Peter Jackson steps into the fray once more in order to have enough scenes for three complete Hobbit films. Can it be done? 

At first glance you may not see anything in this photo but a desk but if you look closer you might see history in the making. Or an April Fool’s prank. We’re not sure. What you’re looking at is a still from this The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug preview video Peter Jackson posted on April 1. FirstShowing.net pulled a screencap from 4:51 in which you may notice, is a script to Star Wars: Episode VIII. I think we can say one thing for sure, showing it was not a mistake. However, we don’t know if this was meant as a joke (he does have a great prop department at hand) or meant to drive nerds completely out of their minds. What do you think?

Previously in Star Wars

It’s a fact: every time the Hugos or the Eisners or the Harvey awards get announced, you sweep your eyes down a list of books, stories, comics, and movies that you totally meant to read this year, everybody said they were so good, but you never really get around to it. Or, you say to yourself, awesome, I have a new reading list! And then you never actually follow through.

Worry not. Here are all of the nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards for excellence in science fiction and fantasy, with, wherever possible, links to excerpts and in some cases the full work available online, right now, for free. Get your read on!

Following the home video release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson held a live video event where he spilled some details about The Desolation of Smaug. In this excerpt, Stephen Colbert just couldn’t stop himself from popping up to ensure that he’s getting the elves right. You know nothing, Peter Jackson.

There’s some actual information about Desolation of Smaug in here, too. And a bit of Tauriel. And some Billy Boyd! Hi there, Pippin.

(via: SuperHeroHype)

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Remember when Matt Smith said he wanted Peter Jackson to direct an episode of Doctor Who and Peter Jackson responded that yes, he would absolutely be OK with doing that?

Well, Peter Jackson remembers it. What’s more, he’s still very keen on the idea. He doesn’t even want money for it.

He just wants a Dalek.

I would watch 90 minutes of Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer just sitting around and talking. No question.

(via: TotalFilm)

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James Franco was on The Colbert Report last night to promote Oz the Great and Powerful. And the Oz portion of his interview is fine. But if you skip to 5:19 you can see the good stuff: Franco tried to tried to trip up Colbert—who is the biggest Tolkien geek Peter Jackson has ever met, if you’ll remember—with a question about The Silmarillion. It doesn’t end well for him.

(via: MTV Movies Blog)

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Bilbo Baggins will be doing the “back again” part of There and Back Again a bit later than previously thought, as Warner Bros. has pushed the release date for the third movie in the Hobbit trilogy back by five months.

There was an obligatory The Hunger Games sketch on the Jennifer Lawrence-hosted Saturday Night Live last night, but in terms of the lulz I prefer the Hobbit sketch based on the premise that Peter Jackson splits up the remaining two movies into nine films apiece. I loved An Unexpected Journey, but I’m not sure I’d watch Hobbit 2: Journey to the Beginning of the Walk to Smaug’s Lair. I’d definitely be up for The Hobbit 11: Trying to Split a Complicated Dinner Bill, though. Lawrence as Galadriel is hilarious.

For even more JLaw, the Hunger Games sketch is behind the jump.

I’m sort of on the fence about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I saw it in 3D and 48 fps and was not a fan of the new technology, so I’m waiting to see it in 2D and 24 fps before I decide whether or not I liked the film. Regardless, here’s an old version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic (entirely unlicensed of course) called “The Fairytale Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit.” It was made in 1984 and aired on aired on the Leningrad TV Channel. According to the Tolkien Gateway wiki, “This children’s film featured Zinovy ​​Gerdt as ‘The Professor’ (a narrator stand-in for Tolkien), Mikhail Danilov as Bilbo, Anatoly Ravikovich as Thorin, Ivan Krasko as Gandalf and Igor Dmitriev as Gollum. Smaug and the Spiders were portrayed by puppets. Missing in this version are the Trolls, Elrond, Beorn and the Wood-elves. The Goblins are human-like with little makeup and portrayed by dancers from the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (as were the inhabitants of Lake Town).”

(via Kotaku)

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