-
In lieu of another trailer or releasing any new footage, director Peter Jackson has done an excellent job of keeping fans engaged with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first part of Jackson's two-part prequel for The Lord of the Rings, with production videos from the New Zealand set (the seventh of which was released early last month). Luckily, Entertainment Weekly has released several new photos (via The Playlist), as the movie is featured on its most recent magazine cover.
While the photos aren't exactly revelatory, they'll have to do until Jackson and Warner Bros. release something new (likely at Comic-Con), but they do offer new looks at Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Andy Serkis as Gollum (underneath the layers of animation), and several of the dwarves in barrels (Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Adam Brown as Ori, Ken Stott as Balin, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Mark Hadlow as Dori and Jed Brophy as Nori). There's also a few looks at Ian McKellen as Gandalf, who promised EW that fans will be pleased with the two-part epic.
check out the photos >> Posted 07.03.12 by Ryan -
Director and co-writer Peter Jackson is certainly taking a few liberties for his upcoming, two-part Lord of the Rings prequel of The Hobbit, bringing back characters from the The Lord of the Rings trilogy like Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom), even though they are absent from J.R.R. Tolkien's original book. However, Evangeline Lilly's character of Tauriel the Woodland Elf has the distinction of being created entirely by Jackson and co-writers Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Guillermo del Toro.
Out of concern for Tolkein's loyal fans, Lilly admitted last September that she was "very concerned" that fans will consider her the "black mark" in the movie because Tauriel is an invented character, which may have been part of her motivation to reveal to Yahoo! that she prepared so much for the Hobbit shoot that she felt she did about "four times as much time preparing" as she did camera work.
read lilly's comments and see the new photo >> Posted 01.31.12 by Ryan -
If you thought the nearly 30-year gap between Tron and its sequel, Tron: Legacy, was something of a stretch, try this on for size: writer-director Robin Hardy's new movie, The Wicker Tree, is the sequel to his 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man (no, not the boring 2006 version starring Nicolas Cage) and even includes original cast member Sir Christopher Lee. Take that, Jeff Bridges! [Okay, truthfully, The Wicker Tree isn't so much a "sequel to" as it is a "re-imagining of" The Wicker Man, but given the fact that Hardy has only directed one other feature in the 38 years since the original movie scared the socks off of moviegoers, we'll give it the win against Tron: Legacy.]
Originally slated for a theatrical release in 2010, The Wicker Tree missed its intended opening, but screened at a couple film festivals last year — a reviewer who saw the movie at the 2011 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montréal called it "horrific and blasphemous to those who saw the original film as an act of iconic horror and blasphemy" but "something worthy of conversation." Anchor Bay picked up U.S. distribution rights to The Wicker Tree and, to help promote its release in select theaters on January 27th, has released online a short preview clip from the movie.
read the synopsis and watch the preview clip >> Posted 01.18.12 by BrentJS -
New Zealand site TVNZ has unveiled a new photo of two more of the dwarves from director Peter Jackson's upcoming, two-part prequel to Lord of the Rings, 2012's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and 2013's The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
This month has seen almost the entire dwarf cast of the movie revealed, with a photo Ori, Nori and Dori arriving first, followed by Oin and Gloin and Fili and Kili. Then, a day ago, Bombur, Bofur and Bifur were revealed as well. Now J.R.R. Tolkien fans have their first look at Balin (Ken Stott) and Dwalin (Graham McTavish).
more about Dwalin and balin >> Posted 07.15.11 by Ryan -
British actor Martin Freeman (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Office), was rumored for the role of Bilbo Baggins in the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit in September, and now that the movie has been greenlit with Peter Jackson directing, the actor has been confirmed in the role.
"Despite the various rumors and speculation surround this role, there has only ever been one Bilbo Baggins for us," Peter Jackson told Deadline. "There are a few times in your career when you come across an actor who you know was born to play a role, but that was the case as soon as I met Martin. He is intelligent, funny, surprising and brave — exactly like Bilbo and I feel incredibly proud to be able to announce that he is our Hobbit."
More cast revealed >> Posted 10.22.10 by Ryan