“Strangers from distant lands. Friends of old. You’ve been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom. Bring forth the Ring, Frodo.“
-Elrond at the start of the Council of Elrond October 25th, 3018 TA
Rivendell was one of the most demanded places in Middle-Earth to be made into polystone and now the long wait for this to happen as finally come to an end. Now, that it has ended and collectors are starting to receive this item, we are finally seeing why this might be one of the most difficult items ever made representing The Lord of the Rings. The folks at Weta, specifically Daniel Falconer and David Tremont, did an amazing job of capturing all that is special about Rivendell allowing collectors to own a piece of that.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Rivendell Review”
MovieWeb has had a chance to discuss ‘The Hobbit‘ with senior effects supervisor Joe Letteri. In the article, Mr. Letteri talks about working with Andy Serkis on ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ and how technology has advanced since we last saw Gollum on the big screen. Specifically, he discusses how the film-makers can now capture Andy’s performance on set or on location, without a follow-up motion capture stage performance. Check out the full article at MovieWeb.com. [Read on]
Our story so far: Peter Jackson made three Middle-earth movies and people loved them. Now he is making two more and people already love them too. MrCere, Senior Staff, Writer and Photographer at TheOneRing.net (around since 1999) went to NZ to see what he could see. Landed in Queenstown, found lots of LOTR stuff, drove north to see the people of the ring, visited Hobbiton visited Wellington, center of NZ’s cinematic empire, and will soon leave NZ. However, much more content will follow.
I haven’t seen an insect weta before in my travels (until this trip, but not this story) but I have plenty of experience with the folks who run and work at the special effects shop who identify themselves as “wetas”. Several Comic-Cons, (including the 2011 edition in San Diego) lots of emails and various TORn functions have made the crew at Weta Workshop friendly acquaintances if not just plain old friends.
My time in Wellington would need to include a visit of some kind with the very busy people who are working on The Hobbit, but as I have often joked (even though it is at least partially true) Weta’s second best talent is making special effects for movies. What they are really best at is keeping secrets from TheOneRing.net. I had no illusions that anybody was going to tour me around the workshop (I asked anyway, just in case) during the height of The Hobbit production, but they were kind enough to invite me along to a group they were hosting from a cruise ship that included one of our own message board members. (Her identity is her own to reveal.) Continue reading “Weta Cave big part of movie tourism in Wellington”
“Frodo, the Argonath! Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old. My kin.“
– Aragorn to Frodo while sailing down the Anduin February 25th, 3019 TA
As we approach the Christmas Holiday the truly awesome folks at Weta have given fans a chance to get items that they may have missed. One of the items was the Argonath environment, which came back as part of their first Christmas Special last week. This was great for someone like me who had missed it before and was kicking myself for not ordering it.
The Argonath, which portray Isildur and Elendil, relatives of Aragorn, marked and guarded the northern boundary of Gondor. This was inform strangers they could not come south of the Argonath without permission. As the power of Gondor declined these imposing figures could no longer be enforced. As the Fellowship came upon the Argonath, Frodo would notice that Strider no longer was sitting beside him, but instead it was Aragorn, son of Arathorn, a King who was returning from exile.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop ‘The Argonath’ Review”
Benedict Cumberbatch will not only provide the voice of the dragon Smaug The Magnificent, he will perform the role using the motion capture technology pioneered by Andy Serkis and Weta Digital, according to the actor himself.
The design of the most iconic villain in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and indeed probably the greatest literary great worm of the 20th Century, remains a secret and a key ingredient of Peter Jackson’s two part movie adaptation due in December 2012 and December 2013. The actor, the title character acting opposite Martin Freeman in the BBC’s Sherlock, revealed to Collider during a press junket that he hasn’t done his Hobbit stint yet and that he will not only provide the voice for the creature but perform him as well. You can see the video or read the interview right here.
How cool would this be to watch?
from scoop.co.nz: A one point five metre high ‘Showgirl on A Dragon’ will begin to appear in the SKYCITY Atrium tomorrow as Weta Workshop sculptor Craig Campbell gets to work on the masterpiece which will take him ten days to complete.
From 12-16 October and 19-23 October NZ, the American artist with fifteen years practice in his craft will create the sculpture as the public look on. Based in the heart of SKYCITY, at the top of the stairs the lead to the Sky Tower lifts, the live demonstration will give locals and the many tourists in town the chance to chat to Craig about his creation and the work of Weta Workshop.
Tim Launder from Weta Workshop says: “This is the thrilling sequel to the opening of the Weta Cave at the end of August. We’ve had such a great response from the Auckland public to the shop; it’s special to be able to add that little bit more magic.”
[Read More]
