In shocking news, Warner Bros. today announced that the release of The Hobbit: There And Back Again will be pushed back so the final film of Bilbo Baggins’ adventure can premiere at Comic-Con in July 2015. The new worldwide release date is July 29, 2015.
Premieres during Comic-Con International in San Diego are nothing new. “The 300” premiered in Petco Park a few years ago, heralded by bare-chested Spartans throughout the week-long convention. “Cowboys and Aliens” also held their premiere in San Diego during the convention, with DreamWorks booking an theater complex for the event.
This was an April Fool gag, and is not a true story. It is false, and all details have been invented. We hope that everyone enjoyed the joke.
Early details hint that Jackson and Warner Bros. are planning something on an even-larger scale: a massive week-long Middle-earth-themed carnival of events and activities that turn TABA’s debut into “the largest-ever world premiere of a film”. We’ve also noted that it sets Warner Bros. up for a strong one-two punch at the box office with the release of Pan just two weeks earlier.
Readers will, of course, recall that the date for The Hobbit: There And Back Again has, already been pushed back once from July to December 2014. I think we can all sincerely hope that this is the last shift in date for the film!
The official press release follows:
“The Hobbit: There and Back Again” to be released July 29, 2015 and will premiere at Comic-Con International
Continue reading “The Hobbit: There and Back Again release date pushed back to premiere at Comic-Con in July 2015”
The Desolation of Smaug has won its first award, winning the VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture for the most awesome of all dragons, Smaug! As previously noted, Smaug was the likely winner in this category for the Visual Effects Society’s 12th annual awards.
Congratulations to Eric Reynolds, David Clayton, Myriam Catrin and Guillaume Francois! View all the winners here.
Don’t forget to join us at the Cat and Fiddle for our ‘One Dragon, One Party’ moot for the Oscars where the mighty Smaug is going up against ‘Gravity’ in the Visual Effects category!
There is just over two weeks remaining before the 2014 Academy Awards telecast and our own Feast of Starlight celebration at the ‘One Dragon, One Party’ event on March 2. Make sure you don’t wait to get your tickets, this is a much smaller venue than in past years and tickets are going fast. You can find all the party info at our previous Party Post.
Let’s take you on a little tour of our venue, the historic Cat & Fiddle Restaurant and Pub in Hollywood, just to put you in the proper party mood for this little moot.
Long before there was a restaurant at 6530 Sunset Blvd., there was a Spanish Shopping Court built by Fred Thompson, housing numerous shops including Travis Banton’s dress shop. Banton, the chief costume designer at the time for Paramount Pictures, was one of the most important Hollywood designers in the 1930’s. Fred Thompson was both a famed Western acting star with Paramount Pictures, as you can see in the photo above on the left, and was a leading business man in Hollywood, with the Thompson Building being one of his lasting legacies.
As you can see, the front entrance to the building has barely changed in the 85 years since it was built. Like so many buildings in the Southern California area, this is built in the classic Spanish style noted for it’s solid white stone walls, arched entrance, wrought iron fences and railings and the red tiled roof.
Once inside the arched entrance there is a brick lined courtyard filled with trees and other plants. Back when it was built, there was a functioning well at the center of the courtyard, but today the centerpiece is a delightful fountain. The Mediterranean climate of Southern California makes dining outside on the courtyard patio a real treat nearly year round. Weather permitting, we plan to have a large screen outdoors on the patio so that you may watch the Oscar telecast while sitting under the stars.
While very Spanish looking on the outside, the inside of the Cat & Fiddle Restaurant and Pub is every bit the English Pub you would expect, complete with warm, cozy hearth, a dart board and comfortable tables and booths. The room on the right is called the Casablanca Room and sits at the far end of the restaurant with a window overlooking the courtyard. And while you may think it only natural that a restaurant in Hollywood would name one of their rooms after a famous movie, in this case, it earned that name because part of Casablanca was actually filmed on location here.
In the 1980’s, a British rock musician and a New Orleans fashionista relocated to Hollywood and opened up the first British pub in the Hollywood area. The Thompson Building’s back area went from Mary Helen’s Tea Room to the Cat & Fiddle Restaurant and Pub, and is still run by the same family that opened it 30 years ago. It is this authentic British style pub and lovely courtyard setting has brought the Tolkien fan community back to this venue time and again for Golden Globes viewing parties, Tolkien Toasts and TORn moots and it is why it was the obvious choice for a smaller, more intimate party this year. The fact that the Cat & Fiddle is less than a mile from the Dolby theater, home of the Academy Awards ceremony doesn’t hurt either.
So don’t delay, get your Tickets now before they sell out. The beautiful LA weather on Oscar Sunday at a wonderful venue like this, you just never know who may show up.
The Merry Inn Song
by J.R.R. Tolkien, first two stanzas as sung by Frodo in the Prancing Pony
“There is an inn, a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill. And there they brew a beer so brown that the Man in the Moon himself came down on night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat that plays a five-stringed fiddle; and up and down he runs his bow, now squeaking high, now purring low, now sawing in the middle.”
Come join us for our Feast of Starlight celebration at the historic Cat & Fiddle Restaurant and Pub in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 2 for “One Dragon, One Party”. We will be taking over the place and watching the telecast of the 86th annual Academy Awards® Middle-earth style. There will be big screens available in both the main dining room and out on the patio, as well as the mounted televisions located throughout the restaurant. With the nice weather Southern California has been enjoying all winter long, it is a safe bet that viewing on the patio will be a delightful experience, but mind the spiders…
Continue reading “You are formally invited to TORn’s 2014 Oscar viewing party”
SoundWorks Collection recently took a trip to Wellington, New Zealand to speak with the wizards at Park Road Post Studios about their work on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. From these interviews comes a 10-minute video (which we’ve embedded below) detailing the tremendous process of constructing the sound design of the second film in Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation.
This profile comes on the heels of the Oscar nominations the film
received in both sound categories – Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (in addition to Visual Effects). The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 2.
Interviews in this video include re-recording mixers Michael Hedges, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, and Gary Summers, as well as composer Howard Shore and producer/co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens. Continue reading “SoundWorks Collection profiles ‘The Desolation of Smaug’”
Full details aren’t ready for full disclosure just yet, but should be available very soon. Just crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on booking a venue. We wanted to make sure you knew this was happening today, just as the Oscar Nominations are announced so you can ‘Save the Date’. Here is what we can tell you.
The Oscar party will be held on Sunday, March 2, but then, that date was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This will be a viewing party, with dinner, games, auction and raffles, and some geeky fun. That also means it will start in the mid to late afternoon as the Red Carpet telecast gets underway.
Rather than a big fancy party as in years past, we’ve decided to go more casual this year. This is more of an Oscar Moot, a gathering of friends and fans for food, Fellowship and fun. No need for fancy dress, although costumes are always welcome.
The cost will be much more within reach, basically just covering the meal, tax and gratuities.
We are endeavoring to make this family friendly, all ages welcome, so feel free to bring the younglings.
Look for more details in the coming weeks when we issue the formal invite.
