Countdown to Release | SPOILER THREAD

[Eldorion]

Quick Links: Since this is a long-term thread I've added links to points in the thread where we discussed specific happenings. To be updated as things occur...

• Comic-Con Hall H presentation
  
• Film three officially confirmed
  
• Film three details revealed
  
• Trailer 2 hits (separate thread)
  
• WB mentions Extended Editions
  
• Soundtrack listing revealed
  
• World premiere November 28
  
• 13 minute featurette
  
• Theatrical reactions (separate thread)

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The "News from the set" threads have kept this forum going for 15 months. Shooting started in March 2011, when we had just moved to our present location less than a month before and most of us weren't active here. A lot has changed in that time, and principal photography has finally wrapped up. As someone who remembers many years when it seemed that filming would never even begin, that's an important milestone for me.

Since the sets are now empty and the production has moved on to post, I thought it fitting that we have a new thread for discussion, anticipation, rumor-mongering, bashing, adoration, etc-eration of the films, especially Part 1, which is now less than six months away. The closest major event we have to look forward to is the San Diego Comic-Con in about a week. Today, PJ released a new poster through his Facebook page in recognition of Comic-Con.



I'm holding out hope for more footage to be released next Saturday (July 14) but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, let's all look forward to the films.

[Pettytyrant101]

That poster is odd- I like it, looks like a Lee picture unsuprisingly. But the distant Shire- with its english countryside style green hills is perfect and was completely absent from the actual LotR's films- here's hoping we see the SHire more like this in TH.

[Eldorion]

But is the sunlight right?

I like the Shire in the LOTR films but it'd be nice to see it a little more trimmed and proper. Also, is it just me, or is Gandalf's beard but much larger and bushier than in LOTR? That jumped out at me from the first pics we saw of him and it seems especially noticeable in the latest poster.

[Mrs Figg]

thats a gorgeous poster!

[Norc]

maybe. let's compare them. the two promo photos from each movie, starting with Lotr.


btw, I'm glad you made a new thread, Eldo. It's really an accomplishment what we (well, mainly you) have done, keeping the forum alive, living and breathing for 15 months (with little to no news)

[Eldorion]

maybe. let's compare them. the two promo photos from each movie, starting with Lotr.

Hmm, side by side, I think that the LOTR beard looks a little longer but the TH beard looks wider and bushier. But maybe that's just me.

btw, I'm glad you made a new thread, Eldo. It's really an accomplishment what we (well, mainly you) have done, keeping the forum alive, living and breathing for 15 months (with little to no news)

Thanks Norc. I'm really glad that we pulled through the long development hell and the stretches of no news during filming. We've actually grown considerably in that time and I'm very grateful to everyone who has kept posting. So thank you, guys.

[Norc]

maybe. let's compare them. the two promo photos from each movie, starting with Lotr.

Hmm, side by side, I think that the LOTR beard looks a little longer but the TH beard looks wider and bushier. But maybe that's just me.

i dunno, maybe it seems tidier because the first one is in black and white. I dunno, but yeah, he is more worn down and bushier overall in the hobbit, I think so too.

[Tinuviel]

Well, his white beard is ALOT shorter than the grey one, so maybe that's what's different?

[Ally]

Interestingly, in like 3 years, I have only ever discussed the movie on two occasions
It makes you wonder why I joined the old forum in the first place

[Pettytyrant101]

Well you agree with everything Pj does- that doesn't take many posts to say Ally.
And where would we be without all your other posts and channellings? Worse off thats where!

[Pettytyrant101]

Comic-Con International rolls into San Diego this week for its annual pop culture convention, and high on the list of must-see events is film footage of what actor Elijah Wood promises is a bigger "Hobbit" than fans can imagine.
Perhaps the greatest sense of anticipation this year is reserved for "The Hobbit," a Warner Bros. film based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien that follows the trilogy of blockbuster films based on his "Lord of the Rings" book series.
"The scale of "The Hobbit" is larger, the anticipation is potentially greater, everything feels a little bit bigger," Wood told Reuters about the movie, which hits theaters in December. "For so long, people didn't think there would be a 'Hobbit' film, so the fact that there is finally, people have been anticipating this for a long time."
So far, details about "The Hobbit" have been kept under wraps with only one trailer released last December, but the studio will finally show extended film clips and Jackson himself is expected to turn out to meet fans and answer questions. - Yahoo news

So there will be film clips shown then. This should be interesting.

[Mrs Figg]

we need Chris and his Sherlock thingy.

[David H]

Don't forget we have a spy on the inside. Recoveryanonymous agreed to collect on-site intel for us!

[Eldorion]

Came here to post that exact story, Petty. I hope they've cleaned up their act since CinemaCon. It'll be interesting to hear the reactions from RA and others; I just wish I could see it myself.

[Mrs Figg]

oh yes I hope R.A has seen something Hobbity!

