The Hobbit is really not a dramatic story....it's more of a children's tale. So you're not going to get the epic drama you had with LOTR.

Also, I can't figure out why they are making this three movies. It should be two, at most. They're really stretching the plot lines to make this work.

I hope it's great, but I have lowered my expectations for this movie big time. We may not get a true glimpse of Smaug until the third movie and that's incredibly stupid.

It's been repeated ad nauseum at this point, but Peter Jackson is adding a ton of Tolkien material from the appendices, and from his own ideas as well I'm sure. Enough to justify 3 films? We'll see. But it's not strictly speaking just "The Hobbit" anymore.

I'm sure the second and third films will be a bit more dramatic as the story progresses, just as TTT and ROTK did with the original trilogy. And as for Smaug, he will be the star of film two, considering it'll be called "The Desolation of Smaug". Also, there is a short appearance by Smaug in An Unexpected Journey, which has been confirmed.

You guys need to read "The Unfinished Tales" and the appendices to "Return of the King". There is a hell of a lot more backstory to the events occurring around "The Hobbit" than Tolkien ever gets do in that book. He went back and filled in a ton of surrounding story, explains what the other characters in the LOTR series were up to in that time period, from Sauron and the Nazgul to Gandalf and Saruman and Galadriel and Elrond and there is an entire history of the Dwarves going back a long ways before the Hobbit that explains what happened leading up to the story itself. The end of the compilation of the Silmarillion also explains some of the "history" that leads into The Hobbit.

"The Hobbit" is MAYBE 60% of the total story, and it could be considerably less with some artistic license. I think we'll be seeing a reconstruction of that chain of events to fill out The Hobbit and give the missing backstory. At least I hope so, because it's actually a pretty interesting compilation once you read it all and piece it together.

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 12/5/2012 5:24p).]

One. More. Week. I'm seeing in 48FPS first then 24FPS IMAX and then regular size 24FPS 3D... Very curious to see how I like the HFR after reading so much about it!

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He went back and filled in a ton of surrounding story, explains what the other characters in the LOTR series were up to in that time period, from Sauron and the Nazgul to Gandalf and Saruman and Galadriel and Elrond and there is an entire history of the Dwarves going back a long ways before the Hobbit that explains what happened leading up to the story itself. The end of the compilation of the Silmarillion also explains some of the "history" that leads into The Hobbit.

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Oh, I've read it. Not to rehash 10 pages (and 4 years) of this thread, but if you are ending the 3rd movie with the battle of the 5 armies, then you cant really fit in the story between the Hobbit and LOTR. And PJ doesn't have the rights to the Silmarillion (or any other writings as far as I know).

I think people expecting something other than a REALLY, REALLY thorough telling of the Hobbit with LONG action sequences, and an unfortunate amount of stuff made up by PJ himself, are going to be disappointed. My fear is that people expecting a good Hobbit movie will also be disappointed by the bloat. I expect to LOVE every minute (minus maybe the bunny sled thing) because I am a Tolkien nut. Most people aren't though.

[This message has been edited by amercer (edited 12/6/2012 2:26p).]

[This message has been edited by amercer (edited 12/6/2012 2:27p).]

He must, because there was content from the Silmarillion and other short stories in the first three movies, stuff not elaborated on in the first three books, if you looked very carefully for it. Not much, but a little. For example the opening sequence of the first film contained details in the Silmarillion's lask "book".

The previews hint a little about inclusions of some of the unfinished tales and other versions of the story, as The Hobbit completely left out any description of the White Council, or of Gandalf's dealings with "The Necromancer" who was discovered to be Sauron. If much of that in included, those parts are detailed outside the Hobbit itself, and in other unfinished stories.

I'm hoping at least some of the stories that include the explanation of how Smaug took Erebor from the Dwarves, and how the White Council was meeting concerning the Necromancer and the darkening of the Mirkwood and Dol Guldur, and Galdalf sneaking in there to find Thorin's father and being given his key and map, and how he ran into Thorin by chance near the shire, etc. If they were smart, they could work in all these surrounding details and explain not only The Hobbit story, but show much more detail about how it is a prequel set of stories to the LOTR series.

Unfinished Tales really worth a read? What sort of stuff is covered in it? I've had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for 3 or 4 years and haven't waded into it. Is it easier to get through that the Simillarion or is it too a bunch of tales about old high elves that all have similar names doing deeds that you can't keep straight?

It's really a collection of short stories, even with multiple versions, that "Fills out" a lot of the "empty space" left over from some of the other stories from LOTR, The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion. It's got a TON of notes in it, and if you're not a Tolkien junkie that stuff can be a bit dry, but the stories are fairly interesting.

The best part of it is there is a significant amount of character development and background stories from some of the more obscure and yet interesting characters from the movies and books. You get the backstory on the Wizards, some Dwarf history, Celeborn and Galadriel, and some characters from the "pre-history" of LOTR, the silmarillion.

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 12/6/2012 6:05p).]

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He must, because there was content from the Silmarillion and other short stories in the first three movies, stuff not elaborated on in the first three books, if you looked very carefully for it. Not much, but a little. For example the opening sequence of the first film contained details in the Silmarillion's lask "book".

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I think a lot of that stuff is also in the LOTRs appendices, although perhaps in shorter form. Again, I'm for whatever Tolkien I can get on the screen, but three movies to do the Hobbit is a BIG risk.

