No. 10: The 12 defining moments from the Five Armies trailer
After what seemed an interminable wait, the full trailer finally came out on November 6. Our staff quickly picked out 12 twelve key moments that really knocked our socks off!
Number 3. Saruman: “Leave Sauron to me”.
Demosthenes: Galadriel and Gandalf lie injured on the ground next to Elrond as Saruman walks off. Lee is amazing. Does this preface a showdown that is also the beginning of the fall of Saruman?
AragorntheElfstone: “Leave Sauron to ME.” *fist pump*. Lee has ONE shot in the whole thing, and he steals it. 😀
Garfeimao: When Saruman says “leave Sauron to me, Galadriel is on the ground hugging Elrond’s leg.
Calisuri: wow — and the flash of Sauron shows his figure.
deej: I’m wondering if we’ll see the beginning of Saruman’s allegiance with Sauron?
No. 9: San Diego Comic-con rolling updates from the Hall H presentation
Our rolling updates thread provided readers all the information as we learned it live from Hall H in July as the teaser trailer was first screened to a horde of expectant fans at SDCC.
Update #18
“Go tell the master of Laketown that THE HOBBIT panel is about to begin,” Colbert whispers to the boy, who runs off. He jokingly referred to the new film as THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE FOR SIX MOVIES.
Update #19
Empire: Colbert, by the way, is a MASSIVE Tolkien fan. He’s the perfect choice to host this panel. He’s talking about his love for both trilogies.
Evangeline Lilly: #TopSecret #Spoiler but I’m just entering Hall H for @TheHobbitMovie #TBOTFA panel! See you on the other side!#SDCC14
Comingsoon.net: THey’re about to show a deleted sequence, featuring another Laketown spy, played by Peter Jackson.
Update #20
Jason Nathanson @ABCNewsJason 2m I’m standing next to Benedict Cumberbatch and Evangeline Lily right now, who are watching Stephen Colbert talk lovingly about Tolkien
No. 8: TheOneRing.net’s exclusive PETER JACKSON interview
At the very end of his time on set, TORn staffer MrCere had the opportunity to chat in-depth and one-on-one with Bilbo Baggin’s surrogate father.
Peter Jackson is a busy guy. Particularly when he is shooting, there is a lot to do in a day and a lot of people that need to understand his vision in order to do their jobs well; he is the hub of the great spinning wheel.
He is the director, a writer and a producer — each a big job on its own. Many films have one of each of those, or several of some, all working together. But Jackson was all of them at once and combining titles didn’t mean there was less work to be done. Just because he was reviewing shots didn’t mean the script didn’t need his touch or that the art department didn’t need his input as a director or the next day’s schedule didn’t need approval. Others were partners on all of these fronts but they also required Jackson.
No. 7: The Hobbit 3 fact sheet
In June, TORn staffer Demosthenes began to compile an everything-we-know post trying to assemble aklk the then-known facts about The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Aremies in one location. It was eventually superseded by the flood of information that came out during Comic-con, but we know some of the scenes mentioned will definitely make it into the Extended Edition of BOTFA! It’s also interesting to look back on what was right, and what was off the mark.
Ringer Vinicius Vyller provides the photo below of Gandalf sitting inside Radagast’s bunnysled. The scene appears to be the ruin of Dale, going by the pattern of the flagstones (see here for similar patterns) and the leaf litter. It does seem to suggest that Radagast will travel to Dale?
No. 6: Pictures from the Official Movie Guide and Visual Companion
We break open the amazing hardcover book and readers flocked to the contents so fast that both Warner Bros. and Harper Collins deployed the lawyers. Despite big plugs and links encouraging folks to order the two books on Amazon, we had to take all the images down. Probably the most censored post of the year!
It’s been a while (or at least it feels like it) since we’ve all had a truly good spy story with some juicy details or photos that Warner Bros. hasn’t trickle-released to the public.
If you’ve been chafing at the bit for more, 中土红皮书 (The Red Book of Middle-earth, a Tolkien fan site from China) has just leaked 27 images from two forthcoming movie tie-in books: Jude Fisher’s The Battle of the Five Armies Visual Companion and Brian Sibley’s The Battle of the Five Armies Official Movie Guide. Be warned: there are movie spoilers as well as discussion/analysis below.