[Pettytyrant101]

Shame we didn't think of having Forumshire t-shirts sooner- we good have got RA to wear one to Comic-con. (Am I the only one who thinks that name is a rare instance of truthful advertising- its there to con you out your money and its not really about comics anymore!)

[Pettytyrant101]

New character posters- put up for Comic-con and some sneaky bugger has got some snaps of them- so not great quality.
Here they are complete with a Tyrants assessment of each.


Just me or is Galadriel flipping everyone off in this! Well same to you, yi serene elven @*!@!


Looks more like an underwear model than a dwarf to me.


The first one that looks like a bloody dwarf- even if the photo gives him 3 eyes!


The underwear model rival- my arse has a better beard than his face and I dont even have a hairy arse!


Dwarf scribe I can buy that- but a series of poor laywer jokes is what I expect from PJ.


Looks fat, looks dwarfish- I can live with Bombur, I think he looks the part so long as the fat suit looks better on film than it so far has in stills.


Really WTF were they thinking? And are those supposed to be his weapons? What does he specialise in? Killing people who are round a corner?

[Eldorion]

Rather then getting accustomed to them as I thought I might, the dwarf designs look worse to me each time we get new images. I suspect the work of Del Toro in many of these, but his style is really inconsistent both with Tolkien and with LOTR-era PJ.

[Ally]

Petty, it's a pitch fork. Probably a farmer dwarf or something, simple!

[Pettytyrant101]

Yeah agreed Eldo- they aren't growing on me either.
And whats with Galadriel being all over every bit of promotional material? Her part in it should be little more than a bit part! So how come she is getting so much promotion in releation to TH?

Ally- from other sources I am led to believe its two knives he uses. Think more a D&D rogue style character. Only even poorer..

[Eldorion]

I hope that they're only emphasizing Galadriel in the promotional material because she's a familiar face from LOTR and that her actual role in the movie will be small. Then again ... PJ.

[Tinuviel]

Well Arwen was in all of the LOTR posters, especially ROTK, and she was barely in it! I think it's just to emphasize the fact that there are female characters in the film, not just males (Although there are NO female characters in the Hobbit) I didn't mind there not being a female character in the Hobbit, because it was a children's story, and you don't need sappy romances in those PJ!!!!!!!!! SO GET RID OF TAURIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eldorion]

Good point on the female character issue, Tin. I wonder what the "LOTR is sexist" crowd thinks of The Hobbit and if that will come up when the films are released.

[Mrs Figg]

Its perfectly reasonable to have Galadriel posters, being a well loved character from LOTR, but I agree about Kili and Fili, they are waaaaaaaaaay too handsome for Dwarves, Kili looks more like one of Faramirs men than a Dwarf. Cant wait to see Galadriels costumes for the film.

[Pettytyrant101]

News- none of it good in my opinion, and from the mouth of PJ himself.

HC: It would be silly to consider a July afternoon in San Diego as a make-or-break moment for a December release — especially one with the heritage, resources and global interest that “The Hobbit” has on its side. But it’d also be a mistake to underestimate the importance of reaching core fans. How would you frame the Hall H appearance as far as the stakes?

PJ: I think it’s more about protecting the downside, rather than helping the film in any significant way. There is a huge audience waiting to see “The Hobbit,” and any positive press from Comic-Con will truthfully have little impact on that. However, as we saw at CinemaCon earlier this year, with our 48 frames per second presentation, negative bloggers are the ones the mainstream press runs with and quotes from. I decided to screen the “Hobbit” reel at Comic-Con in 2-D and 24 frames per second, so the focus stays firmly with the content and not the technical stuff. If people want 3-D and 48fps, that choice will be there for them in December.

So he is blaming the bloggers for people not liking it is he? And he has bottled showing it at comiccon as it will be in the cinemas? I smell a problem with the 48fps, a big problem.

HC: Even as well as you know Tolkien, I’m sure the process of making these two new films has presented you with new insights and connections with the material. What surprises have you found in Middle-earth or in the work of the bookshelf wizard?

PJ: As slight as people think the “Hobbit” novel is, compared to the “Lord of the Rings” books, we have been surprised at how rich the world is, and how many interesting themes and characters there are to explore. We are also using extensive parts of the appendices which were published at the end of “Return of the King.” This is not just ”The Hobbit” — it’s “The Hobbit” set in a much greater context of events taking place throughout Middle-earth during this period. The material is so rich. In fact only this last week or two, we’ve been talking to the studio about allowing us to shoot some additional material next year, to fully complete the story.

What does he mean 'extensive parts of the appendices?' the part of the appendices about the WC and Dol Guldur is one short paragraph and a single entry in the Tale of Years that says "The WC drive the Necromancer from Dol Guldur,' if memory serves. There is nothing extensive about it.
And I wonder what the additional material is- does he mean material for TH or is he going to shoot some new stuff for insertion in the super-rip-off editions of LotR's?

You can read the whole thing here - http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/07/11/the-hobbit-at-comic-con-peter-jacksons-san-diego-plan/