And the Necromancer bit might be the least developed story line in all of the Tolkien universe. It's a throwaway line in the Hobbit, and barely touched on in the LOTRs. And in a way it makes sense. After you've met the Eye in the LORTs, he doesn't make much sense in the Hobbit. He isn't supposed to be able to take his form after all, so it's hard to see how (as a weaker being than in LOTRs) he could be disguised as the Necromancer. Tolkien did a second edition of the Hobbit to bring some of the things more in line with LOTRs (notably, Bilbos reaction to having the ring) but this always seemed like something else that was a bit off.

Gandalf tracking Golumn or Strider protecting the North are much better developed plotlines that could make it into a transition movie, but again, we aren't getting a transition movie.

I too am very curious about how they will interpret the Necromancer in the films, considering he can't really take corporal form yet. I'm betting he'll be some sort of "in between" being kind of like the Ringwraiths, who were neither living nor dead.

Hard to believe it's been over 4 years since I started this thread, and we're a week away from finally getting to see this film...

White Council discussing Sauron

So cool.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 12/6/2012 9:23p).]

...nerd boner...

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Unfinished Tales really worth a read? What sort of stuff is covered in it? I've had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for 3 or 4 years and haven't waded into it. Is it easier to get through that the Simillarion or is it too a bunch of tales about old high elves that all have similar names doing deeds that you can't keep straight?

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there is a short piece in Unfinished Tales called the quest for erebor which puts the motivations of gandalf in perspective... And why he chose bilbo. Read it and the other tales.

awesome

does anyone know what event they are referring to with the "400 years of peace" comment?

[This message has been edited by Kampfers (edited 12/6/2012 10:50p).]

Maybe I'll finally dig into it. Is it a relatively quick read (as quick as a 400 page book can be?) I plowed through the Hobbit earlier this year for the first time in several years in about 3 days.

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awesome

does anyone know what event they are referring to with the "400 years of peace" comment?

[This message has been edited by Kampfers (edited 12/6/2012 10:50p).]

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The so-called Watchful Peace began in 2063 T.A., when Gandalf went to Dol Guldur and the evil dwelling there (later known to be Sauron) fled east. It lasted until 2460 T.A., when Sauron returned with new strength. During the Watchful Peace Gondor strengthened its borders, keeping a watchful eye on the east, as Minas Morgul was still a threat on their flank and Mordor was still occupied with Orcs. But no major escalations occurred except for minor skirmishes with Umbar. In the north, Arnor was long gone, but the Hobbits of the Shire prospered, getting their first Took Thain, and colonizing Buckland. The Dwarves of Durin's folk under Thorin I abandoned Erebor, and left for the Grey Mountains, where most of their kin now gathered. Meanwhile Sauron was not idle in the east: he created a strong alliance between the various tribes of Easterlings, so that when he returned he was more powerful and had many Men in his service.

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All of this Tolkein is almost enough to drag me back into playing LOTRO.

13-minute featurette: http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/must-watch-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-13-minute-featurette/

Chris Tolkien (son) explains "the Necromancer" may have been one of the higher ranking Nazgul stationed in Dol Guldur to keep up search for the Ring and counter the Elves in Lorien, or it may have been Sauron himself in a still weakened form. It wasn't well explained, even by Tolkien himself, as he had the basic framework for the whole history laid out, but was himself constantly making tweaks to it. His works had many conflicting accounts, which gives a lot of license to anyone who is willing to try to edit them togeher.

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 12/7/2012 12:46p).]

LOTRO is awesome. Played for a few months and might just get back into it.

I played a lot about 2 years ago. Just too much of a time suck. Not something you can do casually.

5 days.

Time for box office predictions?

I think it opens big, but not huge. My guess is $140 million opening weekend, with holiday legs pushing it to right around $500 million.

Worldwide is harder to say. I'll go optimistic and say $2 bill.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 12/8/2012 11:17a).]

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Also, I can't figure out why they are making this three movies. It should be two, at most. They're really stretching the plot lines to make this work.

I hope it's great, but I have lowered my expectations for this movie big time.

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To a certain extent it's refreshing to see an artist (Jackson) that is uncompromising on his vision and a studio that lets him be that way.

On the other hand approximately 9 hours of this is a lot of Hobbit. Too MUCH Hobbit if you ask me.

I did not enjoy the LOTR trilogy or the King Kong movie. King Kong shows the extent to which Jackson really has no discipline. King Kong is about a 90 minute story. Period.

I guess he's found his audience with these movies, because like the people on this thread, there are a lot of folks that just can't get enough Hobbit.

As someone that struggles to sit still for more than about 90 minutes in a theater seat though, I'm growing weary of the trend of longer, epic, overserious movies.

From TORN's FB page:

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TheOneRing.net
Peter Jackson just confirmed Hobbit Extended Edition will have up to 25 extra minutes.

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Time for box office predictions?

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Anyone?

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 12/11/2012 11:29a).]

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Time for box office predictions?

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Decent, but less than some expect. (I don't follow the industry well enough to give real numbers). I doubt it will do LOTRs numbers, but the studio won't be losing any money on the films.

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White Council discussing Sauron

So cool.

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sharkenleo, is this the same video? The link you posted no longer works.

The Hobbit - Gandalf addresses the White Council

[This message has been edited by Seven11 (edited 12/12/2012 12:57p).]

[This message has been edited by Seven11 (edited 12/12/2012 12:58p).]

Yep, same one.

Jacques, you need a Bad Boys IV.

Dammit, I just got spoiled on what the final image in the film is.

A little annoyed I accidentally read that, but excited at the same time.

I'm betting a lot of you can probably guess what it is.

Tonight!

I'm going tonight but my expectations aren't very high.

Counting down the hours!

Interesting to see a short clip of Thorin with a large tree branch in his hand in the 13 minute featurette. Looks like we will see at least a flashback to the Battle of Azanulbizar, and how he got the name "Oakenshield."