One Year To Go...

So this picture was posted by Weta Workshop on their Facebook page and has been making the rounds this afternoon.



Now, this picture is actually wrong. Since 2012 is a leap year, there's actually 366 days to go. However, it is exactly a year to go until the release date of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (which appears to now be the finalized title) will be released on 14 December 2012, followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again a year later, on 13 December 2013.

Given how far along in filming they have come, all signs indicate that this release date is The One we've been waiting for. I remember being very excited in December 2008 because there were "only three more years to go" (so much for that) and I know other people have been anticipating this for even longer. Ady's blog started in mid-2007 and it's now been very nearly four years since the project was officially announced in December 2007.

Coming on the tail end of our own third anniversary celebrations and the 10 Years On thread about LOTR, I think this is a nice opportunity both to look back and also to see how close we are (relatively speaking) to the films after all this time. It's been a long journey but the most important thing to me is that, regardless of how the films turn out, it'll have been worth it since we have this community.

Let the countdown begin!

"Now, this picture is actually wrong. Since 2012 is a leap year, there's actually 366 days to go"



It's been a long journey but the most important thing to me is that, regardless of how the films turn out, it'll have been worth it since we have this community.

Couldn't have put it better myself

I'm wellling up here. Must be smoke in the room or something...

Encrypted kisses for all of you!!!! {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Lighten up Petty: at least the films being closer means they'll be over and done with sooner.

But what about Forumshire... will we fade into the West...

I would imagine that the next 2-3 years will actually see a noticeable increase in activity to all Tolkien sites. The long-awaited arrival of the first trailer in a few days will be a major step towards getting news about the movies out to people who don't make a point of reading Tolkien or film blogs, and the marketing campaign will only increase as the release date nears. Then there will be a year in between the films when attention should be even greater. After that, if LOTR is any indication, the excitement will persist for a while but die down over the next several years.

That will inevitable see all Tolkien sites come down from the highs of activity and new membership they experienced while the films were being released, but the sites with lots of exposure and/or strong communities will continue to thrive. There were, after all, online Tolkien communities before PJ even thought about making Tolkien movies, and I'm sure that there will continue to be such communities even if the films were completely forgotten (which they won't be, much to Petty's disappointment, but that means another avenue for people to find forums such as this one).

Keep in mind, of course, that classic stories with passionate fandoms like LOTR and The Hobbit (and Star Wars, and Harry Potter, and you get the picture) have a way of grabbing new fans -- both from younger generations and from people who just had somehow managed to keep away before -- and making converts out of them even after decades.

Orwell wrote:But what about <font style='color:black; background-color:Lime;'>Forumshire</font>... will we fade into the West...

We can all meet up in Valinor and all stay young for ever.
All that buckie and no hangover, cant say no to that

chris63 wrote:

Orwell wrote:But what about <font style='color:black; background-color:Lime;'>Forumshire</font>... will we fade into the West...

We can all meet up in Valinor and all stay young for ever.
All that buckie and no hangover, cant say no to that

YAY! you can all hang with me forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eldorion wrote:It's been a long journey but the most important thing to me is that, regardless of how the films turn out, it'll have been worth it since we have this community.

Let the countdown begin!

So two and a bit years later Eldo, was it worth the wait?

Ironically it was how the film's seemed to be turning out that spurned me on to join Bree *Elijah Wood returning, Two films into three and some very videogame esque trailers...*, and eventually here

Jeez, I remember the day the trailer was released. I waited all day, and the trailer gave me goosebumps. It was amazing. There was so much hope and promise; it seemed like I wasn't going to be disappointed.

bungobaggins wrote:Jeez, I remember the day the trailer was released. I waited all day, and the trailer gave me goosebumps. It was amazing. There was so much hope and promise; it seemed like I wasn't going to be disappointed.

Yeah the first AUJ trailer was totes amazeballs as Mark Kermode would say, I must have watched it a dozen times, I don't even remember if I watched any of the others, I kinda lost hope after reading about the Azo/CGI changes.

