From the entire BilboHobbit staff, Happy New Year to you all!

We’ve got a opportunity that we can’t spend! It’s your (and our) time to visit New Zealand, for the premiere event of “The Hobbit”, and to be in the *Red Carpet*!

Vic & Raewyn James from Red Carpet Tours, send this along: Red Carpet Tours is pleased to announce that it has opened a register for LOTR fans wanting to tour at the time of the New Zealand Premiere of “The Hobbit”. We are ‘guesstimating’ that this will probably happen in December, 2011. For the Premiere of “The Return of the King” in December, 2003, 160 fans toured with Red Carpet. If you wish to add your name to ‘The Hobbit Tour 2011’ register, you can email Vic James directly. Meanwhile, Red Carpet Tours’ monthly 12 day LOTR tours continue. The New Zealand dollar is currently @ 57 cents against the U.S. dollar, which makes this a great time to visit Middle Earth!

What are you waiting for? The Hobbit is just some dollars away, just save your money to 2011, and you’ll be ready for it. Go register, and then you tell us.

Thanks TheOneRing!

Happy Christmas Hobbit-Fans!

Wishing you all the best for 2009,
BilboHobbit.com Staff

Original Art by Ktshy

The Hobbit has been postponed until 2012 but the reason for the delay is unknown.

Earlier this year, it was announced Guillermo del Toro would direct the new film, based on JRR Tolkien’s novel.

Lord of the Rings Oscar winner Peter Jackson is producing the project, and he and del Toro will pen the screenplay.

Sir Ian McKellen has already signed on to reprise his role of Gandalf, and Andy Serkis is expected to play Gollum once again.

Shooting was scheduled to start in New Zealand this winter (08/09), but it has now been postponed until 2010 – with the release day pushed back to 2012.

We are awaiting confirmation of New Line Cinema.

Source: IndiaTimes

Update: TheOneRing have received confirmation from the source of all sources, Guillermo del Toro himself stating that this rumor is NOT TRUE.

Back from a recent trip to New Zealand, Guillermo Del Toro spoke briefly about some details with the upcoming Hobbit films:

He (Del Toro) came from a travel of 17 hours from New Zealand, where he was working on the pre-production of The Hobbit, that he will shot in 2010.
“It’s a long pre-production, I’ve been seeing drawings and figures; Guillermo Navarro (cinematographer) is already in the project, now we’ll keep doing the job.”

In addition to this report, it has been reported that Pablo Angeles and Francisco Ruiz Velasco have also joined the crew, in the designer field.

The director’s idea is to use as many Mexicans as possible in their productions. Therefore he is also talking with the designer Paul Angeles and Francisco Ruiz Velasco on the conceptual design, according to Reforma.

Source: Informador

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If so then please follow this link.

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~BilboHobbit.com staff

In a new interview with Steve Tompkins, he commented briefly on his work schedule, as well as Director Guillermo Del Toro:

Too many of my waking hours are given over to thinking about the Hobbit films due in December of 2011 and December of 2012; no sooner is my attention directed elsewhere than the voluble and value-adding Guillermo del Toro is interviewed again and — sproing! – my thoughts ricochet back to the movies he’s about to make.”

Thanks to The One Ring for the tip!

In a new interview with Ain’t It Cool News, Viggo Mortensen talked briefly about the possibility of appearing in either Hobbit I or II, declaring that he’s still open to the latter.

Capone: So, I’ve got to ask this, or I’ll lose my job…

VM: THE HOBBIT? [laughs]

Capone: Yeah. I’m guessing that Peter Jackson has not contacted you about participating, but would you even want there to be a place for you?

VM: Well, the first movie, if it’s going to be the book, I’m not in the book.

Capone: Right, exactly.

VM: The second movie, I would think they would do for story fun and also for economic reasons, I’m sure.

Capone: I would think it would like THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RING.

VM: Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying. They would do that, using what they legally have the right to, which I assume are the appendices of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I don’t think they have the right to take whatever they want from the SILMARILLION, for example, but they could take from the appendices.

For example, we shot a sequence, Liv Tyler and I, and it’s in Lorien, and we’re walking around, and it’s when I’m still…you know, I’m wearing clothes that are more like something you’d see Legolas wearing. I have no beard. I have really long hair, and it’s partly in a braid. And, I’m wearing definitely elvish kind of clothing. I look like some young elvish lord. And, I think, I’m barefoot, walking in these flowers with her. And, we’re in that courtship period, you know, and because of our aging thing, we look similar. I look a little younger than usual, the no beard helps and all that.

