Today marks the day the New Zealand Post, in an exclusive arrangement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the filmmakers, releases commemorative stamps and coins for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
New Zealand Post’s spokesman for stamps and coins Simon Allison says:
We’re the only country in the world with the rights to produce these highly collectable coins, featuring iconic characters from what is sure to become a classic series of films.
The items announced today are appropriate mementoes of the film, and fit in with the mythology of Middle-earth – New Zealand. We’re committed to honouring the legacy of Sir Peter’s films, by creating stamps and coins of the highest quality.
Hit the break for hi-res pictures of the stamps and coins, and the world exclusive press release for the same, courtesy of our friend Emma over at New Zealand Post.
A press release with some precious details about the debut of the new ‘Hobbit’ trailer has been handed to us and while we thought we knew it all, there are tidbits that whet the appetite. This trailer, coming approximately three months before the film lands in wide release in theaters, will likely be the first specific look at the first of the three films, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit, celebrating its 75th anniversary. It may give us clues about what to expect as it tries to sell the film to a mainstream audience.
Most interesting from the release is the phrase: “The new trailer is set to debut on broadcast and online media on September 19, 2012, then roll out in theaters around the world throughout the day.” So the obvious news is that the trailer will be broadcast, but where? Where online? And what films will it roll out with in theaters? There are several films scheduled for release on the 21st, including “Dredd,” “House at the End of the Street,” and Warner Bros., own, “Trouble with the Curve,” but none on the 19th. This probably means theaters have the trailers today with instructions to add them to existing films starting Wednesday. If that is true, each theater will have the option, so those wishing to watch the trailer on the big screen should call local movie houses.
In addition, they report that Warner Bros has announced that the third film will be renamed The Hobbit: There And Back Again.
The second film, to be released on December 13, 2013 will be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of International Distribution said in the press release: “The Hobbit: There and Back Again will be an action spectacle and an emotional conclusion for this already much-anticipated trilogy. Opening in the summer will maximize playability for what promises to be an event film for fans the world over.”
EDIT: I think that the second title Desolation of Smaug means that it will conclude with the demise of Smaug at the hands of Bard the Bowman. Highlight to see spoilery speculation.
We all listened to and read Peter Jackson’s words from Comic-Con about three possible “Hobbit,” movies carefully. But we didn’t listen to all the words and we missed a few things.
He told us. He told us — he did.
He said exactly what he meant, he said it plainly and the media and fans (and me) tried to figure out what he meant when he told us in plainness. Monday, Jackson dropped an atomic bomb of news and fandom reacted accordingly.
“The Hobbit,” adapted for the screen from the 300-page, 75-year-old book by J.R.R. Tolkien changed from from two movies to three in the blink of a Facebook post.
AMBITION
More on the words we ignored in a minute. We need to figure out when these films break, what it means for fans and websites and studios and cinema and the director, but lets not rush past the size and scope of this news. Lets not walk around Paris admiring all the cafes and churches without also pausing and noticing the big tower in the center of town.
We witnessed, the last few weeks since Comic-Con, something monumental, unprecedented, unparalleled and a little bit crazy. Jackson (and when we say “Jackson” we always mean the director and Walsh, Boyens and a team of others supporting their vision) is in unchartered territory here. Continue reading “The bold ‘Hobbit’ trilogy decision and what to expect”
Note: Updated with confirmation about third film’s release date and content. Updated with Official Press Release as well.
In a note posted to Facebook this morning (in the U.S.) Peter Jackson confirmed there will be a third film in the “Hobbit” series:
So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.
TheOneRing.net has confirmed with two independent sources that the third “Hobbit,” film will not follow the schedule of traditional December releases for Middle-earth movies and will hit audiences in Summer of 2014. TORn has also learned that this newly announced film will not serve as a bridge film but continue to tell the story of “The Hobbit,” in three parts. It is believed that the breaking points of the first film has changed. That film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” will be released in theaters this December 14. The next film, announced as “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” is expected to keep its December 13, 2013 schedule. Its name may change however. The newly announced film, as yet untitled, will follow months later in the summer months of 2014.
I’m a film historian by trade. I got my Ph.D. in film studies in 1977 and have written several textbooks and academic books on various topics in the field. In 2007, my book The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood, by Kristin Thompson, came out from the University of California press. As we all wait for the release of the first part of The Hobbit, I thought some of you might be interested in some of my experiences while researching the book. I had a lot of access to the filmmakers for interviews and was given facilities tours during the last part of the post-production on The Return of the King.
I first conceived the book in 2002, when it became obvious to me that Peter Jackson’s film (I call the three parts one film, as he does) was going to be very, very important historically for a wide variety of reasons. The technology (the techniques developed to animate Gollum, the selective digital color grading) would be revolutionary. The internet campaign was pioneering, as was the filmmaking team’s approach to cooperating with the video-game designers. It was a big franchise film—and a fantasy at that—and yet it won the respect of critics and Academy-Award voters as no such film ever had. (The Fellowship of the Ring had won “only” four Oscars, but I knew even then that The Return of the King would be awarded lots.) Somebody should write a book about it, I thought. But probably nobody would, not the way it should be done, with interviews with the people involved. Not while the film was still in production. I concluded that it was up to me. Was it possible, though, to get the kind of access I would need? I set out to find out.
Today marks the day the New Zealand Post, in an exclusive arrangement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Pictures, and the filmmakers, releases commemorative stamps and coins for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
In a note posted to 