GOLD! THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Will Open $75M+, Already At $122M+ Overseas - Over 70% Of Total From 3D Screens!

This is it guys. The last trip we will have to Middle-earth for a long time. So go out and enjoy it! Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES opened last night to massive midnight screenings and is projected to hit north of $75 million for the weekend. Add on the $122 million it has already made overseas and we're well on our way to another gigantic release for Tolkien's imagination. Well mostly Tolkien and some kind liberty by a fella known as Peter Jackson.

After seeing the first two releases in this franchise series, it really makes me wonder what Guillermo del Toro's versions would have been like. More practical effects I'm sure, but what would be the big differences? I'm hoping that perhaps some of those concepts get included in the upcoming trilogy blu-ray set for THE HOBBIT next year. They've got my money already, but that would be the icing on the cake.

Back to the matter at hand - I won't be able to see the finale until the weekend, but Tim says he's seen it already so it will be great to see his review on the movie and the native 3D. Mine will be coming forthwith! Can't wait to see all that native 3D goodness, all from the amazing 3D rigs of 3ality Technica. Bring it on!

Here's the movie's storyline:
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, the third in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.

Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain. As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is now playing in 3D, HFR 3D, IMAX 3D and flat.

Watch: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Extended Edition Scene Disc Preview

Tim here, and in case you forgot about The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition, we've got a preview of a scene from it here! I know, how can there be more goodness from the second Hobbit movie? Well there is and I'm pretty excited about it. With any luck we'll get a special The Hobbit Extended Edition Marathon in 3D in theaters leading up to the release of The Battle of the Five Armies. 

The scene showcases Bilbo's climbing skills after the company reaches a swamp, which they've been warned by Gandalf holds some dark enchantments. That doesn't appear to stop the dwarves though, who encourage Bilbo to cross as he's the lightest. 

Check out the scene below:

There will be a total of 25-minutes of additional and extended scenes for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition. It's going to show some intriguing new moments from Bilbo's journey. 

You can grab a copy of the The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition on November 3^rd on 3D Blu-Ray (and it's native 3D of course - shot on 3ality Technica rigs), 2D Blu-Ray, and DVD, a month before The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies hits theaters on December 17^th, 2014 in IMAX 3D, RealD 3D, HFR 3D, and regular flavor 2D.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Teaser Trailer Lands

Tim here, and the Teaser Trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is here! It's the final Hobbit movie, and it looks insane already. Check it out below:

First thoughts are: WOW! I love how the logos fly by at the very beginning. They would look so cool in stereo 3D, and I hope that I can see it in front of Guardians of the Galaxy this Friday in 3D. And the native 3D for the production should be over the top with 3ality Technica manning the camera rigs! We barely get glimpses of the action that is to come in the movie. We see a brief shot of Smaug bringing devastation to Laketown, followed by a shot of the aftermath. I definitely get a sense of the "calm before the storm" type of pacing with this teaser trailer. There's plenty of shots leading up to the big titular battle, and possibly some shots from it. I will say that the cinematography, color, and VFX presented within are already impressive.

The movie hits theaters December 17^th, 2014 in IMAX 3D, RealD 3D, HFR 3D, and regular flavor 2D. We can also expect a full theatrical trailer in the fall, probably around October.

Instagram Teaser of Teaser Trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Tim here, and it looks like we got a 15-second teaser of the Teaser Trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies from the official Instagram account of The Hobbit Movie. Check it out below.

The new teaser trailer for #TheHobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will be unveiled tomorrow at 12pm PT / 3pm ET! http://t.co/CpJnmXfPbV
— The Hobbit (@TheHobbitMovie) July 27, 2014

And later, the full 1080 version hit YouTube:

The teaser trailer will hit tomorrow (Monday, July 28, 2014) around 3PM EDT / 12PM PDT.

HOBBIT UPDATE: Production Diary #13 And Middle-Earth Chrome Experiment Live

A Journey Through Middle-earth

Tim here and Peter Jackson has brought us the 13^th production diary for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out! First, BEWARE OF SPOILERS! There's a lot of great Behind the Scenes footage in here, and it's wonderful if you're curious about the filmmaking process, but that doesn't mean that if you're trying to preserve your viewing experience that you'll walk away without getting some undesirable information.

We also get an amazing view of the 3ality Technica 3D rigs holding Jackson's Red Epics that are shooting in HFR 3D (High Frame Rate - 48 fps). Love it!

