Second Trailer for Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit' Trilogy + Alternate Endings

Warner Bros/WingNut Films have unveiled the new trailer for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the beginning of Bilbo's three-part adventure into Middle Earth. Martin Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins, and is joined by the company of dwarves, lead by Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. Of course, Sir Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf, and there's glimpses of Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and even Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown. This is a much more magnificent and, honestly, more exciting improvement over the first trailer, which I enjoyed, but I think Jackson is settling into the story and getting ready to bring us another spectacular fantasy epic.

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New Poster and Release Date for 'Colombiana'

A new poster has gone online for Oliver Megaton’s Colombiana.  The film stars Zoe Saldana as an assassin who hunts down the men who killed her parents.  The movie has also moved up from September 2nd and into the final week of the summer.  Colombiana will now open on August 26th against the found-footage sci-fi horror flick Apollo 18 and the Guillermo del Toro-produced Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.  Hit the jump to check out the poster.

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The Hobbit to Shoot for 370 Days

As part of a promotion for the new Hellboy II Blu-Ray, Guillermo del Toro participated in an online chat with fans last weekend. As always, del Toro usually provides some minor updates on The Hobbit during chats like this, and he revealed a few details actually worth mentioning. Thanks to BilboHobbit.com for providing the transcript of the chat. Most importantly, del Toro says that filming will begin in 2010 and that The Hobbit (to eventually be split into two films) will shoot for 370 days. Considering a typical film shoot is usually only a few months, that's a shocking number, but certainly necessary for this adaptation.

Gullermo also said that he's hoping to work with the following past collaborators: Hellboy comic book author Mike Mignola during the "design stage for a week or two", concept artist Wayne Barlowe, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro of all of del Toro's previous films, and special effects house Spectral Motion. None of this is official, but he's hopeful they will all join. Most of these people have worked with Guillermo before on everything from Pan's Labyrinth to Hellboy II, which will make them a perfect addition to The Hobbit team on top of everyone from the Lord of the Rings films.

As for the special effects and creatures, del Toro mentioned that they're really focusing on the Goblin Kingdom, the dragon Smaug, and the Spiders of Mirkwood in regards to creature design. "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." While Hellboy II had a lot of recognizable puppets, del Toro says that The Hobbit will feature more of a seamless mix. "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."

Live Action Mulan

Xinhua Media Entertainment has announced a $30 million live-action adaptation of Mulan, based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan (the same legend that was adapted into a 1998 Disney animated film). First written about in a 6th century poem, Hua Mulan was a woman who disguised herself as a man to take her elderly father’s place in an all-male army. It is unknown id the poem was based on an actual person or is just an allegory. The Hollywood-China co-production will begin shooting in China this spring.

$30 million is a big chunk of change for a Chinese production. I’m guessing that Xinhua’s Mulan will be a more traditional period costume drama. And I understand that this is an adaptation of the original legend, and not the Disney film that popularized the legend, but is anyone really that interested to see this story retold in live-action? I know I would never be interested in seeing a live-action Snow White. And the only reason Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland seems appealing is his unique sense of style. And even that is a hybrid production. But then again, I also hated the idea of del Toro directing Tarzan.

source: Hollywood Reporter

Guillermo del Toro is Booked Through 2017

Variety has published an article talking about director Guillermo del Toro's schedule, which is now booked through 2017. Here are several clips:

Universal — which has a three-year first-look deal with the helmer inked in June '07 — and del Toro are making a long-term commitment by setting up four directing projects, including remakes of "Frankenstein," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Slaughterhouse-Five."


The fourth project is an adaptation of "Drood," a Dan Simmons novel acquired by U that will be published in February by Little, Brown.

Of course, del Toro's first priority is New Line and MGM's "The Hobbit," to which he has committed the next five years. He has begun writing "Hobbit" with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, collaborating via video conferencing and trips to New Zealand every three weeks.

While it's difficult, if not impossible, to plan projects five years into the future, at this point U execs think "Drood" is the most likely to be del Toro's first post-"Hobbit" directing vehicle.

In addition to the four pics, the studio still has its sights set on del Toro's pet project, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness."

You can read more on these and other projects here!

One Final Hellboy II: The Golden Army Trailer!

Universal has released a third and final movie trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Like the recent television spot, the new trailer starts off with the origin story from the first film, before showing off all the cool creatues and baddies in the new film. They have also released the animated prologue which opens the film on Apple.com. As always, tell me what you think in the comments below!

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple. Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters on July 11th 2008.

Confirmed: Del Toro to Direct the Hobbit

Guillermo del Toro has officially signed on to direct the New Line/MGM's The Hobbit and its sequel, reports Variety.

The widely expected announcement came Thursday afternoon jointly from executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM's Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

Del Toro's moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He'll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. (You can read what he told ComingSoon.net about the preparation he'll be doing for this in our exclusive interview here.)

New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both films are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.

Del Toro won't leave for New Zealand immediately as he's still in post-production on Universal's "Hellboy II," due out in July.

The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over "The Lord of the Rings" and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" into two live-action films.

The studios didn't give a start date on production and don't yet have a script. Though no screenplay deal's been set, it's expected that the LOTR scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro.

With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it's likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012.

Jackson's WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities -- built for "The Lord of the Rings" -- will be used for both films. And New Zealand will again be the site of Middle-earth, with the story centering on Bilbo Baggins taking the Ring of Power from Gollum.

Source: Variety