Why, we already had Orlando Bloom in that role.

I was about to post the same thing on Naz's post (albeit in a bit more OB looks like a girl manner):

Touché!

How did i know someone was going to bring this up

You've seen the girls, now the boys.....


Richard Armitage - Thorin




Martin Freeman - Bilbo Baggins




Benedict Cumberbatch - Smaug




Luke Evans - Bard




Lee Pace - Thranduil




Orlando Bloom - Legloas

First look at Bilbo (*lol* he cracks me up), Gandalf (yay, straight out of FOTR) and a few blurry dwarves (shame we don't get a better look)!

[CLICK]

Interesting bit of info, the Hobbit shoot is 254 days long, which is just 12 days short of the LOTR shoot, according to PJ.

Wow, very good photo-still. he looks even better than i thought - though it's only a side shot so hopefully we'll get a face shot soon.

And WOW, Gandalf the Grey - brings back a lot of memories and it's fantastic that they've kept it like FOTR.

I'm getting more and more pumped about this every day.

BTW - is it me or has Peter gotten slightly fatter again (in the 3rd picture). He looked really thin during the Lovely Bones/Titin era.

Yes, he's gotten fatter again. Suits him.

That's the Peter of old, funny and laid back. He started to get more serious during King Kong.

By god i hope The Hobbit doesn't turn out to be like King Kong....not that i hate King Kong or anything, i thought the movie was excellent.....though you get a sense from that movie that it was too indulgent, and slightly drawn out. If 30 mins was cut from that movie it would've been perfect and really owned Christmas 2005.

ROTK demoted to #4 on the International Charts by Pirates 4. Only 16 movies have managed to cross $600m with another one sure to join them (HP7-2). Surprisingly, this list is dominated by the past 3 Pirates and the past 4 Harry Potters, each franchise failing only once to cross $600m (Pirates 1 and Harry Potter 3).

LOTRs only has one entry, both FOTR and TTT failing to crack $600m.

1) Avatar - $2,021,767,547
2) Titanic - $1,242,413,080
3) Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: OST - $742,900,000
4) Lord Of The Rings: ROTK - $742,083,616
5) Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs - $690,113,112
6) Alice In Wonderland - $690,108,794
7) Harry Potter 7-1: DH - $659,500,000
8) Harry Potter 1: PS - $657,158,000
9) Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: AWE - $654,000,000
10) Toy Story 3 - $648,167,031
11) Harry Potter 5: OOTP - $646,208,000
12) Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: DMC - $642,863,913
13) Harry Potter 6: HBP - $632,000,000
14) Harry Potter 2: COS - $616,655,000
15) Harry Potter 4: GOF - $605,908,000
16) 2012 - $603,567,306

Pirates 4 i think was partly helped by the weak US$, it's local grosses are not that impressive.

If The Hobbitt gets anywhere near LOTRs in local dollars it will cream Pirates 4 next year, let's hope the weakness of the US$ continues (i doubt it though) as interest rates or talks of interest rates increases in the US$.

By the end of this year, ROTK will probably be #5.......oh well, it was great while it lasted, it's been afterall 8 good years in the Top 3.

Good performance by Pirates 4 and WOW for ROTK to hold the record for 8 years . While there are chances I still don't believe The Hobbit will make $800m OS. HP7.2 may or may not pass ROTK with 3D. TF3 also has a slight chance to cross $600m WW if it gets huge 3D share.

For some reason, i feel more confident in HP7-2 hitting $800m then Transformers 3 hitting $600m. Both have good shots with 3D and the market has increased again since 2009. Russia and China now are delivery grosses at or above staples such as UK, Germany and China.

In fact i would rank strength of markets as follows now:

1) UK
2) Russia
3) China
4) Germany
5) France

Italy and Spain have dropped off a little and Australian grosses (with the strength of the Aussie Dollar) is now easily at those levels.

I really hope the Hobbit can hit $800m, it needs to show these pretenders how to really gross big overseas. I do not think POTC4 deserves its gross and i hate it when movies do that much.....case in point, Avatar and Shrek 2.

The Hobbit will hit $1 billion.

Agree...

Let's hope so...

Can't agree, still I'd say $1B is likely

Then what exactly are you predicting. If POTC4 is on the verge of $1billion, why can't The Hobbit"?

The Hobbit unless it bombs will surely defeat POTC4 in the domestic market. There's no way The Hobbit is going to do less than $250m with the holiday season. Even if its bad, the large opening coupled with holiday legs should push it past this mark.

Overseas, i honesly do not see much less than $600m, that is again if it bombs.

Right now, i would say $1billion is a high possibility. Anything greater than that, it'll need to rely on the strength of the movie.

Epic first magaine cover from EMPIREONLINE!

Gandalf looks particularly imposing, and is it me or does Bilbo look like Merry in that photo

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31328

No, no, no, we were talking about $1b overseas.

Ok, i'm out as well, no way it's making $1billion overseas. I think $800m is possibility with $900m the outperformance mark for me.

It will need strong support from Japan i think coupled with the emerging markets to really make this a possibility. If Japan falters, with something like a King Kong or Transformers type gross then forget about $800m as well.

Compare this magazine to Empire's very first FOTR cover back in February 2011.

Empire is well known as a strong supporter of the LOTRs franchise, let's hope it continues.

[/quote]



And compare this to Entertainment Weekly's very first pics..

Sure, it seems like a very tall order at first glance but the thinking is, if the same people show up that propelled ROTK to $742m almost a decade ago (by 2012), inflation plus 3D (and emerging markets) might be enough for Hobbit to make it to $1b. Of course, who knows, anything can happen, maybe people got sick and tired of Middle Earth...

You forget hugely emerging markets. No LOTR film has passed $20 million in Russia for instance. The Hobbit, however, I am sure will soar past $50 million. It'll rule in China and I expect no less than $100 million in Japan with 3D.

Well ROTK was at the height of proceedings, The Hobbit will need a strong opening because i don't think it'll have as good of legs compared to LOTRs,