There's a wonderful amount of humor contained in this production diary. It's funny seeing Bilbo and the dwarves playing table tennis while on break. We get some Laketown BTS that includes Stephen Fry, who might have been some of the best casting along with Sylvester McCoy. Another thing clear is how huge the sets were in these massive sound stages. Amazing to hear how much virtual water and gold the VFX guys at WETA Digital had to make. Alright, there's a lot in this one, so I won't hold you back much longer. Enjoy it below, and be sure to read after the video for information about the Google Chrome Middle-Earth Experiment:

Additionally the Chrome Experiment I wrote about a few months ago has hit the web! It's an interesting interactive map of Middle-Earth and has a few fun games and places to explore. Currently you can explore the Trollshaws, Rivendell, Dol Guldur, Thranduil's Hall, and Laketown, with The Lonely Mountain to be unlocked soon. I wish it was a little more like Google Earth in that you could zoom in to all the Middle-Earth locations and map out the land. It would be especially awesome if they had Hobbiton and the Shire. Maybe in a future update that will be possible. It's a good start for now. I'd like to be able to visit some of the locations from Lord of the Rings as well. You can check it out here: http://middle-earth.thehobbit.com

On December 13^th The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits IMAX 3D and RealD 3D screens in HFR and SFR. THIS IS A WEEK AWAY!

Hilarious New Commercial For Air New Zealand With A Middle-earth Twist!

Love it when corporations get creative like this, and why not? New Zealand IS Middle-earth right? I won't spoil a thing for you - you have to watch.

But to top it all off, you could win seats at the premiere of THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG at either Wellington or Los Angeles! For more info on the contest, head on over to Air New Zealand.

I've never been to Kiwi but obviously would love to go there. What a trip that would be! Can't wait to see DOS - and some more brilliant native 3D shot on 3ality Technica rigs :-)

Oh and advance tickets for DESOLATION OF SMAUG are on sale tomorrow!





Via Collider

HOBBIT UPDATE: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Extended Edition Details!!

Tim here. For those of you who will be viewing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey again before seeing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in December, you can actually watch an Extended Edition that ties into the second film more this November.

The details come from Empire, who broke the story today as part of a tie-in with their newest issue coming out on June 27, 2013, which has The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on the cover. Peter Jackson told Empire: "You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell,"

Check out the video interview he had with Empire attached below. Further, Jackson talks about this being his favorite deleted scene from the first film.

When Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens spoke to Empire they said (emphasis mine):

"You are going to get more of Hobbiton," says producer / co-writer [Philippa] Boyens. "We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door."

"You are going to get more Goblin Town, and the Great Goblin singing his song," adds Fran Walsh, Jackson's other half and fellow screenwriter. "It is a great song, but it was just another delay in terms of moving the story along."

"We are putting things in the extended cut that are going to play straight into the second film," explains Jackson, "like this character Girion, who is defending [the city of] Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."

"There are also issues with [king of the elves] Thranduil (Lee Pace)," Jackson adds. "We get some of the reason why he and the dwarves had a falling out – to do with these white gems…"

Sounds like some exciting additions. I'm all for more An Unexpected Journey goodness, especially anything that expands the back story for the later films.

The Extended Editions arrive in November, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits IMAX 3D and RealD 3D theaters December 13^th.

Peter Jackson Picks Up THE HOBBIT Where He Left Off...

Yes, Peter Jackson is back at it with his cast and crew for the final pick ups for THE HOBBIT trilogy. Would love to be there to see the 3ality Technica rigs and Epic cameras capturing Tolkien's world for the final time.

Here's what Jackson had to say via Facebook:
"Back on set for our last Hobbit pick ups. Our last ever Tolkien pick ups, in fact. It’s going to be an intense few weeks, but we’re looking forward to shooting some powerful scenes with our great cast. Our next blog is coming soon!"

We know that the pick ups will last ~10 weeks and seeing as though this is definitely Jackson's last trip to Middle-earth (unless he can sink his claws and legal rights into THE SIMILARION as sort of the book ends to everything), so it's going to be a somber affair yet again with his team.

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG releases on December 13th, plus we can also look forward to the conclusion, THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN on December 17, 2014.

Source: Facebook

First Hobbit TV-Spot Hits

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

So begins this new TV Spot. Tim here with a bit of exciting Hobbit news... like there isn't something new every day. That's the point we've finally reached for the marketing on the first film. Expect a lot more to come in the following days. However, that doesn't make any of us less excited. It does however bring to light the fact that if you want to stay fresh then you had better start skipping posts like this.

I really like this TV-Spot because it focuses on Bilbo's lack of experience in adventures. There's plenty of action shots with a few clever lines delivered quickly and on the mark. There's a few new shots, but a lot of the quick action shots are from the trailer released a month ago. Mainly the dialogue is fresh to the ears.

Hit the jump for more...

Expect Extended Edition 3D Blu-Rays Of THE HOBBIT

Tim here with a "I could have told you this was coming." Reported out of theonering.net it turns out that three movies aren't enough to satisfy all the footage for The Hobbit. We're looking at Extended Editions of each as well, just as it was with The Lord of the Rings. No complaints because Extended Editions means more enjoyment for fans... and a push for 3DTV's and the 3D Blu-Rays!

