The Hobbit Trilogy Discussion Thread

[GLaDOS]

Currently standing at an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_...e_five_armies/

[RandyK]

Empire gives it 4/5.

[stvn1974]

My parents and brother are taking me out to dinner and to see The Hobbit The Battle Of The Five Armies for my birthday. Can't wait, I watched the first two extended cuts yesterday again.

[djakrse]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I don't know about direct communication, but I read that Christopher's son Simon actually enjoys Jackson's films, and that difference of opinion caused a huge father-son rift for several years.

I completely understand if Christopher doesn't like Jackson's adaptations of his father's writings. To let his son's opinion of Jackson's films get in the way of their relationship is just wrong. He probably is afraid his son will sell the movie rights to Simirillion. Still, family should always take precedence over property. I'm sure there's a saying that goes something like that... just replace what I said with that saying.

[Vashetti]

My spoilerific synopsis and opinion here:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=943177

[R3P0]

IGN gave the movie a 7.5/10

[Pendemonium]

The journey has finish yesterday for me the 2h24 are so fast, the great Battle is awesome and the 3D is incredible! I think the extended cut will be great

Complete review here

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by djakrse

I completely understand if Christopher doesn't like Jackson's adaptations of his father's writings. To let his son's opinion of Jackson's films get in the way of their relationship is just wrong. He probably is afraid his son will sell the movie rights to Simirillion. Still, family should always take precedence over property. I'm sure there's a saying that goes something like that... just replace what I said with that saying.

The only version that comes to mind right now is about blood being thicker than water...but I do see your point. That said, I did read that Chris and Simon reconciled, but the specifics weren't reported in the news.

Personally, I've never read the books, aside from briefly flipping through a copy of "The Two Towers" in grade school. I didn't know anything about the fantasy genre outside of fairy tales and comic books, and English was my most-hated class after P.E.

[Pieter V]

Peter Jackson Says THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Extended Cut Will Include Around 30 Minutes of Additional Footage

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies doesn’t even come out for another two weeks, but Peter Jackson is already making plans for his extended edition of the film. Steve is currently at The Hobbit press conference in London where Jackson just revealed that there will be an extended cut of the film on the Blu-ray with around 30 minutes of additional footage. The extended edition of An Unexpected Journey clocks in at 183 minutes long (13 minutes of additional footage) and the extended cut of The Desolation of Smaug is 186 minutes long (25 minutes of additional footage) so when the time comes to marathon the entire The Hobbit trilogy, we’ll be spending about 543 minutes in Middle Earth, which is actually significantly less than the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy’s 680-minute grand total.

Hit the jump for more on Jackson’s plans for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies extended cut.

Jackson may already know about how many minutes he’s adding to the theatrical cut of the film for the extended addition, but he does still need the time to actually put the thing together. Jackson noted that this should take him around four or five months to get done after he returns home. Assuming that happens at the end of the month, he should have The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies extended cut complete in the middle of 2015.

http://collider.com/the-hobbit-3-extended-cut-details/

Peter Jackson: Tolkien Estate Rights Prevent More Middle-Earth Films

The director says that "without the cooperation of the Tolkien estate, there can't be more films"

At Monday's world premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in London, Ian McKellen fueled rumors that Peter Jackson would be returning to Middle-earth, saying that he didn't "believe necessarily that this is the end of the journey."

But at a press conference Tuesday, the director swiftly put down any hopes that he would be delving further between the lines of J.R.R. Tolkien's works.

"It's a legal thing. The Tolkien estate owns the writings of Professor Tolkien — The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings were sold by Professor Tolkien the late 60s … the film rights," he said.

Read more Warner Bros. Prevails Over Weinsteins in 'Hobbit' Profit Fight

"But they are the only two works of his that have been sold. So without the cooperation of the Tolkien estate, there can't be more films."

Jackson did say that fans wanting more could look forward to his extended edition DVD of the The Battle of the Five Armies, which he would be heading back to New Zealand to work on in the new year.

"I'll be putting that together for about four or five months, which will be fun," he said, later describing how the release would enable people to finally watch the entire extended editions of The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring trilogies back-to-back. "It's 24 hours of joy," he laughed.

Read more It's Official: 'Suicide Squad' to Star Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and More

Also at the press conference, Andy Serkis — recently revealed to be the voice in the new Star Wars teaser — spoke of his delight at working with Jackson behind the camera in the final Hobbit.

"Being asked to direct the second unit was an enormous shock, but it really speaks of how Pete collaborates with all the cast members and all the crew, and is a natural leader and a brilliant filmmakers," he said. "His virtues are that he is the most incredibly generous human being, and to learn from a director who is a the most incredibly generous human being — you really couldn't ask for a better mentor."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...ebook_20141202

So it begins.

[Moviefan2k4]

While its sad that Christopher Tolkien is so against the films, I also think a healthy time of rest is in order for these adaptations. There was a nine-year break between "Return of the King" and "An Unexpected Journey", so another decade wouldn't hurt after "Battle of the Five Armies" comes out. As epic as these films are, they can still overload the audience...and the worst reaction filmmakers can get is indifference.

