Thursday 15 November 2012

An Unexpected Journey


        As far back as 1995, Peter Jackson and his co-writer wife, Fran Walsh, had expressed interest in adapting The Hobbit into a film. They intended The Hobbit to be part one of their Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. However, due to problems over legal ownership of the rights to The Hobbit and Peter Jackson’s lawsuit against New Line Cinema over lost income, the adaptation of The Hobbit fell into a limbo.

        Then in 2007 it was announced that New Line Cinema, in partnership with MGM Studios, would go ahead with the adaptation of The Hobbit. However, Peter Jackson chose not to direct, remaining only as executive producer. Nevertheless, it looked as if The Hobbit would finally come to fruition as a motion picture, albeit without Peter Jackson at the helm, only for hopes to be dashed when the Tolkien Estate (through the Tolkien Charity) and Harper Collins Publisher sued New Line Cinema for what they saw as fraud by the studio for withholding entitled profits from them (the Tolkien Estate being entitled to 7% of all profits made from Tokien films). This was eventually settled out of court, but the legal process had blocked the filming of The Hobbit from progressing.  When filming finally began, the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro was chosen to spearhead the film project. But because of financial issues and other bureaucratic nuances relating to The Hobbit production, del Toro felt that the delays were too much for him to remain as director and announced that he was leaving the role. After many talks, in October 2010 New Line Cinema (who had now merged with Warner Bros) revealed to the public that Peter Jackson would replace del Toro as director. The troubles with The Hobbit didn't end there though, when the International Federation of Actors issued a ‘no work order’ that threatened to delay production further and possibly even cause it to move from New Zealand to skirt the industrial dispute. Eventually, with widespread protests and the intervention of the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, the dispute was settled and production stayed in the country.

        Now after years of waiting, and almost a decade after the release of the last LOTR film (The Return of the King), the first part of The Hobbit (An Unexpected Journey) will premiere in Wellington, New Zealand on the 28th of November to what is sure to be an enthusiastic reaction from millions of J.R.R. Tolkien fans around the world.

        To celebrate this momentous moment in cinematic history, Shop New Zealand has begun stocking a large range of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey related collectibles and memorabilia. Take a sneak peak and be prepared for the inevitable release of director Peter Jackson’s latest adaptation of Tolkien’s work!

We’re just as stoked as the millions of Tolkien and Peter Jackson fans around the world!

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