The Hobbit Film Trilogy Thread

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,353]

Apparently for the climax of DOS - because the White Council expunging Sauron from Dol Guldur and the Bilbo/Smaug tete-a-tete wasn't enough already - there is brand new (not in the books at all) battle in Laketown - Azog's orcs arrive looking for the dwarves and a giant battle ensues. Odds that Tauriel and Legolas will show up to save the day?

[Faleel 5,347]

Sounds almost like they are pulling from the Vivendi video game....

[Jay 37,353]

Is the shot of Azog from the trailer taking place in Laketown?

[Barnald 365]

Apparently for the climax of DOS - because the White Council expunging Sauron from Dol Guldur and the Bilbo/Smaug tete-a-tete wasn't enough already - there is brand new (not in the books at all) battle in Laketown - Azog's orcs arrive looking for the dwarves and a giant battle ensues. Odds that Tauriel and Legolas will show up to save the day?

Where did you hear that? Jackson says he's invented a physical confrontation between the Dwarves and Smaug, presumably prior to Smaug going to Laketown, since he felt this kind of showdown with the enemy was lacking in the book. I know some of Azog's band follow the Dwarves to Laketown (as obviously do some Elves), but I can't see a big battle kicking off.

The fight between Azog's Orcs and the Elves we see in the trailer is obviously in Mirkwood somewhere. I suspect it will take place shortly after they capture the Dwarves.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Barnald 365]

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of Thrain in the second one. Will be very interesting to see what an actor like Antony Sher does with the character.

Was the actor changed or something, I heard something like that?

Yep. He's now being played by renowned Shakespearean actor Sir Antony Sher, who, with all due respect to Mike Mizrahi, should bring more gravitas and skill to the role.

Damn, so much for continuity! I was so glad they got all the LOTR characters to return with original actors but at least you don't see much of him in the first one. When was he recast? Was it for the extra shooting this year?

Yes. And trust me this will work better, because he's a great actor.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Faleel 5,347]

Looks a little "rocky" to be Laketown.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Barnald 365]

No, it's clearly Thranduil's castle that Azog and his orcs are attacking.

But yeah, what Leblanc is referring to was mentioned in a thread at TheOneRing.net. Gotta keep Azog & co busy up until Film Three!

Can you tell me what thread it was? First I've heard about it. If it was that thread about the similarities with The Hobbit game, note that the poster doesn't really know this will happen. All we know is that some of Azog's Orcs will reach Laketown in pursuit of the Dwarves. They won't be a huge group and any kind of large-scale fight would seriously undermine the BOFA. At most it will be a minor skirmish with about 5, 10 on each side. I suspect in reality it will just be Legolas and Tauriel quietly dispatching them.

[Jay 37,353]

I apologize for not having a source - I read it via Facebook on my phone last week when I was away on vacation. It wasn't in a forum thread, it was an actual article

Maybe the article was wrong anyway, who knows

I really want a new trailer

[Faleel 5,347]

I want a new trailer to come out around september/october, so that Shore could feasibly write something for it.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Can you tell me what thread it was? First I've heard about it. If it was that thread about the similarities with The Hobbit game, note that the poster doesn't really know this will happen. All we know is that some of Azog's Orcs will reach Laketown in pursuit of the Dwarves. They won't be a huge group and any kind of large-scale fight would seriously undermine the BOFA. At most it will be a minor skirmish with about 5, 10 on each side. I suspect in reality it will just be Legolas and Tauriel quietly dispatching them.

Oh, I don't think it will be a large scale battle, but there will be an attack on the town, that's almost a certainty (I think there was some footage in the production diaries to back up that claim). And yes, it was that thread mentioning the similarities with the Vivendi game, and I think it was mentioned in another thread as well (Putting spoiler tags just in case)

EDIT: there, it was mentioned in this article, actually.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Barnald 365]

I'm very dubious about that German article. I don't think they know anything new, just cobbling together long-standing rumours and quotes.

The fighting involving Gandalf, Elves and Orcs in the ruins of Dale is interesting. I suppose we don't know yet whether this is part of the BoFA or something else entirely.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Faleel 5,347]

Oh goodness, sounds like "George Lucas" in this parody:

[Barnald 365]

I think Jackson has settled on guys in prosthetics with CGI heads, at least for the most part (Yazneg, Fimbul and hopefully Bolg appear to be the exceptions). Certainly there's some guys at Azanulbizar with prosthetic heads so fingers crossed for the next two films. I'm hoping for more Orcs wearing helmets, because the way I see it is they probably won't bother doing CGI faces for these.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[gkgyver 1,645]

Younger elf? How young is a young elf? 300 years?

