THE HOBBIT

Worldwide Assault



The assault begins December 14th, 2012!

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http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/05 ... more-44800

First film slated to open on December 14, 2012 and second film to be released on December 13, 2013

New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM have announced the titles and release dates for filmmaker Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit. The first film, titled “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” will be released on December 14, 2012. The second film, titled “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” is slated for release the following year, on December 13, 2013.

Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar®-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” The adventure of “The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

Under Jackson’s direction, both movies are being shot consecutively in digital 3D using the latest camera and stereo technology. Filming is taking place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and Martin Freeman, who just won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the BBC series “Sherlock,” takes on the central role of Bilbo Baggins. Also reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; and Andy Serkis as Gollum. The ensemble cast also includes (in alphabetical order) Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner.

The screenplays for “The Hobbit” films are by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson. Jackson is also producing the films, together with Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham. The executive producers are Ken Kamins and Zane Weiner, with Philippa Boyens serving as co-producer.

“The Hobbit” films are productions of New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television licensing being handled by MGM.

this will be a disappointment.

tweens don't read anymore (better hope for a justin bieber cameo)

the college/post-college crowd that jizzed over LOTR hasn't rewatched them for years...9 years = too much of a delay

The delay didn't stop Phantom Menance from going gangbusters. LOTR franchise ended on a high and much loved by audiences of all ages (can't necessarily say the same for Star Wars RTOJ and Indiana Jones The Last Crusade).

The Hobbit this time will skew slightly younger but should also have leftover goodwill and interest from teens and adult audiences. It plays to pretty much every demographic possible, not just a sci-fi fantasy audiences as LOTR has proven.

The Hobbit is a beloved book, it's a must read for young kids and comes highly recommended. You're right that the book world is dying but this is too big of a name for people to miss. In fact, for those who haven't read the books, this movie will introduce them to it....in the same way LOTRs ignited readership over the series when it opened.

Under Fellowship domestically, under King internationally.

These two movies are going to be the most overpredicted movies in the history of forever. It's going to be the modern equivalent of believing Phantom Menace would outgross Titanic.

You only have to look to Pirates 4 to see how in just 4 years, a movie can pretty much outgross the previous pics (which at their time were giantkillers). Pirates 4 is now looking very good for $700m, and may even clip ROTK (i personally think it'll do it). Other examples include Shrek 4 (as bad as it is, the 4th movie defeated Shrek 2 and Shrek 3 overseas). Ice Age 2/3 also very good examples and of course Harry Potter; which despite being a long franchise is still hitting $650m constantly and the last one, will surely blow pass $700m with 3D.

Now, you have The Hobbit which comes 9 years after LOTRs which were as big as they come overseas for a franchise/series. LOTR with Potter are the biggest overseas performers. I would now add Pirates 4 to that list and possibly Ice Age (but i personally think that Ice Age franchise plays narrower across markets than LOTR/Potter/Pirates).

I personally don't see anything less than $700m for The Hobbit. if it does, it'll be a dissapointment in my books. I think it can hit $800m (Potter 7-2 will likely do it this year i think). It's got so much more room to grown in markets such as China and Russia.....where back in its day, ROTKs were foreign record champions. ROTK took opening and total records in Russia and was huge in China as well. If you look at the benchmark now in Russia and China, a uber-blockbuster claims at least $50m. So that's a whopping $40m just then and there.

So unless you're betting for it to fall big in staple markets such as UK, Japan (which it can, this is probably one of the unpreditable markets i think), Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia....then there's no way it won't beat ROTK. This also hasn't factored in the general growth in markets such as Asia and Eastern Europe. About the only region where i think LOTR was weak at in the pass was Latin America/South America. LOTR and The Hobbit (you would assume), won't be able to beat pics like Transformers/Animated Features there. Even Potter is a notch below those gargantuans in that region (though it is opening larger with successive pics, with poor legs unfortunately). Though still, those markets have grown exponentionally over the past 10 years and will surely deliver a bigger gross there compared to all LOTRs pics.

Also for the techies and neds, in addition to 3D, it will be shown in some cinemas on 48 frames per second. I personally am a bit excited about this plus the general growth in ticket prices, 3D screens and IMAX screens. ROTK is the baseline.

If it falls below ROTK in raw dollars overseas, then we do seriously have a problem. Even if the movie is god damn awful....one only has to look to Phantom Menace to see how far buzz, goodwill can get you.

rip avatard

The Phantom Menace skewed younger than the original series and started to get a bit too gimmicky and colourful with its tone.

