Here it is folks – the trailer. And my analysis.
My analysis: WOOT!
Tag Archives: hobbit
The Hobbit – What I’m looking forward to most
Dwarves who aren’t comic relief.
I get why The Lord of the Rings movie was the way it was. There is, for all intents and purposes, only a single Dwarf in that story, and in nearly every scene he’s in, he’s adding some comic relief. Whether it’s being tossed by the beard, afraid of trees, counting how many goblins he’s killed, being stuck under a warg or claiming Dwarves were built for sprinting, most of his lines are designed to make us chuckle.
But I’ve been reading fantasy books for a long time, and roleplaying for about the same duration and Dwarves are mighty warriors, dour, taciturn, honourable, noble and solid like the mountains they inhabit. They aren’t the butt of anyone’s humour, or if they are, that person finds them self missing a limb pretty quickly.
With a bakers dozen Dwarves in The Hobbit though, I’m hoping at least a few of them live up to the fantasy literature design that I love, and the way I enjoy playing them in games.
Don’t let me down Mr Jackson.
The Hobbit – ready for 2012?
In July 2008 I wrote this,
So this is it. The Hobbit. The movie everyone denied they were even thinking of making. And we’re not getting one, we’re getting two. The news was announced at the end of 2007, but I’ve not been thinking about it much since we’re not going to see anything until 2011 and I don’t want to end up in a fever 2 years too early.
So the news broke in 2007, and because ‘we weren’t getting the movies’ until 2011, I didn’t want to post too soon. Well, it’s 2011 and they haven’t started filming yet. But they are, finally, about to. In a tale almost as complex as the Lord of the Rings we’ve had issues with rights, issues with financing, issues with timing and issues with ownership. Not to count the issues with unions. But we are here, on the cusp.
From Deadline,
MGM and Warner Bros have finalized a deal that gives Warner Bros worldwide theatrical distribution on the Peter Jackson-directed The Hobbit. MGM will retain international television rights. This solves another problem on Jackson’s eagerly awaited followup to The Lord of the Rings, which has overcome an MGM freeze because of angry creditors, and the threat that the films would move away from New Zealand after local unions blacklisted the production.
Shooting begins next month [February] …
The only bad news, is they’re shooting them in 3D.
Due on our screens December 2012 and December 2013 – I’ll be getting my tickets soon.
Hobbit news
The BBC just reported this,
Shooting of the long-awaited film version of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit is set to begin in New Zealand in July.
You can read the full article here.
The most exciting bit for me personally is the last sentence,
The second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.
Original material in the Tolkien universe? Now that is worth getting excited about.
The Hobbit
I re-read the Hobbit recently, I felt it was my duty since the film is nearing the start of full production. It was a bit of a culture shock. It’s a long time since I read the book, and although I dimly remembered it being more childish (not in a bad way) than Lord of the Rings, I had completely forgotten the entirely different style.
The Hobbit is fast paced and told in a story-telling 3rd person view. The narrator knows what is going on and also how things are going to end. It’s told from Bilbo’s point of view and is essentially as if someone were reading Biblo’s account of the event, as well as having access to what was going on in the world around it.
What amazed me initially is the amount of ground Biblo, Gandalf and the dwarves cover in the first few pages of their expedition. Before we know it they’re in Rivendell and setting out beyond it. Compared to the journey in the Lord of the Rings they’re travelling at light speed. Obviously there are both physical and story-based reasons for the speed in Lord of the Rings, but it still caught me off-guard in The Hobbit.
Anyway, it’s a really enjoyable book, story and tale and I recommend everyone re-reads it. It’s certainly reminded me about a lot of stuff I had forgotten was in the tale (like Beorne) and left me feeling like there’s more to make a movie with than I remembered first time around.
Hobbit update
Major contracts have been signed (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro).
From http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990816.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have officially signed on to collaborate on “The Hobbit” and its sequel with director Guillermo del Toro.
The announcement, from exec producers Jackson and Walsh and New Line president Toby Emmerich, came four months after del Toro confirmed he had signed on to direct both pics.
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens teamed on penning the three screenplay adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings.” The third pic, “The Return of the King,” won an Oscar for adapted screenplay.
The Hobbit – First Entry
So this is it. The Hobbit. The movie everyone denied they were even thinking of making. And we’re not getting one, we’re getting two. The news was announced at the end of 2007, but I’ve not been thinking about it much since we’re not going to see anything until 2011 and I don’t want to end up in a fever 2 years too early. But, I thought I’d blog incase you hadn’t noticed any news.
Here’s the official blog entry covering the announcement. This is from the official blog website, www.TheHobbitBlog.com.
In April we found out that Guillermo del Toro would be directing. This is quite exciting but also scary at the same time, maybe we all want the Jackson vision, but we’re going to get del Toro’s and it might not be what we’re expecting. On the other hand, del Toro’s certainly got visual flair and it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with the Tolkein material.
Other than that, so far everything else is pretty much a rumour. Ian McKellen is rumoured to be reprising his Gandalf role, I hope that is true. There has been some confusion about what the ‘sequel’ will be, and Newline have stated it will be book material only, although no one is sure which book. The only rumoured release date at the present is December 2011. This would match the December releases of the Lord of the Rings movies. If we assume 19th December 2011 it will be exactly 10 years after the release of the Lord of the Rings (19th December 2001). If it is December 19th 2011, then it’s only 3 Years and 158 Days to go …