The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets a Massive Banner!

Whoa, what kind of odd marketing is this? Entertainment Weekly (via ComingSoon) has unveiled a new banner for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit that, in 5000px of horizontal digital space, visualizes the entire story. Or at least, the entire story that I think we'll be seeing in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Lots of great visuals and imagery in this as a perfect tease for The Hobbit. Take a look after the jump!

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P. Jackson to Shoot THE HOBBIT in 3D with New RED EPIC Cameras

Jim Jannard, the owner and founder of RED DIGITAL CINEMA, has announced that Jackson will be using the company’s soon to be released EPIC digital cameras to shoot the two film adaptation in 3D.  Engadget reports that the new camera has 5k resolution, is able to shoot up to 128 frames per second, and has a new HDRx mode “for the highest dynamic range of any camera ever made.” All this is to say that RED has produced a camera that is considerably smaller, lighter, and more powerful than any on the market today.

Jackson will reportedly be using at least thirty of the new EPIC cameras on the production. For more on the technology, and what we know about The Hobbit so far, hit the jump.

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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."

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!

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