The Hobbit could well fall into that trap, in fact, i think Phantom Menace is about as close as a comparison as you'll get. Phantom Menace was an origin pic as well and brought the world back to a time when there's more light, color and innocense.

One surely hopes PJ knows what he's doing. The cast looks promising and i'm sure by the sheer fact of them bringing back past cast members will add to the nostalgia and connectedness of the whole world. With PJ at the helm, he will surely try to keep a dark undercurrent that leads into LOTR and will continue to focus on detail in production.

The only thing i could see which will damage the movie, probably to no fault in itself is the backlash that comes with success. We've seen it with Shrek 2/Priates 2/Avatar and even ROTK to a small degree. Press may leech on this and spread negative energy surrounding how this is another cash grab yada yda yda. Though Magnus is ultimately right, if the movie is good and stands on its own, it'll rise above all this fog.

This has a potential to be big but for some reason I don't see it behaving as a sequel. The series was put to end and the general public knows that, given so many people saw it WW. This could act as an original movie and do well, but given the nostalgia factor I am sure it will open big. A lot will depend on how successful the marketing will be but one thing is for sure this is going to be big and make $700m OS for sure, the rest would depend on marketing and legs plus competition.

I don't see anyway these don't make 300M+ Domestic, 1B+ WW each. Like Potter, 3D will not have a negative effect on these films. I kind of wish this came out this year just because the OS 3D boom is in full swing. It may be dying down some by Dec 2012.

Both these will make over $400m domestically, $500m is more likely.

^ Now now let's not get ahead of ourselves. Do remember they are broken from one book into 2 movies which will definitely not help the first part. I don't say these won't be big but not $400m big. I would say around $350m-$360m domestic total

I'm not too excited for these films yet, but I know once I see footage, I'll gain immediate interest.

Stretching one small enjoyable kids book into a patented Peter Jackson bloat-a-thon over two three hour movies while stuffing in leftover LOTR material - - well that's just plain sad.

I hope it bombs.

The Hobbit Part I & II > Avatar WW

But certainly not one of them alone!

It will be a domestic disappointment. Hobbit is not LOTR. its a light hearted fun book. If they turn it into an "epic" movie it will be a big fail. I can this one pull a POTC4 or shrek 4. Plus domestic audience is sick of 3d.

Even if it sucks, it's won't fail. Domestic disappointment? Only if it grosses less than 300M, which won't happen. Why would a more light hearted fun adventure make less than the darker epic LOTR? If anything, that would make it more accessible to younger audiences. But I don't see it turning off the original audience. In that case, it is like The Phantom Menace. Except it probably won't suck. Imagine how much repeat business Ep. I would have gotten if older Star Wars fans actually liked it.

Bullcrap, it will make over 300 at least. I am not sure about these 400 million predictions, but I can see it doing 350-360 and then over a billion WW.

Pretty much the same, considering it had killer repeat business. Newer fans are always more important than older fans.

500m domestic & 1.5b overseas

Yeah I can see it making 2b total but I doubt it will

Is that the name of the movie, lol, move over Star Wars Prequel shitty titles.

No way will the Hobbit dip below $350m domestic. The Tolkien fans will see it regardless of whether they are happy with two films or not. Then its all the fans picked up by the LOTR trilogy + the wider appeal to families that will ensure it does mega numbers.

Why do you think they are bringing back so many Lotr characters?


They want this to seem more like another Lotr film which pretty much dominated the world for like 3 years (apart for 2001)...


Remember no one apart from Cameron has even outgrossed ROTK yet overseas and WW.
That just shows you how big the films were...


Another thing to note is LOTR films were super popular in Canada. Using ratio's and such, over performance in Canada allowed the each LOTR film make around 15-18 million extra then if the films were normally popular in Canada.

Hobbit grossing ONLY 350m domestic will be considered a BOMB...by me

Bomb 350
Meh 400m
Good 500m
Awesome 600m
Crazie 761m

Phantom Menace was able to retain 90% of admissions that the lowest OT adjusted film was able to do, for Hobbit to do the similar, it would be 387 million, ROTK would be 435 million. That seems like a very good starting range for it with no trailers. I could see part 2 dropping off though as Jackson's track record has been very mediocre his last 3 outings.

Are these movies going to be in 3D?