And, it’s a memory, right, and it was meant to be used as one of those moments where I’m remembering something about her. They didn’t use it. So, they could use that, and then they could shoot other things in that vein. I don’t know, they could make up a certain amount of things that would be in the spirit of Tolkien, I have no doubt. People ask me about it a lot, and I say, obviously, “Nobody’s come to me,” but I won’t be surprised if they do, if I’m right for it in their eyes. Obviously, as an actor who originated on film that role, I’d rather finish the job, all things being equal, meaning, Is it a good script, and do they have their shit together, than see another actor do it.

Capone: Right. Well, yeah, yeah, nobody wants that.

VM: I mean, I’m as interested in principle in the idea as, maybe, some of your readers are. [laughs]

Capone: Well, that’s good to hear.

VM: Yeah, why not?

Source: The One Ring.

In a live chat, Guillermo Del Toro talked about the upcoming Hobbit movie:

Q:Universal announced a pretty busy slate for you after “The Hobbit.” Will we see a Hellboy 3?
A:If its up to me- yes!! But it is a corporate decision and regimes change very rapidly at these studios.

Q:There any professionals who worked with you on Hellboy II that will be joining you on the Hobbit?
A:Hopefully Mignola, Barlowe, Spectral Motion, Guillermo Navarro and others…

Q:Will you be using Danny Elfman as a composer again on future projects?
A:Absolutely, but not until after the HOBBIT films.

Q:Do you think filming Hellboy II helped prepare you for filming the Hobbit?
A:Technically, yes- but that’s not the challenge in THE HOBBIT. The challenge is to create and expand a massive universe and be as immersive as the Trilogy was. To approach Tolkien’s book with the right mixture of reverence, enthusiasm and invention.

Q:WILL THERE BE ANY COOL CREATURES IN HOBBIT LIKE HELLBOY2?
A:many many more and we will be pushing the goblin kindgom. we will be pushing smaug, the spiders of mirkwood. we will be pushing them to the edge of technology where we will fuse animatronics and cgi into a seamless new art form in creating creatures, i think.

Q:Do you plan to use any particular effects or techniques in the Hobbit that were used in Hellboy II?
A:Well, yes, but used in a different way. You will see some mind-boggling mixture of CGI / Puppetry like never before. The demarcation of where one technique ends and the other begins will NOT be as clean as in HBII or BLADE II or PAN’S LABYRINTH. I am going to push further than ever on both fronts.

Q:WHEN DOES FILMING FOR THE HOBBIT BEGIN?
A:it will begin in 2010 and we will shoot for about 370 days or so…

Q:At what age did you first read The Hobbit?
A:I believe it was between 10 years old and 11 years old. My first copy of it is dated as printed in 1973 and I know I bought it shortly after being published by a great publishing house called MINOTAURO which was (in my childhood years) like the CRITERION COLLECTION of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

Q:How long did it take to create the script for this movie?
A:For the record- neither Peter Jackson nor I had the faintest contact about the HOBBIT movies prior to the absolute completion of HELLBOY II. I got Peter’s first call in December 2007- way after we wrapped the film. So, the visuals in the HOBBIT movie are not anticipated in the HBII movie.

Q:Will you be working with Guillermo Navarro on The Hobbit?
A:I hope so!!

Q:Does Mike Mignola have any involvement with you on The Hobbit?
A:I hope and pray he joins us at the design stage for a week or two.

Q:Who are your top choices to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hobbit Movies?
A:Hopefully, very soon we can reveal that-

In a new interview with Crave Online, Guillermo Del Toro talked briefly about the upcoming Hobbit movie:

Crave Online: I know it’s too early to talk casting, but doesn’t James McAvoy sound like a good idea right about now?
Guillermo del Toro: Really, if I was to answer either way, it would be unfair because I will tell you, Bilbo changes every time we write a new scene. It really is not facetious. Wherever we end up at, it’s going to come out of those pages.
Crave Online: But that was the most publicized rumor.
Guillermo del Toro: Yeah, but the fact is, the only thing I know of McAvoy is his movies. I’ve never met him. We’ve never had a chat and this is not me saying, “I did not have sex with that woman.” It really hasn’t happened. If it happens with any actor, I think it’s going to come out of the pages.
Crave Online: Have you made any casting decisions?
Guillermo del Toro: Not yet. Just the ones that have been announced. There’s not lack of information. It’s not withholding. We really don’t have more information because we’re writing. And literally, like every week, what you discover writing the two movies, writing the two stories, it changes. So every week there’s a discovery and anything we say this week would be contradicted next week. Certainly that would be true in casting. Why create hopes or why create expectations if down the line you’re going to go, “You know what? That was not a good idea.” So we won’t cast it until we finish writing.

Thanks Crave Online!