[assydingo]

I do want more Middle-Earth eventually but two trilogies is enough for the moment. Maybe they can develop a different fantasy series for a while.

[Taikero]

I would prefer that Jackson go back to efforts like King Kong to scratch his creative itch so that if he ever returns to book adaptations he'll actually stick to the books a bit more than he did with this Hobbit trilogy. I felt like a decent enough amount of respect was paid to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but here it's like with every film Jackson kept throwing the book out the window more and more.

[Mahatma]

What's next?TV series?Middleearth reality show?

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I would prefer that Jackson go back to efforts like King Kong to scratch his creative itch so that if he ever returns to book adaptations he'll actually stick to the books a bit more than he did with this Hobbit trilogy. I felt like a decent enough amount of respect was paid to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but here it's like with every film Jackson kept throwing the book out the window more and more.

I don't know much about the books, but "The Hobbit" is a vastly smaller story than "The Lord of the Rings", in literary form. Jackson basically did the same thing with these new films, as he had back then: consulting the Appendices. Tolkien wrote so much about the world he created, but wasn't able to fit that stuff into the main text. That gave Jackson and company creative license to expand the story in their own way. I think the biggest reason so many are crying foul now, is because the changes are much bigger in scale. Jackson didn't have to do it as much with "Rings", because the tale itself was already huge.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I would prefer that Jackson go back to efforts like King Kong to scratch his creative itch so that if he ever returns to book adaptations he'll actually stick to the books a bit more than he did with this Hobbit trilogy. I felt like a decent enough amount of respect was paid to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but here it's like with every film Jackson kept throwing the book out the window more and more.

I didn't care for his version of "King Kong", and the only other film of his I've seen is "The Frighteners". I still wish I'd skipped that one...

[Taikero]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I don't know much about the books, but "The Hobbit" is a vastly smaller story than "The Lord of the Rings", in literary form. Jackson basically did the same thing with these new films, as he had back then: consulting the Appendices. Tolkien wrote so much about the world he created, but wasn't able to fit that stuff into the main text. That gave Jackson and company creative license to expand the story in their own way. I think the biggest reason so many are crying foul now, is because the changes are much bigger in scale. Jackson didn't have to do it as much with "Rings", because the tale itself was already huge.

I love that the Appendices were consulted for additional material here, and that Jackson was (presumably) attempting to create a time-spanning 60+ year saga.

I don't like that instead of carefully and judiciously expanding on the Appendices material, we get all-new unnecessary (and I mean unnecessary in the sense that this universe already has oodles of characters running about) characters, Legolas being over-the-top, being a "better" fighter than he is 60 years later, yet simultaneously being sloppy enough to nearly be killed twice in just a few minutes time during the barrel riding sequence...and apparently it gets worse (or better, some would say) in the last film. Factor in a reduction of key character screen time (Beorn, etc.), fewer tie-ins that could have been done (Legolas and Gloin could have had some great moments together to foreshadow the future friendship with Gimli, Legolas and his father could have had more interpersonal conflict to help setup Legolas's motivations for joining the Fellowship, etc.), and a general "off-the-cuff" attitude, and we're unfortunately left with something far less seamless than could certainly have been created, especially by folks who we know actually DO know the source material. In this case it's simply a matter of, "Hey, we got rid of Tom Bombadil before and nobody minded, why not jack(son) it up a notch next time around?"

I watched the DoS appendices, then circled back to the Fellowship of the Ring appendices, and the attitude of Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens was FAR, FAR, FAR more respectful and humble in the early days of the LotR trilogy than it is today. Today they talk about how "cool" it is they're able to do X, Y, and Z with new characters, tech, and off-the-cuff scripting and scenes, with scarce mention of Tolkien at all. In the Fellowship appendices, there's an entirely different attitude with such respect for Tolkien and his writings, and the acknowledgement that as they stuck to the source material, the movie also flowed much better. It's not the same with this trilogy, not at all. Not that I can see.

It's not that the changes are large in scale. Some changes in this trilogy were EXCELLENT, primarily fleshing out the dwarven characters (aside the direction they took with Kili). Nobody minds changes when they're done with respect to the source, and I think that the dwarves of this trilogy outrank any other previous representation, but changes made without respect to the source, or even defying the source, are not welcome.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

What's next?TV series?Middleearth reality show?

Any one of the stories in the Silmarillion or the book The Children of Hurin. The Fall of Gondolin and the struggle between the Númenóreans and the Valar. Sauron and Morgoth played a roll in that. There's a number of stories that would match or dwarf the LOTR movies we already have.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I would prefer that Jackson go back to efforts like King Kong to scratch his creative itch

I really hope he gets to make his version of The Dam Busters, but I believe The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun is next on his schedule.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

What's next?TV series?Middleearth reality show?

Maybe a sitcom with Merry and Pippin.

[Optimus]

Originally Posted by Astro Zombie

Maybe a sitcom with Merry and Pippin.

I'd watch it.