetheless, the encounter may have better prepared him for confronting the flying Nazgul over Anduin. Legolas had leaped up the bank and drawn an arrow, seeking a target. “Elbereth Gilthoniel!” he cried when he sensed the approach of the flying Nazgul. He was startled and moved by fear, but now he had greater courage.

[Read More]

Posted in Characters, Fellowship of the Ring, Green Books, Hobbit Book, Lord of the Rings, LotR Books, Return of the King, The Hobbit, The Two Towers on April 4, 2014 by Demosthenes
Source: Xenite.org

Behind the Scenes of the Barrel Escape

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.

Below is a video posted by Wired that gets into the complexity of what seems relatively simply on screen but really is extremely complicated behind the scenes, in this case the barrel escape sequence in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

New Desolation of Smaug TV Spot, Evangeline Lilly Interview, Smaug Clip and VFX Challenges

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out now (as TV spot below reminds us) and already it has enjoyed a great first day with $8.8 million take for the midnight shows in the US. The current estimate is the movie is on track for a record $80 million weekend but no idea what the worldwide take will be.

The cast continues to make the talk show rounds (next 2 videos below). Evangeline Lilly appeared on The Daily Show to discuss the movie with Jon Stewart, teasing him about his complete lack of knowledge of the film while Benedict Cumberbatch popped up on Conan O'Brien. The interview itself was ok but the main but was the first real clip with Smaug. Its very brief as a portion of it was padded with stuff already shown in the trailers.

Over at THR, Weta's Joe Letteri discussed the challenges they faced creating the scenes with Smaug. Part of the problem was the impressive size as Smaug ("twice as big as a 747") with unique antomy that had to be taken in account when creating him in the computer. While you don't see it, they actually create a digital being complete with skeletal structure and muscles to help create a look of realistic movement. Since he has wings and other fantasy elements, that required often hand done animation to achieve the final effects. As to that the gold pile, "We had to simulate all the gold coins, every time he moved. Sometimes it was a little, sometimes it was a lot, but it ended up being over a billion gold coins. During some of the action sequences, threre were hundreds of millions of coins moving at once." Another difficulty was the barrel scene that often had to be completely re-created in the computer from the water, to the actors or replacing them digitally. More details here.

In defense of Thorin Oakenshield

The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 3, 2014 at 9:08 am by Demosthenes  - 

We’re into the semi-final match-ups in our 2014 Middle-earth March Madness contest. As part of it, I thought it apt to examine each of our four finalists in turn, starting with our questing Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield.

In this piece, published a while back over on the site of our friends Heirs of Durin, DarkJackal asserts that Thorin unjustly gets a bad rap from readers of The Hobbit for events following the death of Smaug, and that there’s more to his motivations than meet the eye.

Don’t forget to click the link at the bottom to continue to the full essay.

by DarkJackal

Thorin is often criticized for the choices he makes after the death of Smaug, and the average reader is rarely sympathetic with his refusal to share the treasure with the people of Lake-town. But when I read the story, I find it hard not to side with him. This essay is an attempt to justify my reaction. [Note: This is based on my reactions to the original Hobbit story only, without factoring in the material from the Appendices, Unfinished Tales, or the film.]

While he is never entirely a villain, Thorin Oakenshield becomes temporarily cast as one due to circumstance. From the beginning, the character possesses a strong sense of self-importance, and a gruff impatience which is not entirely endearing. By the time the dragon has been destroyed, it is already clear he is an inconsistent hero, occasionally brave and heedless of danger, but just as often shirking the riskiest activities, and letting a small hobbit face them. After the Lonely Mountain is reclaimed, his character becomes even less appealing.

Because of pride, and an unwillingness to bend to the will of outsiders, he commits his followers to a desperate battle. At one point, even Gandalf stands against him. Given the wizard’s status, readers know the dwarf must be doing something wrong if he has earned this stamp of disapproval. What appears to be a flaw in his character culminates in a deadly rage against Bilbo. But exactly how did the exiled king shift from protagonist to antagonist?

To answer this question, it is first important to note that although Bilbo may be the main character, it is actually the lesser protagonists who move the plot along. The quest is organized by Gandalf (who has his own hidden motives), while the journey is driven forward by Thorin’s desire to reclaim his kingdom. Bilbo goes along for the ride, partly to live up to Gandalf’s recommendation of him as a burglar, but mostly because he is seeking something intangible; a connection to his ancestors via a discovery of his more adventurous self.

Thorin is guided even more strongly by ancestral expectations, but his goals are very tangible. He wants the Lonely Mountain, the horde of treasure that lies within it, and the heirloom Arkenstone, as well as the restoration of his people to their rightful home. A keen sense of pride is linked to each of these goals, and we find out he is unwilling to settle for anything less than achieving all of them.

To say Bilbo is the hero of the tale, and Smaug the villain, oversimplifies matters. Bilbo is not initially possessed of heroic qualities, but bravery and self-sacrifice come to him over the course of the book. There are many antagonists that serve as foils to Bilbo. Practically everything harries the hobbit, including trolls, goblins, Gollum, wargs, and spiders.

After having bested these opponents, Bilbo must face the dragon. His own triumph over fear (manifested in their face-to-face conversation) is more important to his character’s growth than the actual slaying of the beast, and it is left to Bard, a more traditional human hero, to stand before the villain. But although Bilbo is not directly responsible for Smaug’s demise, his discovery of the dragon’s weakness (passed along to Bard by the thrush bird) plays an important part.

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Posted in Green Books, Hobbit Book, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Tolkien on April 3, 2014 by Demosthenes
Source: Heirs of Durin

Beorn the Shapeshifter: Sneak Peek at ‘Desolation of Smaug’ Blu-ray/DVD bonus features

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The remote server returned an unexpected response: (417) Expectation failed.
April 3, 2014 at 11:49 pm by Aragorn the Elfstone  - 

In addition to the featurette posted earlier – showing Orlando Bloom practicing a Laketown fight scene – Warner Brothers UK has posted another sneak peek at the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD releases of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

This clip examines the design of Beorn, with interviews from actor Mikael Persbrandt and Hair/Make-up Designer Peter King.

The Blu-ray/DVD of The Desolation of Smaug will be released this coming Tuesday, April 8.
Posted in Blu-Ray, DVDs, Headlines, Hobbit Movie, J.R.R. Tolkien, MGM, Mikael Persbrandt, Miscellaneous, New Line Cinema, Production, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Warner Bros. on April 3, 2014 by Aragorn the Elfstone Source: YouTube