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The countdown for the world premiere is on. - Source: Twitter -
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All the latest news leading up to the release of the first installment in The Hobbit trilogy.
November 27: Members of the
cast and crew of Sir Peter Jackson's long-awaited epic The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have
touched down in Wellington ahead of
tomorrow's premiere.
The
Hobbit trilogy is likely to provide the single
largest boost to
New Zealand tourism in the next decade.
The danger of The Hobbit being filmed in the
United Kingdom was "very real",
Sir Peter Jackson says.
November 26: Park Road Post Production members tweeted last night the first installment of The Hobbit was finally complete.
Get ready world, HFR is coming your way. Are you ready?
Rob Gordon (@robgordon000) November 25, 2012
November 25: Hobbit stars Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman have been spotted at Auckland Airport ahead of the premiere on Wednesday.
November 24: Sir Peter Jackson has posted a behind-the-scenes video of post-production teams putting the finishing touches on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
November 23: A two-storey image of Wellington atop a towering Middle Earth mountain has been unveiled in the capital today, just six days before the premiere of The Hobbit film.
November 21: The estate of author JRR Tolkien is suing the producers of The Hobbit alleging that The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit merchandising infringes copyright .
November 20: Protesters will target next week's red carpet premiere of The Hobbit over a llegations of severe mistreatment of animals on the film.
November 19: A list of stars from The Hobbit who will attend the premiere next week has been announced and includes Martin Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood and Richard Armitage.
November 18: Tourism New Zealand's online campaign which rides on the potential success of the new Hobbit film goes live today.
November 13: Rolling Stone magazine has previewed Neil Finn's Song of the Lonely Mountain, which is the credit song for the upcoming movie.
November 13: Sir Ian McKellen says he does not think Sir Peter Jackson has changed from the praise he received following the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
"He's still the same Kiwi, who loves nothing more than making films in his native country, surrounded by failthful colleagues whom he trusts and admires," he wrote on his blog.
November 12: Wellington's Waitangi Park will be turned into a Hobbit: Artisan Market in the days leading up to the international premiere on November 28.
Stalls will run from 12-6pm daily, and each of the three Lord of the Rings films will be played on a big screen.
November 11: Work began today on a Hobbit-themed sculpture to be placed on the roof of Wellington's Embassy Theatre.
The subject of the installation won't be revealed until the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Theatre later this month.
November 5: Details as to what will feature on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack have been released, although fans will have to wait until December 11 to hear any songs.
Neil Finn's Song of the Lonely Mountain will be the closing credit track for the movie.
October 26: The Weta Workshop creation in Wellington Airport has been unveiled as a giant scultpure of Gollum with an outstretched-arm, catching a fish.
October 25: Sir Peter Jackson has announced The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released in Dolby Atmos to make the sound more realistic.
October 24: Prince Charles will be taken on a tour of Weta Workshop during his royal visit to New Zealand in November, The Telegraph reports.
Peter Jackson will meet with the Prince of Wales on his 64th birthday, where he will be shown a sneak peek of the soon-to-be-released Hobbit movie.
October 23: Rumours that Stephen Colbert, of The Colbert Report, will appear in one of The Hobbit movies have been confirmed by a "knowledgeable" source, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Colbert says Peter Jackson knew he was a fan of Lord of the Rings and so invited him to the set in New Zealand last year.
October 19: The Hollywood Reporter has gone behind-the-scenes on the set of the Hobbit, publishing pictures of Peter Jackson directing characters Dwalin, Bilbo, Gandalf and Lord Elrond during filming.
October 16: New stills from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have been released by Cinemarcado, picturing a worried-looking Frodo (Elijah Wood), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and Bilbo (Martin Freeman).
October 13: The Frankfurt Book Fair has revealed new pictures of elves Legolas (played by Orlando Bloom) and Thranduil (played by Lee Pace) from the first installment of The Hobbit movies.
October 08: The venue for the international premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been announced. It will be held at the The Embassy Theatre in the heart of Wellington city.
A 500-metre long red carpet will stretch from Reading Cinema on Courtenay Place to the theatre.
September 26: Two new free-to-play Hobbit video games have been announced for web and mobile device formats.
The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is a military strategy game for Web browsers that lets users control characters like dwarfs, elves and orcs. The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth is focussed on smartphones and tables where players can build kingdoms based on the fictional world.
September 22: Today marks the 75th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien's book There and Back Again, otherwise known as The Hobbit.
September 20: Peter Jackson unveils the official trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to celebrate Tolkien Week.
The footage provides a more in-depth look at what fans can expect in the movie, showing a lighter side to life at The Shire.
September 13: Weta Workshop will design an interactive Hobbit-themed space in Wellington Airport in time for the arrival of guests for the premiere on November 28.
Details are being kept under wraps, but Weta have revealed the creation will be the size of a small jet plane and will be suspended in the airport's main terminal.
September 11: The Hobbit characters will be immortalised in a collection of stamps and commemorative coins, New Zealand post announced today.
The collectors' items feature some of the various Hobbit, Dwarf and Elf characters from the trilogy and will be available from November.
September 8: An official iOS app is released to "explore and experience the epic adventures of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey".
The app features an interactive map of Middle-Earth, Peter Jackson's production journals and character images and bios.