Wouldn't it be great to see The Hobbit returning the franchise to the top in Russia. I'm hoping for at least $50m as well from there which would bolster its chances at $800m. China doing more than $50m as well would be awesome.

I wonder how much people over their know about the book?

The Hobbit was one of the biggest books of my childhood (alongside Narnia) in Russia.

Bigger than LOTRs?

I wonder if the fact that The Hobbit will have a FOTR quest vibe to it give it much more repeat viewings. FOTR is still the admissions champion in the big European markets such as UK, Germany...etc.

8 years on I would now have to admit that FOTR has held up better than the other two....in fact, it's the most easily watchable one out of the lot.ROTK is still emotionally the most poignant but there's a few scenes which i now find quite tedious. TTT's Emyn Muil scenes are also quite slow.

I was watching the ROTK commentary (by Peter Jackson, Fran Walash and Philippa Boyens) and my my, the first 40 mins of ROTK was extremely slow.....not sure if it was just the fact that i didn't play it with sound or some of the scenes were just too familiar to me.

Not sure about you but i don't really understand what Peter is saying here......is he going to play them slightly vain and disconnected or something? the Dwarves i mean. And did anyone notice Gandalf's hair is much darker now compared to when he was in FOTR....not sure if it's the photo itself which is grittier and definately more harder edged than the softness we get from FOTR's initial photos. In some ways, he looks to me like Ian Shane from POTC4.

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Personally invited onto the set barely a month into production, Empire delightedly watched a film — two films — already in full swing. Thirteen cantankerous dwarves, one barely tolerant wizard, and a befuddled hobbit are seen arriving at the gates of Rivendell and sneered at by local elves. Jackson assures us he is once again reaching for the mighty spectacle of Lord Of The Rings, but also bringing a certain ‘Hobbity-ness’ all its own. “The tone is actually the part of it I’m enjoying the most,” he laughs, casting a fond eye upon his rabble of exotic dwarves, clattering about set like they own the place. “They have a healthy disregard for the icons of Middle-earth.”

Well, imagine 13 Gimlis -> many opportunities for comic relief.

Although, i hope PJ doesn't go overboard.

I like the Gandalf photo! I think the seemingly darker hair and all around "grittiness" can be partially attributed to the cranked up contrast levels.

As for Bilbo, he strikes me as a blend between Merry and Pippin, actually. At least from that angle.

I think so too, just to increase the impact. I'm sure the robes itself will match FOTR, afterall....surely not much has changed look wise from HOBBIT and FOTR.

I've always thought of Bilbo as slightly older more rounded and homely, i think we need a closeup facial shot to see. He looks too young gentlemen for my liking.

Is it me or there a lot of fantasy driven pics next year? We have:

* Snow White
* Brave
* Breaking Dawn Part II
* The Hobbit

I'm sure there's others. Could it be the case of fatigue (very much like this year's animation crop?)

Bilbo was 50 years old during the events of The Hobbit, whereas The Lord of the Rings opens at his 111th birthday party - - though given his love for food, the more rounded part may well be true.

Was looking at BOM's release dates page for 2012, and it just strikes me how big 2012 will be. This would have to be the best year ever, there's so many potential big grosses domestically and overseas its not even funny...

Domestic:
* $300m+ Potentials = The Avengers, Spiderman, The Dark Knght Rises, Breaking Dawn 2, The Hobbit
* $200m+ Potentials = Men In Black 3, Madagascar 3, Brave, Lone Ranger
* $150m+ Potentials = Snow White, Dr Suess Lorax, Clash Of the Titans 2, Battleship, Prometheus, Ice Age 4, Bourne Legacy, GI Joe 2, James Bond,

Overseas:
* $600m+ Potentials = The Dark Knight, Ice Age 4, The Hobbit
* $500m+ Potentials = Amazing Spiderman, Madagascar 3
* $400m+ Potentials = Brave, Breaking Dawn 2, Men In Black 3, James Bond
* $300m+ Potentials = Clash Of The Titans 2, The Avengers, Battleship, Lone Ranger, Snow White


We haven't even talked about possible Star Trek 2, Superman and what will sure to be a couple more sleeper hits grossing at least $150m during Summer and the holiday season.

I really hope both Star Trek 2 and Superman move to 2013, there's simply no room for them next year. If they move to 2013, they'll easily be major tentpoles during say Summer.

Besides the obvious top 4 Worldwide (TDKR, Ice Age 2, Breaking Dawn 2, Hobbit) i sense big danger from the likes of Brave and Snow White. Also The Hobbit in particular i fear will face some big competition in the form of Lone Ranger....and November already has two overseas behemoths in the form of James Bond and Breaking Dawn and likely contenders in the form of Rise of the Guardians

Coming of age for hobbits is 33. They very well may look younger than humans of the same age.

Btw, Martin Freeman is turning 40 this year, i believe.

The actor playing Bilbo is 40 (in human years).

No, he's 39.

He still looks too much like Merry for my liking, i can't wait to see some landscape shots. Can you imagine the possibilities, Rhasgobel, Dol GolDur, Erebor, Laketown and of course, i can't wait to see how they do Moria (before it was overrun) and show us new sections of Rivendell (which PJ hinted in his first video),

The dragon attacking Lake Town? It's gonna be sweet!

Speaking of age, my slight gripe is the actor playing Thorin, who is only about a month older than the actor playing Bilbo. Thorin was the eldest of the 13 dwarfs and older than Gimli at the time of LOTR.

Are you a complete buffoon?

Is he not 39? His ID says he is.

Thorin in the photos looks very young, fans are already complaining he's not old enough. He reminds me in that photo of Ian MacShane from POTC again.

I wonder whether this picture is only meant to be a teaser to gauge reception, then they may make slight changes for the final.

Doubt that, they are already deep in production.

Well, they changed Gollum. Plus in LOTRs Aragorn was changed over at the start of Production. Also in LOTRs EE, legolas' costume changed as well, enough to film a big scene at Lothlorien.

We barely see Gollum in FOTR, Stuart Townsend was replaced the day before principal photography began. We don't know at what point they changed Legolas' costume, do we (quick google search didn't turn up anything)? I'd venture a guess not months into production. Also, Thorin has more screen-time than Legolas and shows up much earlier in the movie, they probably have already shot a lot of scenes with him.

I think we need to wait to see clearer pictures of them standing up and in natural light. The photo in Bilbo's hole is pretty dark.

Agreed.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31352

Two new pictures from Empire Online.

I don't know, there's still something about that Bilbo/Dwarves shot that i'm not liking. I don' like the ways the dwarves look there, it just seems to gritty for my liking.

Gritty is good! Or would you rather have them wear brightly colored hooded cloaks, and blue and yellow beards, like in the book?

I would like something slightly softer, less menancing