The Hobbit

Elijah Wood Talks TRON: UPRISING, Returning to Middle Earth for THE HOBBIT, and Season 2 of WILFRED

by Christina Radish    Posted: May 16th, 2012 at 1:11 am

The animated series TRON: Uprising, debuting with a special preview on the Disney Channel on May 18^th before premiering on its regular night on Disney XD on June 7^th, takes place after the 1982 feature film and before the events in TRON: Legacy. Produced in CG animation with a 2D aesthetic, the series follows the heroic journey of a new character named Beck (voiced by Elijah Wood), a young program who becomes the unlikely leader of a revolution inside the computer world of The Grid.  You can watch the first episode here.

At the press day for this highly anticipated new show, actor Elijah Wood talked about how excited he was to be a part of this show, what he thinks of his animated self, how much fun he has doing voice-over work, determining the voice for the character, and what Charlie Bean was like, as a director.  He also talked about the strange fan encounters he’s had, his experience at Comic-Con, collecting action figures, what he looks for in a role these days, what attracted him to Grand Piano, returning to New Zealand for The Hobbit, and what fans can expect from Season 2 of his FX comedy series, Wilfred.  Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Peter Jackson Responds to Criticism of 48fps Filming in THE HOBBIT

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: April 27th, 2012 at 9:28 pm

When director Peter Jackson announced that he would be filming The Hobbit in 48fps (double the frame rate of the industry standard 24fps), it sounded like a brilliant idea: crystal-clear resolution, a feeling of realism and elimination of motion blur.  However, the response to some test footage projected at 48fps at CinemaCon was not as glowing as one would have expected.  Steve was on hand to view the footage and described it by saying:

“The 48fps is so jarring that I’m not sure casual moviegoers will enjoy it.”

I recommend checking out Steve’s video blog in which he discusses his reaction to viewing The Hobbit footage in 48fps. Jackson spoke briefly in response to the criticism. Hit the jump to see what he has to say.

Luke Evans Talks THE RAVEN, Filming at 48 Frames Per Second on THE HOBBIT, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 26th, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Opening this weekend is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

Last week I did an exclusive phone interview with Luke Evans.  We talked about how he got involved in The Raven, his research, what it was like to work with John Cusack, the graphic violence in the film, how much changed during filming, his process as an actor, his favorite movies, and more.  In addition, with Evans currently filming Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit in New Zealand, we talked about how that’s been going, how long he has  been filming for and when he wraps, filming on the RED Epic in 48fps, and future projects like Amateur American and more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

ArcLight Cinemas Completes Digital Conversion with Christie Solaria Series Projectors; Will Feature High Frame Rate Films Like THE HOBBIT Later This Year

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: April 25th, 2012 at 6:06 pm

There are two must-see places that are on my own personal bucket list: the Alamo Drafthouse and the ArcLight Hollywood.  When you are stuck with AMC/Regal/Cinemark (essentially the McDonalds of movie theaters), places like the Drafthouse and the ArcLight are welcome beacons of light in an otherwise dim cinematic world.  With their recent completion of the digital conversion of all four of their locations (33 auditoriums and 61 screens), ArcLight Cinemas has entered a new era.  Facilitated by the Christie Solaris Series 2K/4K digital projectors, ArcLight will be able to feature high frame rate movies, such as Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which bows on December 14th of this year. This is my new Mecca.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

Warner Bros. CinemaCon 2012 Recap Including DARK KNIGHT RISES, THE HOBBIT in 48fps, THE CAMPAIGN, THE GREAT GATSBY in 3D

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 24th, 2012 at 3:01 pm

When Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov took the stage at CinemaCon today, the big debate was over what footage he would showcase.  While rumors were flying that he’d show ten minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps, and that Christopher Nolan would show something from The Dark Knight Rises, no one was sure of anything.  But when he stepped off the stage after the presentation had ended, he had shown clips from some of the biggest films of 2012 and he also made history by world premiering the rumored Hobbit footage.

