Oh, we are getting so close. So very, very close. The long-awaited and much-anticipated new film from Peter Jackson will open in theatres a month from today we’ve been treated to another little teaser.
Looks good! We’ve seen most of that before but as is customary with new spots, they added in a little bit more. This movie is nothing if not beautiful and given that the trailers and teasers just show a snippet, I can not wait to see it in its full scope. It was nice to see a bit of humor in this spot with Balin (Ken Stott) telling Bilbo (Martin Freeman) that what he is carrying around is not a sword, but rather a letter opener. Ha! Well done Balin.
If you are planning to head to the theatres opening weekend, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and get tickets. They went on sale on the 7th and you can purchase them online or from your local theatre (obviously if they offer that, which they surely will because it would be foolish not to). If you order your tickets through Fandango, you receive a free download of the Howard Shore song, “The Adventure Begins”.
However, if you are like me and are a fan of film scores, you can head over to Empire Magazine where they have the entire film score available for streaming. There are some who won’t listen to it in order to experience the score for the first time with the movie, but I’m of the thought that you can never hear good scores enough. The score will be released on cd and digital formats on December 10th and can be purchased from both Amazon and iTunes.
So there you have it. All that’s left is to start the countdown until we join Bilbo Baggins on his adventure! The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 14th.
I’m sort of looking forwards to The Hobbit films – I’m not quite sure how it’s going to cope with being three films, but I liked The Lord of The Ring enough (and Peter Jacksons other stuff) to hold off on judgement until they are released.
And now we have some pictures! These are going to be published in a 2013 annual for the first film but they’ve already leaked out (messy) via Uproxx.
First up we have a great looking group shot of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and all the dwarves – all looking moody as they tramp off on their quest.
There are 13 dwarves in all and I’ve no idea what most of them are called. I do know that the lead dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield – played by Richard Armitage – seen her with Aidan Turner as Kili (the pretty dwarf) and…some other dwarf.
Here is Aidan Turner again looking all mean, moody and, dare I say, sexy. Surely dwarves should not look this hot.
Two more dwarves. I’m pretty sure the one on the right is Scottish actor Ken Stott, so that would make it Balin.
And here are three more battle ready dwarves (Happy, Bashful and Doc…maybe?)
They all look great but what we all want to see is Lee Pace as Elvenking Thranduil ( Legolas’ Dad). And here he is in all his camp, elvish glory.
Is that not the most fabulous crown you ever did? Coupled with the finest eyebrows in all of Middle Earth. No wonder he’s king.
So, anywho, the first film The Unexpected Journey is out in early December.
Film Drunk dropped this still from Prometheus featuring Noomi Rapace gazing awestruck at something out of frame, which is interesting considering the most intriguing part of the photo is the pair of space jockeys behind her:
Here’s the photo again, lightened considerably to show the jockeys more clearly:
While the mysterious aliens and the tunnel surrounding them recapture H.R. Giger’s iconic style from the original Alien series, Rapace’s spacesuit looks wildly out of place in the gloomy environment. It could just be my obsessive love for Mass Effect talking, but I think the outfit’s looking very much like something Cerberus might design.
Update:Cinema Blend now reports that actress Kate Dickie supposedly spilled some mildly spoilerish plot details in a UK Tabloid, but as they mention, those types of magazines aren’t exactly the picture of accuracy. Keep that in mind while you read on, but remember there are potential spoilers:
After hearing all of the worrying issues that caused Guillermo del Toro to leave the director’s chair in pursuit of other projects, and the long period of relative silence from production, it’s a relief to find some footage of Peter Jackson’s upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit today, in the form of a gorgeous trailer courtesy Collider.
Kind of nostalgic, isn’t it? It’s really nice to see that budget problems and creative changes don’t appear to have affected Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Middle Earth at all, and it’s a little embarrassing to admit how happy I am to be back in Bag End, and to see some old faces once again.
In addition to the trailer above, Collider also included a beautiful poster, along with the movie’s official synopsis:
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
The trailer is vague, but if you’ve read the book you’ll know that things look as dedicated and faithful to the source material as all of the Lord of the Rings films before it. Of course, they’ve kept Smaug and the other creatures out of sight for the time being, which is a maddening tease, particularly after reading the massive feature on del Toro that was written in the New Yorker back in February. The interview, in addition to delving into the filmmaker’s fascinating story and older work, eventually went on to describe in detail some of the amazing designs del Toro has come up with for his fantastical creatures, including The Hobbit‘s iconic dragon:
“Smaug’s body, as del Toro had imagined it, was unusually long and thin. The bones of its wings were articulated on the dorsal side, giving the creature a slithery softness across its belly. “It’s a little bit more like a snake,” he said.
Smaug’s front legs looked disproportionately small, like those of a T. Rex. This would allow the dragon to assume a different aspect in closeup; the camera could capture ‘hand’ gestures and facial expressions in one tight frame, avoiding the quivery distractions of wins and tail […] Smaug’s eyes, del Toro added, were “going to be sculpturally very hidden.” This would create a sense of drama when the thieving Bilbo stirs the beast from slumber.”
There’s a lot more about Smaug’s description and concept in the full article, and all of it sounds awesome (The article is a must-read). Obviously the dragon might not feature at all in the upcoming movie, as An Unexpected Journey is only the first half of the story, but it’s a safe bet that del Toro would pour that same dedication and creativity into all of Middle Earth’s inhabitants, and I desperately hope that Peter Jackson is incorporating as much of his designs as possible into the final film.
I’m really excited for The Hobbit films, if you can’t tell. The trilogy is arguably the largest cinematic event of our generation, but even on top of that, I always felt the Hobbit was the best of the novels. The potential for these final Tolkien adaptations is paralleled only by our expectations of them – it’s a lot to overcome, but Jackson has proved before he doesn’t shy away from huge undertakings. 2012 can’t come fast enough.
Let’s face it. Warlocks are f–king cool. By definition a warlock is a male witch, so basically you could say Harry Potter, Gandalf and Merlin are all warlocks. Even the evil ones are pretty damn sweet; you’ve got Sauron and Saruman from Lord of the Rings and Voldemort and his Death Eaters from the Harry Potter series.
Sauron From Lord of the Rings
Sure when you see the warlock Leezar in the movie Your Highness, you laugh at him because he’s so damned ridiculous looking, but that movie was supposed to be a parody of a fantasy movie. So it’s really off the wall strange when you have some jack-off spouting off to the media claiming that Your Highness paints warlocks in an unfair light.
To see said jack-off, look no further than Christian Day.
Christian Day gained minuscule notoriety for his attacks on Charlie Sheen, which he claims tarnished the good name of Warlocks everywhere, but has now moved his focus to the movie industry and called for an all out boycott of Your Highness. Wow.
Not only does this guy look like he’s in desperate need of getting laid, but he looks to be quite possibly the worst fricking warlock I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure this guy can’t shoot fireballs from his hands or lightning from his eyes. And there is no way he could possibly forge an evil ring to rule mankind or split his soul into seven pieces. That being said I really don’t know what his beef is with Your Highness.
Leezar is sooooo sweet…
From what I can tell, real life warlocks and witches dabble in herbs, curses and other magical items that with all probability won’t work on anyone. So it’s kind of funny to see them wanting a boycott of Your Highness when the warlock Leezar in it can use all sorts of crazy magic with his trusty staff and they can’t…ever.
So until there is a movie featuring a warlock who can’t use sweet magic and is a total asshole, I think the Warlock community better just try to capitalize off of Your Highness‘s meager box office success and just claim they put a curse on it from the start.
Grizzly Bomb 