In fact I've decided to stop actively seeking trailers, most of the time the film fails to meet my expectations*Man of Steel*

malickfan wrote:So two and a bit years later Eldo, was it worth the wait?

That's a kind of complicated question, to be honest. Obviously I'm grateful to The Hobbit project for being the original reason why this forum was created, as the community and many of the people I've met here have been important to me for many years now. And I'm glad that I got the chance to experience the release of new Middle-earth movies for myself, even if they weren't event films like LOTR was. I always felt sort of left out around the oldbies on LOTR forums (back when I was a newbie) since I had been a little kid when the LOTR films were released and hadn't even read the book yet. And as disappointing as the films have been, in some ways it feels better to see them and know what they're like then have the eternal "what if?" hanging over our heads. It also makes debates over PJ's legacy.

bungobaggins wrote:Jeez, I remember the day the trailer was released. I waited all day, and the trailer gave me goosebumps. It was amazing. There was so much hope and promise; it seemed like I wasn't going to be disappointed.

I have very vivid memories of the day the first trailer was released. I had been counting down to it for a week or two, and knew it would be online in the late evening in my time zone. It felt like a really big deal, even though we'd gotten a few vlogs by then, for The Hobbit to have an official trailer that would be shown in theatres and everything. After years of production hell and people questioning if the movies would be made, it was a really validating experience for those who had followed the films for so long (or at least for me). The fact that it came out in mid-late December, around the time the project had first been announced and all the films have been released, furthered that sense of importance for me.

Early that evening my mom asked me to watch Good Will Hunting with her, and I agreed, but said that I would need to run upstairs to check on the trailer as soon as the movie was over. I got online maybe 10 minutes before it was scheduled to go and started seeing rumors about it appearing early somewhere. I was squeeing all over the thread I'd made about the trailer and once it was up (and I'd watched it two or three times in a row) I used my old laptop's shitty screengrab function to make a gallery of images from the trailer and put it up on Photobucket with some commentary. I was very proud of myself that I beat TORn to having a gallery of screencaps from the trailer online, even though their's was far superior. My little gallery/commentary thing is at the bottom of the first page of the thread below.

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t288-hobbit-trailer-1

NB As exciting as the trailer was, looking back, I'm pretty sure that being introduced to Good Will Hunting was the better experience. I love that movie and have rewatched it several times since. But the trailer hype was a lot of fun and I was glad to get to share it with the people on here.

so weird to read posts from 2011 regarding the shires future

It's funny looking back, when I thought it was going to be a great movie. But here, the steaming pile of poop that we got was planned all along (even with all the rewrites and what not).

I wasn't expecting much to begin with, particularly not on the adaptation side, but I was hoping it could be a fun adventure movie, even if it was shallower than and inferior to the LOTR films. :/

Boy was I naive.

Same here, I was hoping the Hobbit movie was going to be a faithful adaptation; the excuse about the source material being too long didn't apply here, but as we've seen Jackson and co have no shortage of imaginary problems to "fix".

Regardless of the film's relevance in the coming years, I think this community will be alright. After all, most activity as of late seems to be from other topic section     I'll be sticking around anyways   

Well Im not moving out my barrel just because some films that make me crabbit are no longer being made. That will be a cause for celebration on a Tolkien forum and happier days to come.   And an excuse to have a big party of course, get very very drunk and say inappropriate things to Mrs Figg  

"And yet come to naught in the end but might-have-beens, I guess," said the Dwarf.

"To that the Elves know not the answer," said Legolas.

  

So true.   

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Well Im not moving out my barrel just because some films that make me crabbit are no longer being made. That will be a cause for celebration on a Tolkien forum and happier days to come.   And an excuse to have a big party of course, get very very drunk and say inappropriate things to Mrs Figg  

  

bungobaggins wrote:Boy was I naive.

   me too   a time when I had faith in PJ, a time I skipped through the flowery fields of geekitude and rolled in the hay of nerdsville.