Empire's Ultimate Hobbit : The Unexpected Journey issue –complete with five 3D lenticular covers – arrives on shelves tomorrow, Thursday October 24, and with it a whole host of Hobbit exclusives. Not least of which is the run time for Peter Jackson's upcoming film. Those who have been fearing that the change from two films to three would result in less Bombur for your buck, fear no more: it's still an epic length.
“It’s looking like it’s going to be about ten minutes shorter than Fellowship was," explains Jackson. "So it’s going to be officially our shortest Middle-earth yet. I mean, Fellowship was just under three hours and this is about 2 hours 40 minutes at the moment.”
The "at the moment" refers to the fact that the credits hadn't yet been added and not all effects shots finalised when we spoke to Jackson, but it's going to be close.
Finally, if you're curious about what to expect from all 160-odd minutes of Hobbity goodness, take a look at the extended scroll poster, the Lego sets and the full trailer below. Then again, you could just read Tolkien's book and make an educated guess.
The new issue of Empire will hit news stands tomorrow, October 25, as well as the iTunes store in the UK and US. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits cinemas on December 14, with two further films following on December 13, 2013 (The Desolation Of Smaug) and July 18, 2014 (There And Back Again).
If all three films are going to be comparable in length, I have two immediate observations:
- Expect very little Hobbit story (since it's relatively linear and straightforward) and MASSIVE amounts of imported material from the LOTR appendices, as well as stuff made up by Jackson and Boyens. (Battle of Five Armies will probably be gigantically extended.)
- What could possibly be left to include in extended editions for home media?!
Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited by this project More
Posted by BelfastBoy at 12:47 on 25 October 2012 | Report This Post
What's Wrong With A Big Fat Hobbit?
I personally don't care about the running time of a movie as long as the story is either not rushed i.e, poor character developments or the other way where we are lovingly shown every blade of grass on the journey(yawn!). As long as the running time serves the story who cares how long you are sat there? More
Posted by kittybinks at 08:17 on 25 October 2012 | Report This Post
RE:
L: attakdog
FFS 160 minutes?? The Hobbits not even a quarter as a big of a book as LOTR! What is jacksons problem, why cant he get his films under two hours in length like anyone else??
because that would be stupid. And that was my BIGGEST worry when I heard about the trilogy! All Middle Earth films need to be over 2.5 hours at least! (over 3 hours for extended editions) More
Posted by NeoBrowser at 02:48 on 25 October 2012 | Report This Post
Wrong date
"...on shelves tomorrow, Thursday October 24". That would be Thursday the 25 I should imagine. More
Posted by RogueElement at 22:09 on 24 October 2012 | Report This Post
FFS 160 minutes?? The Hobbits not even a quarter as a big of a book as LOTR! What is jacksons problem, why cant he get his films under two hours in length like anyone else?? More
Posted by attakdog at 21:13 on 24 October 2012 | Report This Post
This will be awesome!
90mins, 140mins, 180mins, whatever! This. Will. Be. Movie. Magic! More
Posted by kielerkai at 14:39 on 24 October 2012 | Report This Post
