Pickups on the next two installments of The Hobbit Trilogy have commenced in New Zealand!

Truly sad news today.

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation has announced that visual effects luminary Ray Harryhausen has passed away at the age of 92 in London, England.

If you bought The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Blu-ray or DVD, then you got an access code to participate in or just watch a big live event teasing the next installment in this three-movie adaptation of a fairly slight children's story, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

If you didn't buy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Warner Bros. still has you covered. A six-minute snippet of the live event is now available freely, allowing for a peek behind the scenes that includes looks at Luke Evans and Evangeline Lilly as new characters like Bard the Bowman and Tauriel the Elf.

One of 2012's biggest blockbusters brings the fantasy setting of Middle Earth into your living room this Tuesday, March 19th, as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrives on both 2D and 3D Blu-ray, as well as DVD and digital download.

Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson made motion picture history a decade ago with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Having redefined epic fantasy onscreen with that sprawling depiction of the War of the Ring and Frodo Baggins' desperate attempt to reach Mount Doom, Jackson returns to the vivid setting for this adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's first Middle Earth novel.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first in a prequel trilogy, to be followed by The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: There and Back Again in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning March 19th is the box office smash The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Academy Award-winning directer Peter Jackson. The film is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the first chapter of its own trilogy, which will include the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey stars Martin Freeman (Love Actually) as young Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen (X2) as Gandalf the Grey, Cate Blanchett (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving (Cloud Atlas) as Elrond, Christopher Lee (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) as Saruman the White, Sylvester McCoy (TV's Doctor Who) as Radagast the Brown, Ian Holm (Alien) as old Bilbo Baggins, Elijah Wood (Sin City) as Frodo Baggins, Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) as Gollum, Manu Bennett (TV's Spartacus: Blood and Sand) as Azog the Defiler, Lee Pace (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) as the Elvenking Thranduil, Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as The Necromancer of Dol Guldur, Barry Humphries (Finding Nemo) as the Great Goblin, John Rawls (The Warrior's Way) as Yazneg, as well as Richard Armitage (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Thorin Oakensheild, Graham McTavish (Rambo) as Dwalin, Ken Slott (Charlie Wilson's War) as Balin, Aidan Turner (TV's Being Human) as Kili, Dean O'Gorman (TV's Legend of the Seeker) as Fili, Mark Hadlow (King Kong) as Dori, Jed Brophy (District 9) as Nori, Adam Brown as Ori, John Callen as Oin, Peter Hambleton as Gloin, William Kircher (Out of the Blue) as Bifur, James Nesbitt (Match Point) as Bofur, and Stephen Hunter as Bombur, who all portray The Company of Dwarves. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Martin Freeman to talk about his work on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The popular actor discussed the hit film, its new Blu-ray and DVD, preparing to take on the iconic role of Bilbo Baggins, not meeting Ian Holm until the film's theatrical premiere, his concerns about signing on to make three films, moving to New Zealand, working with Peter Jackson on the highly anticipated trilogy, how shooting in 3D and 48 fps affected him as an actor, the controversy over 48 fps, and why Peter Jackson can get away with pushing the filmmaking envelope.

When Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson teamed up for 2011's The Adventures of Tintin, it was with the promise that, for a sequel, the two would switch places, with Jackson directing and Spielberg producing another 3D motion-capture romp for the boy reporter.

So what gives?  When could Jackson find the time to actually make the next The Adventures of Tintin?

According to Spielberg, the hope is have the next film in theaters for the holiday season of 2015.

Let's keep this reasonably brief:

Warner Bros. has rescheduled the concluding installment in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, pushing The Hobbit: There and Back Again to December 17, 2014.

Mere days remain in 2012, but before diving headlong into a whole new year, we had to close this one out with one last weekend of moviegoing.  Like the last two, this weekend saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey atop the doggy pile of wide releases, but both Django Unchained and Les Miserables performed strongly.  Even Parental Guidance got in on the action with unexpected relish.

No fewer than four new wide releases joined the competition for whatever cash moviegoers have laying around after Christmas shopping, but it was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that held on to the top spot like Smeagol clutching his precious or Gandalf holding his pipe.

Opening in theaters on December 25th is the powerful new documentary West of Memphis, which tells the story of the recently set free West Memphis Three. The film was directed by Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil), and produced by Peter Jackson (The Hobbit) and Fran Walsh (The Lovely Bones), with original music by Nick Cave (Lawless). The movie also features interviews with musician/activists Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Henry Rollins (Black Flag) and Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks), as well as chronicling West Memphis Three member Damien Wayne Echols and wife Lorri Davis' quest for justice. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down with director Amy Berg, as well as producer/West Memphis Three member Damien Wayne Echols, and his with wife/producer Lorri Davis to talk about West of Memphis. The filmmakers discussed the origins of the project, producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's involvement, other celebrity help they received along the way, new DNA evidence, Terry Hobbs' possible guilt, and whether justice will ever truly be served in this horribly tragic case.