During the presentation we saw footage from Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, Jay Roach’s The Campaign, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby in 3D, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages, and it ended with 10 minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps.  Hit the jump for more:

Luke Evans Talks THE HOBBIT and What It’s Like to Shoot at 48 Frames Per Second on the RED EPIC

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 18th, 2012 at 7:42 pm

With director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven opening April 27, earlier today I got to speak with Luke Evans by phone since he’s busy shooting Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit movies in New Zealand.  If you’re not familiar with The Raven, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

While I’ll have the full interview with Evans online next week, I wanted to share what he said about The Hobbit today.  As most of you know, Jackson is shooting the films digitally on the RED EPIC in 3D and he’s pushing the boundaries of cinema forward by filming 48fps (frames per second) instead of the normal 24fps.  What that means is, you’ll see very little motion blur when the camera moves or during the action scenes.  I’ve seen 48fps and 60fps first hand and it’s like you’re looking through a window without any glass.  It’s incredible.  For more on 48fps, here’s Jackson’s recent video blog.  Anyway, Evans talks about his reaction to this new way of filming and what it means to be involved in the films.  Hit the jump for more.

New Production Video for THE HOBBIT Highlights On Location Shooting and Andy Serkis as Second Unit Director

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 1st, 2012 at 12:07 pm

As the holiday break has come to an end, director Peter Jackson has unveiled yet another production video taking us behind the scenes of The Hobbit. We’ve already been given an in-depth look at the 3D filming process, and during the last production video Jackson showed us what goes into the film’s expansive location shooting. This latest blog is essentially a “Part 2” to the on location video, as Jackson shows us more of the breathtaking locations used to bring Middle Earth to life. This video also gives us a great look into Andy Serkis’ work as second unit director. He shows us how he beams the scenes the he’s shot over to Jackson and his camp in order to keep Jackson up to date on all aspects of the shoot.

Hit the jump to check out the video. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th, followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again in 3D on December 13th, 2013.

THE HOBBIT to Star Billy Connolly as Dwarven Warrior

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: February 8th, 2012 at 4:57 pm

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe there is a vast array of characters available for actors to portray. Some, like Evangeline Lilly’s elf, Tauriel, are created specifically for The Hobbit, while some actors, like Benedict Cumberbatch (War Horse), lend their performance and voice to a mythological creature. Then there is Billy Connolly (Boondock Saints) who gets to play one of the most fearsome and storied dwarves in all of Tolkien’s tomes. The Scottish actor will play Dain Ironfoot, cousin to Thorin Oakenshield (played by Richard Armitage) and a power-player in dwarven royalty. Having brought Connolly on as Ironfoot, director Peter Jackson commented on how this latest addition has completed the cast. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Andy Serkis Talks RISE OF THE APES, THE HOBBIT, Directing 2nd Unit, 3D, and More at SBIFF

by Christina Radish    Posted: February 5th, 2012 at 8:36 am

Although he is an accomplished stage and screen actor in his own right, Andy Serkis has become the go-to guy for motion capture performance. He was remarkable as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and as the title character in King Kong, but it was his work as the intelligent chimp Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes that earned him a Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Collider was there to cover and attend the event, and we’ve compiled the highlights of what the actor had to say, both on the press line and during the Q&A.

While there, Andy Serkis talked about how performance capture technology is just another form of acting, finding his inner ape to play Caesar and why that character is different from Kong, what it was like to revisit the character of Gollum for The Hobbit films, so many years later, how great it is to work on the live-action set this time, and the experience of working with all of the actors who are new to Middle Earth while also directing Second Unit. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

New HOBBIT and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Toy Images Include a Chess Set, the One Ring 10k Solid Gold Edition, and Bane Wacky Wobbler

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 1st, 2012 at 10:02 am

With New York City Toy Fair starting in less than two weeks, the movie studios are starting to announce what will be on display at the convention.  If you’re a toy collector, it’s Christmas, because you get to see almost everything that will be arriving over the course of the year.  And for movie fans, it’s also great, as you get first looks at the costumes and gadgets that have been under wraps during the entire production.  While the studios are usually great at keeping everything under wraps, Toy Fair offers the fans a lot of answers.