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I think Jackson has settled on guys in prosthetics with CGI heads, at least for the most part (Yazneg, Fimbul and hopefully Bolg appear to be the exceptions). Certainly there's some guys at Azanulbizar with prosthetic heads so fingers crossed for the next two films. I'm hoping for more Orcs wearing helmets, because the way I see it is they probably won't bother doing CGI faces for these.

Watching a HD version of the film... i just noticed that the elven army behind thranduil (when he pass on helping the dwarves) is probably 100% CGI. There is some weird looking things there to be real humans...

[Incanus 5,714]

Well those are Elves after all.

[Jay 37,353]

Thranduil's army was instantly obviously CGI in the theater and the first sign for me that TH would be more ROTK than FOTR

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

looks nice

[KK 3,307]

Yeah it does! Big improvement from the others. I guess that's what I'll be buying then.

[Alan 689]

I'm not convinced that they won't all end up looking like that. I'm sure the different covers are simply slips put in to identify different versions. Hasn't there already been a picture of a BD set with the traditional EE style packaging?

[Faleel 5,347]

It was the Japan set alan.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah I don't understand why some of these scenes were kept in the theatrical edition. I mean it was always a given there was gonna be an EE.

The whole point of the EE for the LOTR trilogy was to include stuff from the books that didn't necessarily move the plot along. AUJ has too much of that.

I imagine something like the Bilbo/Elrond scene could have been included in the theatrical version over Blunt The Knives, the Frodo stuff etc.

It would have kept the focus on Bilbo a bit more in that part of the film, where he doing really have anything to do.

[gkgyver 1,645]

How would you explain Sting and the other blades after cutting the Troll hoard scene? No, that is a nice scene, and a good moment of Bilbo/Gandalf interaction, of which there is little anyway (surprisingly). The same goes for Galadriel/Gandalf, just a very nice character scene.

I agree about Old Bilbo after the prologue though, the movie would work very well without it, and would flow nicely. I also thought the moment between Balin and Thorin after the party was needless, and destroys a potentially very nice atmospherical transition between Bilbo denying company and the song scene.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

New ugly poster!

[Faleel 5,347]

I would cut Radagast's stick insect stuff.

[Barnald 365]

Has that actually been confirmed as an official poster? It doesn't look like one. And It's just the cover for one of the new tie-in books.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,353]

Scenes I would cut out of TE to increase pacing (and critics reviews!), that would be better suited for EE:

Old Bilbo and Frodo after prologue

Blunt the knives song

Dwalin and Thorin's chat after the unexpected party

Hankerchief talk on ponies

Troll Hoard scene

Half of Council of Elrond

Gandalf and Galadriel after company leave

The battle of Moria would be better placed somewhere else too, maybe even during the original prologue or later on.

I also wish the Misty Mountain theme wasn't used twice in a row in the Troll scene and at all in the Out the Frying Pan scene, then it would not feel so overused. I haven't heard any complaints about the Indiana Jones boulder rolling, thoughts?

Agree with everything you say except for the Troll Hoard scene, that's gotta be in the film for many reasons.

Moria Flashback could have been saved for Film 2 maybe, nothing about it really pays off in Film 1

I have no problem with the use of the Misty Mountains theme

[Faleel 5,347]

I might trim it down though.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,353]

DOS clips shown at IBC awards?

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/18/77317-jackson-may-show-48fps-3d-hobbit-clips-at-ibc-awards/

[gkgyver 1,645]

Oh yeah, forgot the boulder dash in Goblintown. That was IMO the most hideous scene in the movie, even if it gave us a great piece of score. If it was intended there. I swear, at this point, I wouldn't dare to say which pieces of music are where they are supposed to be.

[Jay 37,353]

I think the Goblintown music is where it's intended..... I think.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I liked the boulder scene....because you know, it's one of those scarce moments gandalf, the wizard, does magic...

[Jay 37,353]

I generally liked all of the goblintown antics. Though if they had toned down the parts where peopls falls tens or hundreds of feet and don't break any bones I would have liked it more.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Yeah. It's one of these examples where Jackson takes a basically great sequence and pushes it over the edge ever so slightly.

I think 2001 Jackson would not have done that.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,353]

Yea, since the films are structured to be a visual representation of what Bilbo is writing is his book I suppose that gives them more leeway to do more crazier things as it could be said to be Bilbo's dramatic license..... but Bilbo's fall down rocky ground and him being fine really irked me in the theater.

[Faleel 5,347]

He does have ripped up knuckles

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Faleel 5,347]

And onto the dwarves!