If you were expecting Martin Freeman to be holding onto an aging singer vigorously this is not the poster for you.
With the big winter releases this year (Interstellar, Dumb and Dumber To, Mockingjay) it is weird to think this has gone under the radar a bit.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies releases on December 17th.
Peter Jackson finishes up his time in Middle-Earth this year with the final movie in The Hobbit trilogy. Check out the trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies which has good shots of Thorin (in full-on king dickhead mode), Bilbo, Gandalf, Legolas and a whole bunch of armies.
Have to admit that I did get the feels a bit hearing Pippin’s song from The Return of the King again.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies releases on December 17th.
Here are the quick hits today in the world of movies, TV, games, cd rates, ammunition sales, whatever catches our fancy.
Annie
Here is the trailer for Annie starring Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz and Rose Byrne. Be warned: once you watch it, you can’t unwatch it. Personally I am waiting on the remake of Pootie Tang with Robert Downey, Jr., Jonah Hill and Zachary Quinto.
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Watch a four-minute preview of the new Marvel movie over on Fandango.
Game of Thrones
There is a rap album based on Game of Thrones. Not just that, but it is funded by HBO. I can’t make this shit up. It features tracks by Big Boi, Common and others. The title? Catch The Throne.
You can listen to Big Boi’s track “Mother of Dragons” here.
LEGO The Hobbit
The newest trailer for LEGO The Hobbit is in the style of Ocean’s 11 and you will be a better person for watching it.
Mario Kart 8
Nintendo will be releasing a limited edition of the Wii U game with a blue Koopa shell statue. It will look perfect next to my other shelves of limited edition game items I get for some reason.
Christmas time is family time as well as movie time. There were almost too many things to choose from with hobbits, ronin, princesses, aging boxers and Amy Adams making out with Jennifer Lawrence.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug barely beat Frozen to be number one for the third week in a row. The second film in the trilogy has passed $500 million worldwide. Frozen continues to defy the odds and rake in cash taking in $28.8 million in its sixth week of release and is about to cross $250 million domestically.
Among the new releases The Wolf of Wall Street took in $18.5 million and $34.3 million since Christmas Day. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and 47 Ronin disappointed. Combined the two movies made $48 million since Christmas with both having a combined budget of $290 million.
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $29.8 million/ $190.3 million
2. Frozen- $28.8/ $248.3
3. Anchorman- $20.1/ $83.6
4. American Hustle- $19.5/ $60.0
5. The Wolf of Wall Street- $18.5/ $34.3
6. Saving Mr. Banks- $14.0/ $37.8
7. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty- $13.0/ $25.5
8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $10.2/ $391.1
9. 47 Ronin- $9.8/ $20.5
10. A Madea Christmas- $7.4/ $43.7
Last year, Peter Jackson returned to Middle-Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and some were disappointed by the lack of movement and story pacing. I enjoyed it thoroughly as you can tell if you clink the link to my review above. After watching the movie last year I began to wonder how they would break up Tolkien’s 300 page novel into a trilogy of three hour films. Upon finishing The Desolation of Smaug it is clear that Jackson has added enough elements to make three films a necessity. Even more so than An Unexpected Journey, liberal changes from the book are here and I am sure that it will upset Tolkien purists, and to them I say: have some fun once in a while.
Desolation of Smaug opens up with a look at Thorin Oakenshield as he enters The Prancing Pony in the town of Bree. He is joined by Gandalf who begins to hatch his plan for the dwarves to take back their home of Erebor from the dragon Smaug. It is a good way to get audiences acclimated with the story of The Hobbit again before jumping back into the adventure.
From then on anyone worried about the slow pacing of the first movie are in for a surprise as we meet Bilbo, Thorin and the company of dwarves still on the run from Azog the Defiler. Desolation does not slow down for the next 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The company makes their way to refuge with Beorn, the skinchanger whose hatred for dwarves is only exceeded by his hatred of orcs and he gives them supplies for their journey ahead which includes the haunted forest of Mirkwood where Bilbo and the dwarves begin to hallucinate and lose their way before they are attacked by giant spiders which will be a good reminder of Shelob for Lord of the Rings fans. Here we see our first glimpses of the ring asserting its power over Bilbo making him more aggressive when a spider comes between him and the shiny, gold piece of evil.
Suddenly, like a rhinestone cowboy, the elves are there to save the day including the new character Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) that many are up in arms about. She wasn’t in the book! Blah, blah, blah. I understand where fans are coming from but I also understand Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens wanting to bring a strong female character into the story (of which there are none in the book). Guess what? It works. I, a fan of the book, am completely fine with Tauriel. In fact, she is one of the best things about the movie. Her scenes with Legolas are some great Elven banter and not once did I scoff at the screen because she was not in the original story.
Yep, that right. Legolas is in The Hobbit as well now. No, he was not in the book but he is the son of Thranduil (Lee Pace), king of Woodland Realm, so he has been added in as a bit of fan service to Lord of the Rings movie fans by making the connection that, even though he was not mentioned in The Hobbit, he may have been involved being the son of an Elven king who was. As with Tauriel, he does add to the movie and even though some may wonder why he is there, it is fun to see him make quips as he dispatches orcs as only he can.
