What we know: Peter Jackson began rolling film on The Hobbit back in April, 2011 and will be adapting this story as a Duology, two films instead of just the one like the book. They’ve had periods of shooting in the studio, a hiatus on filming while post production was being done, and now they are in the midst of Location shooting, with another hiatus and more studio shooting scheduled through June of 2012. The existence of the first Teaser was mentioned by both Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood several weeks ago, and it had its world debut at BNAT13 this past weekend. The mass release of the Teaser has not yet happened, and that is where we pick up our story.
Category: Rumors Spy News
While our intrepid reporter MrCere is currently in New Zealand — back in the States a very big surprise was revealed to audiences at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon geek film festival (held in Texas by AICN founder Harry Knowles). That’s right, THE HOBBIT teaser trailer was unspooled less than 24 hours ago and quickly the Twitterverse began sparkling with reactions. Comments included such tweets as:
- “Is it a spoiler to tweet that Gandalf magically sent @EricVespe to us with THE HOBBIT trailer and @woodelijah was the trailer bearer? :)”
Ringer fans were waiting (im)patiently for the footage to arrive in U.S. theaters this Christmas, but lo and behold! Elijah Wood was there to help present as Mr. Vespe (“Quint”) brought the most anticipated footage in all geekdom back to Austin. Mr. Wood himself tweeted today:
- “Didn’t that trailer kill? So excited to see it…”
More than the opening few minutes of DARK KNIGHT RISES, and much more than any AVENGERS tidbit, this teaser trailer is pretty much the Holy Grail for HOBBIT fans who have waited a decade to see a first glimpse of Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth. We will post more info and share reactions as they come in. But the wait is finally over (for those who were there)!
UPDATE: Nordling, AICN staff, writes:
Yes, we saw THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY trailer thanks to Gandalf The Grey magically transporting Quint from the beautiful landscapes of Middle-Earth to the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. No, I can’t talk about any specifics except to say that something I always treasured from the original book is in the trailer in a big way and I was very happy to hear it. The trailer will play in front of THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN and it’s simply sublime. It’s more character-based than epic, but it’s like slipping into a warm embrace from a very old friend that you haven’t seen in many years. Truly wonderful.
Update #2: Tolkienbritta
While writing, TolkienBritta quotes Jordan Hoffman of IFC News by stating: “Hoffman also added that, “Hearing the music and seeing The Shire I was surprised at the flood of emotions that hit me. It was like seeing old friends. (And something to look out for: a band of Dwarves sing. It’s a thing of beauty.)””
Reporter Ian Allen on a Hobbit hunt: The Pelorus River, 60 kilometres west of Blenheim, features in a scene from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, showing barrels plunging down the scenic waterway during a perilous journey undertaken by Bilbo Baggins and the dwarfs.
Just like Elmer Fudd on the prowl for pesky wabbits, I headed to Pelorus Bridge on Friday in search of hobbits.
Being armed with Marlborough Express photographer Ben Curran, instead of Elmer’s preferred shotgun, was all that separated me from the hapless hunter.
We had received a tipoff from a source that hobbit activity had escalated in recent days as Peter Jackson’s production company 3 Foot 7 prepared the location for 10 days of filming starting from today. More..
More than $1 million is estimated to have been pumped into the Wakatipu economy while the main film unit of The Hobbit shot on location in Paradise, near Glenorchy, and more money is expected to be spent when the second unit begins filming in the next few days. Academy award-winning director Sir Peter Jackson, of Wellington, and stars including Orlando Bloom, Martin Freeman, James Nesbitt, Mikael Persbrandt and Sir Ian McKellen were among 450 cast and crew who arrived early and filmed for three days on the remote Arcadia Station, 66km from Queenstown. More..
With the pages falling off the calendar of time remaining in The Hobbit filming schedule, TheOneRing.net is heading to Queenstown (for starters) for more coverage.
Writer and photographer Larry D. Curtis (MrCere@TheOneRing.net) will be a one-man news production team for two weeks, starting November 30 when he touches down at the Queenstown airport. His journey will also take him to Wellington to mark the one year countdown before the world premiere of the first Hobbit film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in 2012 along with visits to friends of TORn (such as our own founder Tehanu) and can’t-miss public sites like the Weta Cave.
Curtis (known by the handle MrCere on the site) also plans to meet with as many fans as possible while in the area, including at un-official but hopefully frequent moot events, so if interested in attending or hosting, please contact him at the email above. The always all-volunteer and not-for-profit TheOneRing.net would also appreciate anybody who has great information or tips on inexpensive places to stay (no haystack ruled out!) or eat while in New Zealand. Continue reading “TORn headed to Queenstown, NZ for ‘Hobbit’ reporting”
The Hobbit film crew – due in Marlborough next month – is flying under the radar during filming in the Tasman region. The crew has been filming on 80 hectares of privately-owned land at Canaan Downs, where the Luminate Festival is held, and on surrounding Department of Conservation land. David Hall, who lives on the Takaka Hill, said he had not seen or heard much other than helicopters and more vehicles on the road than usual. “It’s all sort of tucked away out of sight,” he said.
The crew has been filming, via helicopter, around the Pelorus River and Mt Owen. It was understood they were also filming near the coast in Golden Bay. Rex Bowden, a chef at The Wholemeal Cafe, said he recently served a table of four “hobbits”. He said they came in for lunch, but he did not know if they were cast or film crew members. “I didn’t recognise any of them, but one looked a bit `hobbity’,” he said. More..