Do you remember the first shot of every Middle-earth film? Sure you do. It’s also interesting to…
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Do you remember the first shot of every Middle-earth film?
Sure you do.
It’s also interesting to note the similarities of every opening – further reinforcing the connections between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Continue reading “The Middle-earth prologues”
Well, looks like nobody will go broke making Middle-earth movies. The third of Peter Jackson’s films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” squeaked past $800 million earned world-wide last weekend. Jackson can get on with his “Tin Tin” movie and maybe my wish that he will write and direct a World War I zombie film with 100 percent practical effects in conjunction with Weta Workshop can happen. Maybe not.
But it is time to take a little peek at the box office and see how things are going. If you didn’t hear, another Warner Bros. movie, “American Sniper” assassinated the January box office records in the U.S. while the final Hobbit film slid to eighth place after 30-some days of release. Rentrack tells us it made $4 million on the weekend for a grand total of $244,537,115 domestic. It isn’t quite done, so lets call it $250 million but it will be closer to $260.
Meanwhile, overseas, from 63 territories, it has taken $558,600,000. (Speaking of “Taken” the third one of those movies just made an avalanche of money – see gold pile above – so go ahead and bet on number four. With every new sequel, a legion of devils get their wings; but Hollywood doesn’t care.)
One big market, a dragon of a market if you will, China, hasn’t opened the film yet and so that non-U.S. total is expected to reach past $700 million. This puts Jackson’s final Middle-earth movie very close, but not over $1 billion. Now, it is nothing but an arbitrary mark and a game, but something satisfies our lizard brains to know the film made 1/28th of what Bill Gates has donated to charity.
Can China and the rest of the world world push their share to $750 million or beyond? This film was tracking ahead of the previous one, that finished just more than $700 million, so it is going to be very close, but I can’t find the complete data and my bed calls. More updates in a week – or two.
The 42nd annual Annie Awards nominees were recently announced, which has different dates for eligibility (so expect nominations next year for “The Battle of the Five Armies”.) “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” received 2 nominations from the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA). The Annie Awards honor the very best in the world of animation including animated effects. The Annie Awards are being held on January 31 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Steve Avoujageli, Atsushi Ikarashi, Pawel Grochola, Paul Waggoner, Viktor Lundqvist – Edge of Tomorrow – Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures
Raul Essig, Karin Cooper, Rick Hankins, Owen Calouro – Noah – Paramount Pictures
Charles-Felix Chabert, Daniel La Chapelle, Spencer Lueders, Klaus Seitschek, Chris Messineo – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Columbia Pictures/Marvel Enterprises
Areito Echevarria, Andreas Soderstrom, Ronnie Menahem, Christoph Sprenger, Kevin Romond – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Metro Goldwyn Mayer/New Line Cinema/WingNut Films
Michael Balog, Jim Van Allen, Rick Hankins, John Hansen – Transformers: Age of Extinction - Paramount Pictures
Jeremy Hampton, Daniel Stern, Edmond Smith III, Hiroshi Tsubokawa, Daniel Jenkins – X-Men: Days of Future Past – Digital Domain 3.0, Inc.Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Daniel Barrett, Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Alessandro Bonora, Dejan Momcilovic – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Chernin Entertainment/Ingenious Media/TSG Entertainment
Kevin Spruce, Dale Newton, Sidney Kombo, Chris Mullins, Brad Silby – Guardians of the Galaxy – Marvel Studios
Eric Reynolds, David Clayton, Andreja Vuckovic, Guillaume Francois, Gios Johnston – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Metro Goldwyn Mayer/New Line Cinema/WingNut Films
Full list of nominees at AnnieAwards.org.
Continue reading “Annie Awards nominates ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ for 2 awards”
The good folks at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment are running a pretty huge contest at the moment – offering fans a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour in New Zealand.
Fans have been voting, since Dec 26th, to pick their favourites from various scenes from all three Hobbit movies. Tomorrow, Jan 13th, the winning scenes will be revealed. Fans then have until February 2nd to submit their own recreations of those scenes, to be in with a chance to win!