After a thrilling escape from Mirkwood in barrels down a rapid river we meet Bard (Luke Evans) who smuggles the party into Laketown. They are soon discovered and Thorin uses his lineage to convince the Master of Laketown (Stephen Fry) to give him a boat to make their way to the Lonely Mountain. Here is where the party is split up with Fili, Oin and Bofur staying behind to tend to a wounded Kili. The rest of the dwarves and Bilbo make their way to the Lonely Mountain where they find the secret door into their lost home.
Where is Gandalf during all of this fun? Well he is off to Dol Goldur to investigate the mystery of the Necromancer. He discovers that the Nazgul have been released from their prison and an orc army led by Azog has been gathering at the long-dead castle. He is confronted by the Necromancer, who reveals his true self and imprisons Gandalf as the orcs make their march toward the Lonely Mountain.
Easily the best part of the film comes when Bilbo is sent into the heart of the mountain to find the Arkenstone in the ocean of dwarven treasure and awakens Smaug. This leads to a wonderful back and forth between Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch which, for this Sherlock fan, was so much of a good thing. Cumberbatch proves he owns anything he is in with his portrayal of Smuag which is way more than a voice over. He was motion captured for facial features and is a wonder to behold. How amazing Andy Serkis was as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy ten years ago, it is the same here with Cumberbatch.
We are left with a cliffhanger ending that had audible gasps in the theater I was in. That is how quickly Deolation of Smaug went. No one wanted it to end even after almost three hours. We still have so much more to cover with Bard’s confrontation with Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies. Where I was once worried about The Hobbit being stretched into three movies, I am now glad it has been. Peter Jackson has made a lot of changes and adjustments including bringing in new characters and adding from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings but it all adds up to a win here. I completely understand if some can not get past the altercations (of which there were many in The Lord of the Rings as well, let’s not forget). I can and actually welcome some of them with open arms and am more than ready to go There and Back Again next year.
Ron Burgundy returned after nine years but his party was spoiled by a hobbit. Anchorman 2 opened to $26.7 million and $40 million since its release last Wednesday. That is not the huge opening expected but it will be a big hit with a budget of only $50 million.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug stayed in the top spot after dropping almost 60% with $31.4 million. After what some thought was a soft opening, Peter Jackson’s second film in The Hobbit trilogy is sitting on a worldwide gross of $403 million.
American Hustle opened nationwide with a lot of talk about Oscar nominations for Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams to $19.1 million while Thor: The Dark World crossed $200 million domestically.
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $31.4 million/ $127.5 million
2. Anchorman 2- $26.7/ $40.0
3. Frozen- $19.1/ $191.5
4. American Hustle- $19.1/ $20.2
5. Saving Mr. Banks- $9.3/ $9.9
6. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $8.7/ $371.7
7. A Madea Christmas- $8.5/ $28.3
8. Walking with Dinosaurs- $7.3/ $7.3
9. Dhoom 3- $3.3/ $3.3
10. Thor: The Dark World- $1.3/ $200.7
More Lego goodness is always a good thing. Lego The Hobbit is making its way to consoles next year and will be based on the first two films in the trilogy. Why? Hell if I know. I will still buy it because I loved Lego Lord of the Rings.
Bilbo and company could not match the opening of An Unexpected Journey but still opened huge worldwide. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opened to $73.7 million down from last year’s $84.7 million but should not be cause for worry. Many thought An Unexpected Journey’s opening was disappointing and it went on to gross $1 billion worldwide. After one weekend Desolation of Smaug is sitting at $205 million with worldwide totals.
Tyler Perry released another Madea movie. This time a Christmas tale which I am sure involved her slapping kids, being funny and one of her family dealing with an abusive husband who ends up learning the true meaning of love just in time for the holidays. I swear I just made that up so if I guessed the plot of it I am sorry. Bringing in $16 million was on the low end for Madea but it was up against a lot of competition.
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $73.7 million/ $73.7 million
2. Frozen- $22.1/ $164.3
3. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas- $16.0/ $16.0
4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $13.1/ $356.9
5. Thor: The Dark World- $2.7/ $198.1
6. Out of the Furnace- $2.3/ $9.4
7. Delivery Man- $1.8/ $27.9
8. Philomena- $1.7/ $11.0
9. The Book Thief- $1.6/ $14.8
10. Homefront- $1.6/ $18.4
Why hello there new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. You look very pretty and epic in scale. You would think with this being the fifth film from Peter Jackson about Tolkien books that I would not get as many goosebumps. You would be wrong.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug releases on December 13th.
Now we are getting to the good stuff. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’s new trailer is here and if you were hoping the second film would stick closer to the book then you are going to be disappointed, but for fans who have not read the book (really, it has been out 76 years, come on) and fans (like me) that don’t mind creative liberties this looks like a whole lot of fun.
We get a few highlights including Legolas back in action and a love affair story with Evangeline Lilly’s Tauriel, Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman and the big daddy at then end is hearing Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, which he absolutely owns.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug releases on December 13th.