Just like the LOTR DVDs the theatrical cuts will hit the DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital Copy market first, followed by the Extended Editions a few months later. Expect the 3D Blu-Ray to also have the Extended Scenes in 3D. This will give more people incentive to purchase a 3DTV so that they can enjoy the Extended Editions as they were meant to be seen. However, will the digital copies also be 3D? It's not a hard leap for the iTunes digital copies to be available in 3D as through an AppleTV one can easily play a side-by-side squeeze on a 3DTV and have it interpreted as 3D. All Apple has to do is enable 3D in the iTunes Store. That's wishful thinking at this time. The Blu-Rays are guaranteed to be 3D at least.

Here's the storyline for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY:
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY follows 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 Oakenshield. 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, goldring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters on December 14^th worldwide. 

Update From Middle-earth: Part 2 Of Peter Jackson's Set Videos!! Plus Another Dwarven Photo

First of all, have another look at some more dwarves from THE HOBBIT! Thursday we showed you Ori, Nori and Dori; this time around we have Oin (played by John Callen) and Gloin (Peter Hambleton).

These guys are distant cousins of Thorin Oakenshield, and the two doughty Northern Dwarves join the Company out of a sense of loyalty to their kin, and also because they have a substantial sum of money invested in the venture.

Along with Bombur, Gloin is the only other married Dwarf in the Company (there being a shortage of female dwarves in general). His wife is an acclaimed beauty with a particularly fine beard. Gloin is the proud father of a young son, Gimli, who will go on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring.

Man, I love these character photos! More, MORE!!

And now, the production video! I have to say, Peter Jackson gets it. This is what we are all craving and he is providing it! The need to fill the information gaps with info from spies drops considerably when you have the director himself take time for Middle-earth fans like this. Kudos Peter!!

I like seeing the additional work that Andy Serkis has taken on too. Obviously he is a talented and driven creative genius so for Jackson to help him achieve more is good on him.

Which brings me to Middle-earth. New Zealand. Gorgeous isn't it? I have to get down to Kiwi soon to see some of these locations first hand! Nice to have double tentpole budget to fly around 5 helicopters for location scouting isn't it? Well, they need it. And it will all pay off.

So have a look:



Keep up the great work Peter and company! The whole world is waiting on your creations. No pressure though. Ok, yeah there is some pressure - but these videos are obviously good for you and your team to let off some steam. Looking forward to the next set video update from Middle-earth!!

MUST WATCH: Peter Jackson Unveils Over 10 Minutes Of BTS From THE HOBBIT!! Middle-earth Lives Again On Social Media!

AMAZING!! Wow. Who cannot be excited for these films? Peter Jackson promised us some video from THE HOBBIT and boy did he deliver! I am going to be playing this back over and over just to capture all the little bits of information he has given us. The PROPS! Guys, I live for behind-the-scenes (BTS) clips and this is the grand daddy of them all so early into production!!

Can you see how Peter has changed his approach to marketing his Middle-earth films? In fact it comes across as not even marketing (though it obviously is); it appears to us as being a special family opening their doors to the fans and nothing more. Magical. No more ultra secretive productions (sure, he has blurred out aspects of this clip, but you know what I mean) and he has embraced social media! I love it. Just seeing the care and professionalism being taken on creating the sets, wardrobe and well, the energy and aura of Tolkien's work is breathtaking.

Jackson's walk around tour makes me wonder why they don't keep these sets together for tourism purposes. I would gladly pay hundreds of dollars for a day to view these things. What do you think?

Love how Jackson plays with us putting on his 3D glasses! And he keeps repeating Dorey, Dorey, DOREY all the time!! Ok, so it's Dori, but it does have a great ring to it on this set! I'm ecstatic that he is so on board with stereo. And those Red Epic cameras!! On 3ality Digital rigs too - it all looks like candy to me.

Hmmm... At the beginning did you notice Gollum's chair is higher than Bilbo's? Andy Serkis has some clout now doesn't he? ;-)

The traditional greeting ceremony, the many unsung contributors in the background, all the dwarves sitting around the table at Bag End and having Ian McKellan positively glowing on set is such a gift to us. Thank you Peter. Thank you.


Here is the BTS clip (or you can watch it in HD right here):



More when I get it!

Exclusive: Press Conference TODAY With "The Dwarves" Of THE HOBBIT!!

**SAME DAY UPDATE: And just as we said - here are the details from the conference (which PJ missed unfortunately). Not too earth shattering, but cool all the same! (Photo updated with shot of cast table)

**AND now a video of the conference!

EXCLUSIVE: I have heard from one of my top sources on THE HOBBIT mere minutes ago and he says later today (Friday, New Zealand time) there will be a press conference with "The dwarves" in attendance!!

Wish I was there. The content of the conference is so hush-hush that even he doesn't know what will transpire. Further casting announcements perhaps?

What we DO know is that shooting will commence on March 21. Hopefully Peter Jackson will be back up to par (or better) by then!

Will let you know what happens at the conference as soon as I find out!! Stay tuned...