Calling all Ringers in New Zealand and those planning on heading to New Zealand in March 2016. The team…
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Calling all Ringers in New Zealand and those planning on heading to New Zealand in March 2016. The team over at Welly-moot are arranging an event of special magnificence, assisted by the lovely crew at Roxy Theatre Wellington.
Continue reading “LOTR/Hobbit Extended Edition Movie Marathon hosted by Welly-moot”
Our friend, artist Jerry Vanderstelt, has released the final print in his The Hobbit Trilogy series. This beautiful print covers all the fantastic points of the third Hobbit film and, like the previous prints from Jerry, comes in two sizes of Paper Giclee’s. The 18 x 24 version is priced at $65 while the epic 28 x 36 version comes in at $120. Both are in-stock and ready to ship, so you can acquire some amazing Hobbit art for Christmas. If you order before December 14th you can use this coupon code: VS-XMAS2015, to save 15% off of your purchase. Check out the Vadnerstelt Stuido Facebook page for a full list of prints that you can use this discount on. If you are awaiting the canvas edition of this print, it will be available after the new year and we will let you know when that goes up.
The 43rd annual Annie Awards nominations were announced and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” received 3 nods in 2 categories. The Annie Awards honor the very best in the world of animation including animated effects and are handed out by the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA). The previous “Hobbit” films received 2 nominations each with the character animation of Gollum winning for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. Will Smaug win the battle over the Hulk, Ultron, Indominus Rex, a Revenant Bear and orc Azog?
Here are the nominations for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”:
Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Jurassic World – Animated Effects – Universal Studios / Legendary Pictures – Effects TD Supervisor: Raul Essig,
Digital Artist: Roman Schmidt, Digital Artist: Mark Chataway, Digital Artist: Ryan Hopkins
Marvel’s Avengers : Age of Ultron – Sokovia Destruction – Marvel Studios – Creature Sim Supervisor: Michael Balog, Creature Simulation Lead: Jim Van Allen, Effects Simulation Supervisor: Florent Andorra, Effects Lead: Georg Kaltenbrunner
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – Gotham Group 20th Century Fox – FX Supervisor: Ronnie Menahem, CG Supervisor: Pavani Rao Boddapati, Lighting TD: Francois Sugny, Models: Leslie Chan, FX TD: Nicolas Petit
The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies – New Line Cinema Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – WingNut Films 3Foot7, FX Supervisor: Ronnie Menahem, Lead FX TD: Brian Goodwin, FX Supervisor: Jason Lazaroff, Senior Environment Artist: Paul Harris, Lead Modeller: James OgleOutstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Jurassic World – Indominus Rex – Universal Studios / Legendary Pictures – VFX Animation Supervisor: Glen McIntosh, Associate Animation Supervisor: Kevin Martel, Lead Animator: Kyle Winkelman, Digital Artist: Rodrick Fransham, Creature Supervisor: Kaori Ogino
Marvel’s Avengers : Age of Ultron – The Hulk – Marvel Studios – Assoc. Animation Supervisor: Jakub Pistecky, Animator: Gang Trinh, Animator: Craig Penn, Lead Animator: Mickael Coedel, Lead Animator : Yair Gutierrez
Marvel’s Avengers : Age of Ultron – Ultron – Marvel Studios – Lead Animator: Peter Tan, Animator: Boonyiki Lim,
Animator: Sachio Nishiyama, Animator: Byounghee Cho, Animator: Roy Tan
The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies – AZOG – New Line Cinema Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – WingNut Films 3Foot7, Animation Supervisor: Aaron Gilman, Senior Facial Modeller: Howard Sly, Lead Animator: Matthew Riordan, Creature TD: Kevin Kelm, Lead Shader TD: Guillaume Francois
The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies – SMAUG – New Line Cinema Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – WingNut Films 3Foot7, Animation Supervisor: David Clayton, Creature Supervisor: Gios Johnston, Senior Modeller: Andreja Vuckovic, Lead Shader TD: Guillaume Francois, Senior Animator: Daniel Zettl
The Revenant – The Bear – Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Anonymous Content, M Productions, Appian Way, RatPac-Dune Entertainment – Animation Supervisor: Matthew Shumway, Lead Digital Artist: Adrian Millington, Digital Artist: Blaine Toderian, Digital Artist: Alexander Poei, Digital Artist: Kevin Lan
Full list of nominees at AnnieAwards.org.
One of the awesome Weta pieces from Comic-Con 2015 is now available to order. If you enjoyed the look Azog took in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, or if you’re like me and just want more Azog, then this item is something you and I will both be adding to our collections. Azog: Commander of Legions is now up for Pre-order. The statue captures Azog with all his really cool armor and that new sword he implanted in his arm after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The new Azog statue has an edition size of just 1000 pieces world-wide, and given the success of the first Azog statue I wouldn’t wait to order this one. The price tag is $349 and will be shipping in the first quarter of next year.
There’s been a storm raging today over comments director Peter Jackson made about the process of filming The Hobbit trilogy. Staffer greendragon reflects on the debate which has been unleashed…
With the release this week of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition on Blu-ray and DVD, folks have been sitting down to watch the many hours of extras provided in the included ‘Appendices’ footage. Starting with an article on The Guardian newspaper’s website, one particular part of Peter Jackson’s comments (in ‘The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm’) on the making of The Hobbit trilogy has gone viral online, unleashing much debate among fans who love or hate the movies.
Continue reading “Peter Jackson’s comments provoke a ‘Gathering Storm’ in a teacup…”
For fans who have been waiting to get their hands on actual disks before watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition, today is the day when releases begin! The Blu-ray and DVD sets are available today in America, Nov 18th in New Zealand (so almost today already in NZ!), and across Europe and the rest of the world in the coming days. (Read our International Shopping Guide for further details.)
This is the Home Entertainment release which completes the set for all fans of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies. Many have written how the extra footage in the extended cut makes this the version of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies that they wanted to see. (You can read some staffers’ thoughts here.) Others have commented that they had hoped for the full extra 30 minutes Peter Jackson had said would be in this cut, not just the 20 minutes we got. There are certainly more scenes I had hoped to see – but that is where the Appendices come in…
At last we have parts Eleven and Twelve of The Appendices; parts One and Two came out with the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, so this has been a long time coming! It’s great – if sad – to see the end of this journey. The tales from the set, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and memories from cast and crew are wonderful, and give us some insight into moments we perhaps wish had made it into a cut of the movie. Have tissues ready for the filmmakers’ ’emotional farewell to Middle-earth’!
There are over NINE hours of bonus features included in this Home Entertainment release, so it really is an essential part of your The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie collection. In the 2D version, the disc with the film also includes Part 3 of ‘New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth’; Disc 2 contains The Appendices Part 11: The Gathering Storm, The Chronicles of The Hobbit – Part 3; and Disc 3 is The Appendices Part 12: Here at Journey’s End. There is also audio commentary on the film, with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens; I haven’t had a chance to watch with the commentary yet, but I’m sure it’s fascinating. I’d still like, at some point, to have some commentary from the cast – maybe that will come with the ‘super mega all-six-films’ box set….? (For the completists amongst us, you can already purchase the Extended Edition Box Set, also available today.)
Whether you prefer the Theatrical or Extended cuts of these films (and I think most of us come down on the side of the Extended Editions), it is really the bonus features which make this Home Entertainment release a ‘must have’. If you are patient enough to wait, maybe it’s one for your Holiday Gift wish list? (Look out for TORn’s Holiday Gift Guide, coming soon!)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to watching those nine hours of extras….
Click here to purchase The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition (BD) [Blu-ray]
