The Hobbit Movie

[Michael]

I've just been reading up about this long awaited project by LOTR director Peter Jackson. Apparently the movie will be shown in two parts - the first next year (2012), the 2nd to follow in 2013.

http://the-hobbit-movie.com/

Interestingly enough, almost all of the original LOTR cast has been signed up for The Hobbit, including Kate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom, whose characters are not actually mentioned in the book.

According to what I've read, it seems like they are going to 'frame' the movie from the perspective of Frodo reading (or being read to) "There and Back Again" (aka Redbook of Westmarch).

They have apparently signed up Martin Freeman to play Bilbo Baggins.
http://www.mjbnewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/Martin-Freeman.jpg
Martin Freeman

From the linked website:
As Legolas is another character that doesn’t make an appearance in the book it looks like we could be getting the so called ‘bridge’ movie after all.

Originally The Hobbit was to be one movie but then the idea of the second movie was floated which would bridge the gap between the end of The Hobbit and the start of Lord of the Rings.

The idea being that they could bring back many of the actors from Peter Jackson’s trilogy which would be a crowd pleaser for the fans of those movies. It would also allow a lot more artistic license for the second movie without upsetting Tolkien purists.

Deadline are saying they have been told the Legolas part is much more than just a cameo so either PJ is really going to deviate from the book or The Hobbit part 2 is going to be the bridge movie.

This sounds interesting. The Hobbit is good material to work with (thirteen Gimli-like characters, tagging along with Gandalf and a Hobbit, has serious comic potential!) but it really seems like it should be just one movie. I guess the idea of a 'bridge movie' is really just a 'prequel' for the LOTR.

Btw, Rumor has it that Bill Murray will be the voice of the Dragon (Smaug). Anyway, I always loved The Hobbit as a wonderful book. The fact that it was written for children gives a 'folksy' charm to a good story.

Bottom line, I'm as excited about seeing this movie(s) as I was to see LOTR in the first place. Peter Jackson has shown that he can deliver a 1st class product that is faithful to the original. I see no reason to doubt his ability to do it again. :)

Any other Hobbit fans out there excited about this movie?

[The Drunk Girl]

Martin Freeman looks more like an actual hobbit than Elijah Woods...

I was a late bloomer on the whole LOTR bit. The only people I knew at the time who were excited to see the movies, were the weird guys in class that had B.O. They also were the ones that would play Magic and D&D at Wendy's on Friday nights. Needless to say I wasn't into the whole thing.

My mom had ranted about the movies after I had gone to Louisville, so that year for Christmas I bought her a 12 disc box set of the trilogy. I sat down with my family and roommate and completed an all day LOTR marathon. Since then, it has been a Christmas tradition to watch the movies.

I have never read the LOTR trilogy, but maybe some day when I am not busy with nursing textbooks and papers I will give them a whirl. I was excited to hear about The Hobbit coming to the screen given how well LOTR were.

[Greendruid]

Do I have to book my flight to see the movie together Michael? 'twould only be fitting!

I am really looking forward to this movie and of course reading this book with my boy when he reaches 7 or 8. The movies are Hollywood and so I'm not really opposed to there being a bridge movie or a brand new part 2. I think Jackson captured the best parts of LOTR with the first trilogy and I'm the type of guy who has spent countless hours studying the calligraphy and lexicography of the Tolkien Elven languages, especially the Quenya. I suspect it will be a fantastic story re-told and reinvented for a new audience. If he can do for Tolkien what Abrams did for Star Trek, I have no qualms.

[Donkey]

I, for one, am super stoked.

[dilettante]

My mom had ranted about the movies after I had gone to Louisville, so that year for Christmas I bought her a 12 disc box set of the trilogy. I sat down with my family and roommate and completed an all day LOTR marathon. Since then, it has been a Christmas tradition to watch the movies.


That's awesome. My family associates the LotR movies with Christmas too. For three years we always went to see the latest one on Christmas afternoon. Now we still watch them at Christmas time.

[Donkey]

Ahem.

FUCK YEAH (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOM13UyZ0A&feature=player_embedded)


I was disappointed when Guillermo del Toro stepped down from the helm of this movie, but PJ did well enough with the Trilogy. I trust this one in his hands.

[Non Sequitur]

I am pumped!!

[Michael]

Ahem.

FUCK YEAH (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOM13UyZ0A&feature=player_embedded)


I was disappointed when Guillermo del Toro stepped down from the helm of this movie, but PJ did well enough with the Trilogy. I trust this one in his hands.

Personally, I have no idea who del Toro is and heard nothing but problems and lack of progress when he was in charge (admittedly, half the problems were New Zealand's psychotic and stupid/greedy unions who fought hard to kill the project to spite themselves, but that's beside the point).

Jackson is bankable and a proven master of the material. In anyone else's hands, I'd consider this project a write-off.

The trailer looks good and with Jackson as director, I'm looking forward to this movie.

(btw, I've always considered the director to be the most important player in making a movie. If you have a lousy director, a great script and great actors, you still get a shitty movie).

[Donkey]

Personally, I have no idea who del Toro is and heard nothing but problems and lack of progress when he was in charge (admittedly, half the problems were New Zealand's psychotic and stupid/greedy unions who fought hard to kill the project to spite themselves, but that's beside the point).

Jackson is bankable and a proven master of the material. In anyone else's hands, I'd consider this project a write-off.

The trailer looks good and with Jackson as director, I'm looking forward to this movie.

(btw, I've always considered the director to be the most important player in making a movie. If you have a lousy director, a great script and great actors, you still get a shitty movie).
Del Toro is a Spanish film maker known for kind of terrifying fantasy with an element of horror films. Probably his best known work in North America is Pan's Labyrinth (poorly translated, it should be the Faun's Labyrinth).

I agree that Jackson can be trusted with the project, but I was looking forward to the darkness and terror that del Toro would have brought to the film.

[Greendruid]

This looks like it will be a beautiful natural extension to the previous work that Peter Jackson was able to deliver with LoTR. Unfortunately Michael, I do not think we will be able to see this series together :sad: I wish my son was just a tad older so that I could take him to see this in the theatre. Sadly, at 3 and a half he'll be too young to risk getting terrified halfway through the movie.