SALT LAKE CITY — FantasyCon, with an already potent lineup of guests from “The Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies, announced that Billy Boyd will be joining the show. The convention, with its obvious fantasy theme, is striving to be different from the many popular-culture events that dot North America with increased interactivity and an emphasis on fantasy art.
Set for July 3 – 5, capitalizing on the 4th of July weekend in Salt Lake City, the convention is self described as “the first convention of its kind to answer the call for an interactive, immersive experience that encompasses all things in the genre of pop culture fantasy.”
Boyd joins LOTR partners Sean Astin and John Rhys-Davies, along with Hobbit actors Slyvester McCoy, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, and Jed Brophy. The convention is Stott’s first convention appearance in North America.
FantasyCon is also a major sponsor of TheOneRing.net and the show will feature several of our own staffers, including FantasyCon Program Director Larry D. Curtis, MrCere here at TheOneRing.net. According to him, “There are more Middle-earth names to come, and by the time all the announcements are done we will offer a unparallelled Tolkien lineup. We mostly have all of these guys for three days helping us celebrate fantasy and of course signing autographs and providing photo ops with fans.
Billy Boyd at TORn’s booth, DragonCon 2012“FantasyCon’s founder Josh Patel had most of these pieces in place before he reached out to me so I was delighted immediately with his plans. I just talked to these guys about the show while we were together in Germany at HobbitCon 2 and they are excited and we are doing some really fun programming stuff, not just talking from the stage. This is a chance for fans in the U.S. to meet an army of talent from these franchises. What is more, there is a lot of other really good related content. We are having a world-class Middle-earth convention inside a spectacular fantasy convention.”
The convention also includes a group of masterwork fantasy artists, many who are bringing commissioned paintings to the event. Artists include TORn friend and Middle-earth artist Donato Giancola and Brom. The full list of artists can be found right here.
The show starts Thursday July 3rd and will finish Saturday July 5th in Salt Lake City. The Salt Palace Convention Center will host the event, close to many hotels and close to the Salt Lake airport.
Earlier this week we showed you a preview of Smaug from Jerry Vanderstelts upcoming print for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Tonight, we’re pleased to let you know that this print is officially up for order! This stunning print has so many of the great things we saw in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It includes incredible images of Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf, Smaug, Azog, Bard, Legolas, Tauriel, Radagast, The Necromancer, and much more. Once again Jerry has made a must have collectible for Middle-earth fans. Fans can snag this print in three different types of displaying options; a Canvas Giclee which can be purchased starting at $325, an Epic Canvas Giclee that also comes in at $325 but is limited to 10 pieces total, and Paper Giclee for just $65. No matter which option you choose this is going to be a stand out item in your collection. So order your print today!
Amazing artist Jerry Vanderstelt is getting closer to releasing to collectors another one of his stellar art prints for us to add to our collections. Tonight, we got a preview of Smaug from Jerry’s upcoming print for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This little preview is fantastic! It looks like Smaug just walked off the big screen with the mind boggling detail he has put into Smaug. As soon as Jerry has this up for sale we will let you know so you can add this to your collection. Enjoy this preview of Smaug!
Even following our spy report last week that Warner Bros. (via New Line) had registered a new title for its trilogy of Hobbit films, I thought it unlikely they actually would follow through and make a change.
Mostly because There And Back Again seemed too established as a name and it seemed a bit irrational to toss away all that brand recognition.
On the other hand, it’s almost inarguable those two words The Hobbit are the true key that deliver all that goodwill (in an accounting sense) toward the films. And Warner Bros, with nothing more than the announcement of a mid-stream title change, have just scored the film millions of dollars worth of free editorial. That’s gold for any marketer.
Our friends over at Cinefex recently posted a blog: ‘Dragon Smackdown! Game of Thrones vs The Hobbit’. Inquiring minds want to know – just who would win in a battle between Smaug and Daenerys’ trio? Cinefex asked TORn what we think, so staffer greendragon sent along a few thoughts, to go with ideas from other ‘experts’ on the subject, such as Joe Bauer, Visual Effects Supervisor on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Read the blog post here, to see what the conclusion was. Would Smaug’s cunning be decisive, or would the brute force of Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion wear him down? Let us know what you think, in the comments below!
SALT LAKE CITY — FantasyCon, with an already potent lineup of guests from “The Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies, announced that Billy Boyd will be joining the show. The convention, with its obvious fantasy theme, is striving to be different from the many popular-culture events that dot North America with increased interactivity and an emphasis on fantasy art.
Well, that was a surprise.