Hobbitt,''Rings' Prequel, in the Works

[rickvanr]

One of Gandalf's fireworks at Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday was of a dragon that flew low over the crowd.

that wasnt it
it didnt look like a real dragon
the one i saw did, and it wasnt a nazgul either...

 

[jeffy.dee-lux]

Btw, the end battle in the Hobit is as epic as the one in RotK. I guess you will have to read the book again... In my mind, its even more heroic because of the number of parties involved...

lol, i actually just finished reading it about a month ago...
sure it was a big battle, what with the dwarves, men, elves, goblins, wargs, and the eagles and all... but i dunno, it wasn't nearly as important, and it wasn't at all on the same scale. The were like hundreds of each race, nothing like the 10s of thousands involved in the battle at gondor..., and i mean, common, the oliphaunts! they're so cool, while of course they weren't mentioned in that part of the book... whatever! the dwarves were only coming down to fight the men and elves because of the stupid treasure and all that, then they were all taken by surprise by the real bad guys, didn't even know it was coming. In LOTR, they all kinda knew the end of the world was on the way. oh man, i feel like a nerd, my girlfriend better not see this somehow...

 

[Mr. Anderson]

sure it was a big battle, what with the dwarves, men, elves, goblins, wargs, and the eagles and all...

Ah, but see, that's more than enough for the movie to work. There are a lot of things going on, and even if its not as grand a scale, it will still be cool. Also, there's no reason to say there won't be thousands in the battle - and a fire breathing dragon

Since he's doing King Kong next, it will give us all a little breather from the Middle Earth for a while and it will be a lot of fun having all the dwarves running around.

D

 

[Hemingray]

Also a possibility Robbie Coltrane who plays Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, of course since they are ongoing he might not be available.

I don't see it being too much of a problem... doing more than one movie at once is fairly common, isn't it?

 

[Sayhey]

I'm glad that Jackson is interested in doing it and that he wants McKellen back as Gandalf. I would think that Hugo Weaving returning as Elrond is the only other character that would be necessary. After seeing what Jackson did with the Nazgul, the Balrog, and Shelob, I can't wait to see how Smaug is done.

 

[Josh]

This is the best news I've heard all day - really made my day!!

I once believed that I would never see another movie after LOTR - because, well, there is no point since it is the best movie that ever had and ever will be made, surely there was no point in seeing others.

But now, there is a reason to go back!

Smaug will be cool too...(btw...was it Maya that they are doing the animating in??)

 

[crainial77]

RotK Ending

Along those lines, maybe he could rewrite the end to return of the king to include the scourge of the Shire. I think it was a much better ending to Sauromon. (I don't think that is how you spell it...) Also I found the bar scene at the end a little awkward. It kind of implied that the Hobbits were just normal in the shire and not the heros that they became. In the book it was much more interesting how they saved the Shire by themselves. (Although my butt was pleading for the movie to end by the time gandalf got to Mt. Doom. )

I agree, the book ending was so much better and really portrayed the hero in the Hobbits much better. But it would have added at least 30-45 min to the movie and whoa! But they could have squeezed it in, and besides LotR was a long story...

 

[MacNut]

Somebody shoot me please, come on enough is enough. You people know the only reason this will get made is to make more money, just like Star Wars it will get old quick.

 

[agreenster]

I agree, the book ending was so much better and really portrayed the hero in the Hobbits much better. But it would have added at least 30-45 min to the movie and whoa! But they could have squeezed it in, and besides LotR was a long story...

I remember PJ saying he didnt like the scourge of the shire, and never even shot it and refused to ever produce it. He said he thought it didnt really fit. Dont forget, LOTR was written during WWI+II, and some thought this part was so political in nature and that it was just thrown in. Obviously, the rest of the book was very politcal in its themes of pollution, industry, etc etc, but those themes carried through. The Hobbitts "bad behavior" and ignorance to the happenings of the outside world wasnt something PJ thought fit in his epic.

And yeah, its probably a safe bet that most of their effects and animation work was done in Maya. Maybe some proprietary tools in the mix, and maybe Houdini...but primarily Maya.