You can see which scenes have been chosen (from tomorrow) here. Then either get going with making your own video, or check back on February 9th to vote for your favourite from the fan creations!
Full details of the contest are at the official competition website, here. There are of course lots of rules about things such as country of residence, and we’re sorry but you do have to be 18 and over to enter. Check out all the rules at the competition site – to get you started, here is a brief summary for you:
* Entrants submit their videos (up to two minutes in length) to the official contest entry page on the site for judging. Videos must also be uploaded to YouTube complete with the Hobbit Challenge endcard and official hashtag #hobbitchallenge to quality.
* From February 9 – February 15 fans will be able to vote on their favorite video submissions on the official Hobbit YouTube channel. The top 30 entries as voted by fans will then be reviewed by a panel of judges.
* A winning video from each participating country will be announced starting March 24, 2015. Dates and times vary by country. The winner from each country will receive a prize package including The Hobbit collectibles from The Noble Collection and a Blu-ray of The Hobbit Trilogy.
* The winning country videos will advance to the grand prize judging to be decided by representatives of the filmmakers.
* The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on April 22, 2015, and will receive a trip for 2 to New Zealand and a visit to the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour.
Good luck to all who enter!
[Please note, TheOneRing.net is in no way affiliated with this contest. If you have questions or comments about the rules, please go to https://fanchallenge.thehobbit.com and contact the organisers there.]
Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo is 80% funded and we’re pretty stoked!
If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out.
An anonymous benefactor has offered to give $5k to this campaign, IF we increase our total by $5k by 12noon EST TOMORROW, Jan 9th.
That means we have 27 hours to go from our current total ($123,470) to $128,470 – if we make it, we’ll get a matching donation of $5k from our generous supporter!
If you’ve been pondering getting that amazing Movie Guide signed by SIX cast members (Thrain perk), or snapping up the last Mirkwood Elves VIP ticket, or snagging the poster with TWELVE signatures (and which INCLUDES a VIP ticket – Gimli perk), then now is the moment!
(And of course, every pledge received will be entered in the draw to win the amazing Dragon Bodice – see below!) Continue reading “Super Awesome Benefactor Matching Donations for 24 Hours! The One Last Party”
There are just 12 days left in our Indiegogo campaign and we have passed the 60% funded mark and are very pleased at this point. We know our goal really is within reach, meaning we will get to throw a Party of Special Magnificence for this wonderful fan community. Here are a few little updates, with more to come in the next couple of days.
1) We are very proud to debut the design for The One Last Party attendee shirt. This shirt will specifically be for everyone pledging for one of the ticketed perk levels. This joins the supporter shirt we debuted two weeks ago, designed exclusively for the 4 T-Shirt pledge levels. The final version of these shirts might look a wee bit different, the design is being finessed in order to print properly, but this is pretty much what you are going to get.
2) The very happy winner of the ‘Children of Hurin’ book signed by Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee goes to Patricia M. up in Northern California. Our thanks to everyone who participated in the lottery by pledging during J.R.R. Tolkien’s Birthday celebration this past weekend. Please look for a new Prize draw starting very soon.
3) The ‘Mirkwood Elves’ VIP ticket perk is back on the list, but just a few of them, we are trying to keep the VIP perk as exclusive as possible. Also, the ‘Gimli, Son of Gloin’ perk with the signed DOS poster does include the ‘Mirkwood Elves’ VIP ticket as part of the perk. So there are currently 5 tickets at this level available, and then 2 more ultra VIP tickets available at the ‘TORn Star’ level, which includes VIP tickets and Sponsor status at the party. 
And finally, we really do want to thank everyone who has pledged at any and all levels for your support. We know not everyone can attend and we truly do hope that you value some of the other perks we have been offering, and will continue to offer. There are some exciting new items coming down the pike in the next few days, so keep your eyes on our website and social media channels and maybe you can take advantage of some awesome opportunities.
Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo has just passed the 60% funded mark and we’re pretty stoked!
If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out. And there is some cool swag you can get if you are unable to attend.