(Image Source: Facebook/Warner Bros.)
It’s been a week of highly anticipated trailers. First, The Dark Knight Rises trailer debuted -- now, the first teaser for Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” is out.
GANDOLF: “Bilbo Baggins, I’m looking for someone to share in an adventure.
BAGGINS: “I can’t just go running off into the blue. I am a Baggins of Bagend.”
GANDOLF: “Bilbo, allow me to introduce [names].
“I cannot guarantee his safety.”
“Understood.”
“Nor will I be responsible for his fate.”
“Can you promise that I will come back?”
“No. And if you do, you will not be the same.”
“My name is Bilbo Baggins.”
“Baggins? What is a Baggins? Precious.”
Critics and fans alike were quick to praise. Here’s Good Morning America:
“Sir Ian McKellen back as Gandolf, Cate Blanchett as Elf Queen and Martin Freeman from The Office will take the lead as a young Bilbo Baggins.
“The trailer has already received 250,000 views and counting in less than 12 hours, and it doesn’t even come out a year from now.
“I’m gonna go watch it another 250,000 times.”
“It’s that good.”
“I can not wait for that.”
“Yeah, the movies are really good.”
And The Washington Post:
“The only bad news about the trailer is that it’s a preview for a film that doesn’t release until a year from now, on Dec. 14, 2012.”
But a writer for TIME says this teaser seems all too familiar. Originally, Guillermo del Toro was set to direct The Hobbit, but after money problems in production, he stepped aside, and Peter Jackson took the job. Jackson directed all three Lord of the Rings films -- and the writer wishes the del Toro deal had worked out.
“We’ll sadly never know a new Lord of the Rings story without Peter Jackson behind the camera — and yes, that is sad, for as good a job as he did with the first trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien’s world could use someone with a different eye. … Instead, it appears as if we’ll have a Lord of the Rings redux. With a dragon.”
And, what’s with all the trailers this week anyway? The BBC spoke with the features editor of Empire Magazine, who provides some inside-the-industry perspective -- noting that Warner Bros. is the studio behind both The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit.
“Dan Jolin … says it is the first year he can remember so many trailers on offer, so far in advance of release dates. "I think the studio is extremely keen to be showing off to the world how impressive its slate is for 2012. … Quite simply, they are foghorning a bold statement of intent - dominance of the 2012 box office.”
Similar to Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit will be followed one year later by a second film -- “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.” Both will screen in 3D.
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