Official synopsis: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first chapter in Peter Jackson's new epic trilogy set in Middle-Earth 60 years before J.R.R. Toklien's "The Lord of the Rings" saga. Follow Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he's swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Their journey will take them through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs, giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. They must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis), who will change his life forever. Alone with Gollum on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers guile and courage that surprise him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities, tied to the fate of all Middle-Earth. Several key talent members from The Lord of the Rings trilogy reprise their roles, along with exciting new cast members.
Special features available on both the 2D and 3D editions of the film include:
New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth
Video Blogs
Start of Production
Location Scouting
Shooting Block One
Filming in 3D
Locations Part 1
Locations Part 2
Stone St. Studios Tour
Wrap of Principal Photography
Post-production Overview
Wellington World Premiere
Theatrical Trailers
Dwarves
Letter Opener
Bilbo Contract
Gandalf Wagers
Gollum Paths
Game Trailers
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth
Guardians of Middle-Earth
Lego The Lord of the Rings
Standard DVD copy of An Unexpected Journey (2D)
UltraViolet digital copy An Unexpected Journey (2D) (expires 3/19/15)
I thought the movie was very average and a bit uninspired or something...... I am sure I will still buy it since I love LOTR so much in general, but this initial installment was just OK IMO. Definitely did not capture me like any of the LOTR films. Curious to revisit it at home though in both 2d and 3d and see how I feel about it then.
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Originally Posted by Toe /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th#post_22902091
I thought the movie was very average and a bit uninspired or something...... I am sure I will still buy it since I love LOTR so much in general, but this initial installment was just OK IMO. Definitely did not capture me like any of the LOTR films. Curious to revisit it at home though in both 2d and 3d and see how I feel about it then.
The movie has a slow start (imo) and at first I thought well, it isn't LOTR that's for sure!... But then things start to take off and it ends up a more than satisfying new entry in the LOTR world... Can't wait to see it again on this blu-ray, which will undoubtedly look beautiful (well, I guess...
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Originally Posted by Morpheo /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th/0_100#post_22902179
The movie has a slow start (imo) and at first I thought well, it isn't LOTR that's for sure!... But then things start to take off and it ends up a more than satisfying new entry in the LOTR world... Can't wait to see it again on this blu-ray, which will undoubtedly look beautiful (well, I guess...
That is my take on this as well - plus my teenage daughter enjoyed it and we will have to have it. I am also curious how the bluray AV will compare at home, after seeing this in Atmos and hfr.
I keep telling myself that I won't buy it until the trilogy is done... but who am I kidding? I love Jackson and Crew's rendition of Middle Earth way too much.
The term I would use for the feeling I had about this movie was that I felt it was indulgent, and not in a good way. Like they couldn't part with any of their precious scenes enough to do any significant editing at all. I dread what an extended edition of this movie would look like (and I mostly prefer the extended editions of LOTR). I feel their Hobbit treatment may have worked as one, or maybe two, films. I don't think three is gonna be pretty, but I'm a sucker for Tolkien so I'll see them anyway. Buy them on disc? Probably not. It's a shame.
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Originally Posted by CatBus /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th#post_22902810
The term I would use for the feeling I had about this movie was that I felt it was indulgent, and not in a good way. Like they couldn't part with any of their precious scenes enough to do any significant editing at all. I dread what an extended edition of this movie would look like (and I mostly prefer the extended editions of LOTR). I feel their Hobbit treatment may have worked as one, or maybe two, films. I don't think three is gonna be pretty, but I'm a sucker for Tolkien so I'll see them anyway. Buy them on disc? Probably not. It's a shame.
That is an excellent way to put it and I had similar feelings. I think a big part of the problem for me is I just did not care about any of the new characters which made the movie feel a bit shallow and aimless.
I am curious to view it from a technical perspective though as far as the A/V goes. I can never assess audio going out to a theater and always need to view it at home to fairly judge it.
I found the movie reasonably enjoyable, nothing really special. They're going for Fellowship redux and the material doesn't really have the same sweep. It feels like half of a proper movie, with tons of padding. One viewing is enough for me (though maybe I should check it out in 24fps).
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Originally Posted by Morpheo /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th#post_22902179
The movie has a slow start (imo) and at first I thought well, it isn't LOTR that's for sure!... But then things start to take off and it ends up a more than satisfying new entry in the LOTR world... Can't wait to see it again on this blu-ray, which will undoubtedly look beautiful (well, I guess...
Since I too came out of the theater rather blase about the film (also felt it was overindulgent with a weaker, thinned out script than LOTR), I'll wait to see what happens when the complete trilogy is released on video. I also feel the same way about LOTR... you know Jackson is going to do some more tinkering with that trilogy and because Fellowship EE has a weird picture I'll hold off on that too.
I can be patient.
Now, the only way you're going to see The Hobbit at 48 fps is when (and if) they release a UHD media version to the masses. That's when the specs. can be changed to accommodate HFR cinematography.
He's talked about how much usable footage is still in the can that he shot. There was talk of even doing a kind of ultra-complete mini-series of LOTR. Even at that, Jackson never liked the first iteration of Gollum in Fellowship since his design wasn't locked down until Two Towers, and wanted to fix it. And the flashback scene from The Hobbit in Fellowship is of Ian Holm, not Martin Freeman. That part's a super easy and quick fix (just replace the shot of Ian with Martin).
While he's working on the effects for The Hobbit, you don't think he has WETA fixing a few other effects to match LOTR with The Hobbit? He'd be pretty short sighted if he didn't.
A full compendium edition is in the works... I can feel it.
It seems to me from interviews and past video releases that Jackson has a bit of Lucas in him, for good or bad.
If The Hobbit and LOTR are supposed to fit together as one grand Tolkien-esque epic presented by Peter Jackson, and Tolkien himself edited The Hobbit novel after the fact to match it to LOTR (the Riddles in the Dark chapter, especially) as Jackson is well aware, then it stands to reason LOTR will be fiddled with (a lot or a little). They'd then release the films as one large special edition of all six entries at some point in the future. Probably after the last Hobbit film is released.
They still have 10-12 weeks of shooting left to do in the summer. All can happen when they get some time to fix things. Even fixing things in the first movie, because they where pressed for time because of delays at the start and during the shooting and didn't finish the edit before 2-3 days before the Wellington premier.
Any words on the rumour that there will be a extended version in October?
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Originally Posted by coolscan /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th#post_22907284
They still have 10-12 weeks of shooting left to do in the summer. All can happen when they get some time to fix things. Even fixing things in the first movie, because they where pressed for time because of delays at the start and during the shooting and didn't finish the edit before 2-3 days before the Wellington premier.
Any words on the rumour that there will be a extended version in October?
Jeez, there's already enough padding for two films in just An Unexpected Journey itself! It's already too self indulgent (they could and should have left out the entire Radagast sequence IMHO) ... and I'm a fan of the extended LOTR films! You'd think this would already be the extended cut.
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Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman /t/1455343/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-march-19th/0_60#post_22907327
Jeez, there's already enough padding for two films in just An Unexpected Journey itself! It's already too self indulgent (they could and should have left out the entire Radagast sequence IMHO) ... and I'm a fan of the extended LOTR films! You'd think this would already be the extended cut.
After the 2nd half of the flick parents were parading in front of screen with their kids in my theater, I do not think they were ready for the length of the film.
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