Anyway, Warner Bros. Consumer Products just sent over a number of images of some of their Hobbit and Dark Knight Rises items that will be on display.  While we posted some of the items last night, we’ve now got high resolution looks at the Funko line of Wacky Wobler’s and Pop Heroes, and we’ve also got a Dark Knight Chess Set, Thinkway Toys U-Command Batpod, and The Noble Collection’s The One Ring 10k Solid Gold Edition.  Hit the jump for the images.

New Images from THE HOBBIT and ARGO

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 30th, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Warner Bros. has released new images from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Ben Affleck’s Argo.  As you can see, the new image from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey shows Bilbo being offered some food, and the Argo image shows Ben Affleck doing a reading for his mission to rescue some American hostages from Iran.  So…nothing Earth-shattering but we’re all really looking forward to these movies so we’ll take what we can get.

Hit the jump to check out the full images.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in 3D on December 14th.  Argo opens September 14th.

Evangeline Lilly Reveals Character Details Regarding THE HOBBIT; Says She Appears in the Second Film More Than the First

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 25th, 2012 at 10:15 am

To say Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit is an ambitious undertaking is a bit of an understatement. What began as a fairly straightforward one-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein’s classic novel quickly morphed into a sprawling epic told across two feature films. We know that this isn’t necessarily a page-to-screen feature film version of the novel, as Jackson is bringing back many characters from The Lord of the Rings that don’t appear in The Hobbit. Included in this ginormous ensemble is a brand new character created for the film named Tauriel. Lost star Evangeline Lilly plays the character, and she recently spoke quite a bit about what to expect from Turiel, how much she appears in the adaptation, which of the two films she figures into the most, and how long she’s had to be onset. Hit the jump to see what she had to say.

Elijah Wood Talks THE HOBBIT, Filming in 3D, and the Film’s Similarity to LORD OF THE RINGS; Says He Was On Set for a Month

by Christina Radish    Posted: January 22nd, 2012 at 9:43 pm

While at the FX portion of TCA Winter Press Tour, on behalf of his comedy series Wilfred, actor Elijah Wood sat down with Collider for an exclusive interview to talk about the Season 2 return, and what fans can expect after the dramatic Season 1 finale. We will run that portion of the interview closer to the show’s June 23^rd return date, but in the meantime, we wanted to share what he had to say about his return to New Zealand for his role in The Hobbit.

Even though he only worked on the film a small amount, Wood was there for a month, which gave him time to hang out in Wellington, New Zealand, catch up with old friends and meet a lot of the new cast members. As a result, he was very excited to see the trailer and thought it was awesome. He also talked about the experience of working with 3D cameras that shoot 48 frames a second, and the advancement in technology allowing them to watch the playback in 3D while they were still on set. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

New Image from THE HOBBIT; Peter Jackson and Co-Writer Philippa Boyens Talk About the Production

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 14th, 2012 at 11:35 am

A new image from The Hobbit has surfaced online today.  It is especially heroic, depicting Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins covered in dirt, wielding a sword Sting, a determined growl on his face.  [Update: Commenter Deepak pointed out that Freeman's hand is around Sting, "the blade that glows blue when Orcs are close."  My Hobbit knowledge doesn't run that deep, but it sounds noteworthy.]  In case you needed any, this is more evidence to me that Freeman is an inspired choice for the part.

Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, and Stephen Fry also star.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 14, 2012 followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again on December 13, 2013.  Hit the jump for the full image in high resolution, plus quotes from director Peter Jackson and co-writer Philippa Boyens on the story and production.

Bret McKenzie Talks THE MUPPETS, THE HOBBIT, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, and More

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 6th, 2012 at 9:10 am

I was excited when I heard a new Muppets movie was in the works.  I became more excited when I heard it would be a musical.  And then I became ecstatic when I learned that Bret McKenzie would be the film’s music supervisor.  My elation came from being a huge Flight of the Conchords fan.  McKenzie is one-half of the folk-music-comedy duo (the other half being Jemaine Clement), and through their albums and HBO series, they’ve shown they can easily play with any music genre.

Earlier this week, I got to speak with McKenzie over the phone and we discussed his process on creating the songs for The Muppets, his musical and comic inspirations the possibility of a song from the movie being nominated for an Oscar, his work on The Hobbit, his future musical endeavors, a ukulele orchestra, and more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview.

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