Someone at Warner Bros, may have been taking their inspiration from history in naming their latest marketing effort for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It’s called The Tapestry. Possibly a bit of a nod toward the famous Bayeux Tapestry, possibly not.
Regardless, what’s indisputable is that it’s big and bold.
Some immediate observations, some of which may be movie spoilers, so highlight the space below to reveal more:
- The carven bear snouts on the pillar posts of the gate around Thorin. It’s not the gate we saw The Company dashing toward in the trailer, which makes me conclude that it’s the forest gate into Mirkwood. That’s the one where, in the book, Gandalf leaves the Company to their journey and heads south.
- The spiders in dim silhouette. The folks at the Fan Event saw these up close and personal. Let me assure you, they are pretty terrifying, especially for arachnophobes. The silhouettes do not actually do their menace justice.
- Elves and elves and elves. At least in the marketing, Desolation of Smaug is making up for the beardiness of AUJ with a plethora of prettiness. One wonders how much of this is a bait-and-switch tactic to draw a crowd, and whether elves will dominate.
- Gandalf without staff or hat. The absence of the staff is probably the more telling. But, if Gandalf is going to end up in a jam, who or what is the cause of the problem? It can’t be just any old orc, or it will strain everyone’s credibility. Also, we only see Gandalf at Dol Guldur, with no hint of how he got there.
- Thorin climbing the carven dwarf to the secret door. Note the outfit. More Indication that this armour we first saw in trailer #2 comes from the Erebor horde.
- Money. Dwarf coins are remarkably large. Why? It actually seems quite impracticable. Is this some weird system of ingoting gold, or a subtle reference to The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy?
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The Tapestry for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. US Domestic version.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. International version.
