Yesterday was the day to get your first sneak peek at the second film in The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug. To see it you had to have bought a Blur-ray copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that came with an Ultraviolet redemption code, and then you had to remember to tune in for the livestream event . Neither of which I did, but, a lot of others bought the Blu-ray and tuned in and they of course took to the internet to share what they saw. Here’s a description of the Smaug footage screened courtesy of Cinema Blend,

The footage: Gandalf is alone in a dark and spooky tomb, with dark and spooky music backing him up. Radagast shows up and surprises him, but Radagast asks “Why am I here Gandalf? This is not a nice place to meet.” Radagast ask who is buried there, and Gandalf says “If he had a name, it’s been long since lost.” Gandalf’s staff reveals there are many other people buried in this tomb– 9, in fact. The kicker is Gandalf saying “These tombs were opened from the inside.”

Bum, bum, BUM! (Hehe, bum.) Peter Jackson adds, ”That’s a little mystery that Gandalf is exploring in The Desolation of Smaug,” and the fact nine were buried in the tomb is a pretty good clue as to whose tomb they’re in.

Cinema Blend has a real great blog of the livestream event you should go check out. The event also featured behind-the-scenes videos, not unlike Jackson’s production video blogs which he promised there’d be more of this year, as well as questions asked via video from some big names like Stephen Fry, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, and LOTR superfan, Stephen Colbert!

The Desolation of Smaug will release this December, but until then stay tuned for those production diaries as well as our first look at some footage.

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If you want a first look at the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug you’re going to have to go ahead and buy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey after it’s released on DVD and Blu Ray on March 19th, but before the March 24th (3PM ET) live streaming event. You’d probably be buying it anyway, but you’ve got to but it in order to get the special code that gets you into the Live Streaming Event.

You’ve also got the opportunity to submit questions on the movie’s Facebook and Vine pages for Peter Jackson‘s Q&A which follows the trailers premiere. One can expect Warner Brothers to be on top of any boot-leg versions that will pop up on the Internet and slapping Cease and Desist orders left and right, so unless you want to play tag with the Warner Brothers Legal Department all day trying to find a site with a working copy you might just want to buy it or borrow a friends code.

You could just wait . . . unless you’ve got that Hobbit itch that you can’t just scratch away.

Via: Comicbookmovie

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Marketing, it always comes down to marketing. Any money. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will soon be available to enjoy in the comfort of your home through a variety of different mediums: digital download, DVD, and Blu-ray; but only the DVD and Blu-ray combo packs get you the exclusive early preview of The Desolation of Smaug.

Here’s An Unexpected Journey‘s release breakdown, courtesy of Collider,

Warner Bros. has announced that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be arriving on Digital Download on March 12th.  For those who want to wait a week, the film will arrive on 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and 2-Disc DVD Special Edition on March 19th.

So, for those clinging to the need for physical copies, of which I’m one, you’ll need to wait another week. But, you’re week of waiting will earn you a front seat to the Peter Jackson-hosted, live first look at The Desolation of Smaug on Sunday, March 24th at 3:00 PM EST. It’s all made possible because of the Ultraviolet code available with the purchase of the DVD or Blu-ray. Y’know, the code that gives you a digital copy of the movie which I’m guessing you never, ever use. Now it has real value, but again, you’ll only get one if you buy the Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack or 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. And you can’t share the code with friends, it’s a one time use kind of thing.

Below the cut you’ll find the specs for each available version of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Which will you be grabbin’? You could wait for the expected Extended Edition released later in the year, but then, no early Smaug preview. Oh, and don’t expect any of these to play at 48 FPS. I don’t know if that’s even possible, yet!

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It’s a new year, and along with the resolutions you’ve probably already broken, there’s a fresh slate of films to look forward to, and Nerd Bastards has chosen 25 to keep your eye on. Some titles you’ll know, others you might not, but one thing’s for sure, by the end of the year you’ll think some of them rocked and the rest of them sucked. As to which films will go which way, I’ll let that be a pleasant surprise.

Here are the 25 Nerdy Movies to Watch For in 2013: (more…)

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The third film in Peter Jackson‘s Hobbit trilogy has been revealed. It will be called… “The Hobbit: There and Back and Again. Wait…wasn’t that the original title of the second flick? Oh, yeah, it was. With the reveal of a third installment, the titles have been shifted around. The second movie has now been renamed: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Apparently, Smaug is in enough of the book for the damage he causes to be the focus of a whole film.  The whole trilogy will conclude on July 18th, 2014!

So, just so we’re clear, here’s how things will play out:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released December 14 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and 3D 48 frames per second.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released on December 13, 2013 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and 3D 48 frames per second.

And The Hobbit: There And Back Again will be released July 18, 2014 in the same formats

Look, I’m excited for The Hobbit just as much as the next guy, but this whole thing of being split into three films is just not sitting well with me at all. I mean, we’re talking about a 320 page book. A book that was shorter than any single one of the three books in The Lord of the Rings trilogy is taking three films to cover. That’s more movie than book! I really cannot fathom how Peter Jackson is going to stretch this out. But, whatever. “In Jackson We Trust”, right?

Here’s the full Press Release:

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Breaking news coming from Deadline this morning. They’re reporting Peter Jackson has confirmed he’ll be splitting The Hobbit into three movies, with the third possibly releasing in the summer of  2014.

Holy shit. I can’t believe this story, one that started out as a complete and utter CRAZY rumor, turned true. Wow, first a swarm of Mary Poppins really do attack a massive Lord Voldemort in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and now this. What a mad, mad world we’re living in.

Most details are still being worked out, but can you really see anyone denying Jackson a third movie if he wants to make it? No. Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy was almost universally loved and made dope amounts of money. If The Hobbit is anything like those films, and I couldn’t imagine it being anything else, than these movies are gonna make millions, maybe billions. Those studio execs are seeing $.

So what could this third movie be called? Well, /Film is reporting some interesting domain registrations, discovered by Fusible, that hint at either The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug or The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark as possibilities.

FYI, the second title, Riddles in the Dark, is the name of the fifth chapter in The Hobbit. The Desolation of Smaug is likely referring to the, “ lifeless wasteland charred by the burning breath of the dragon Smaug.”

Knowing that, do you think either of these titles are likely for a third Hobbit film? And are you even excited by the news at all? Personally, I’m not capable of saying no to Peter Jackson either, so of course I’ll obediently wait for a third movie and pay whatever price he’s asking. Consider me an addict. But if the man says he has enough material to make another film set in Middle Earth, who wouldn’t want that?

UPDATE! Here’s Jackson’s official statement posted on Facebook earlier today,

It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie – and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’

We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth.

So, without further ado and on behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of “The Hobbit” films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three.

It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, “a tale that grew in the telling.”

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