BREAKING: Reports are coming in that the first footage of Hobbit 2 was screened in Vegas yesterday. PJ made no mention of HFR or 3D

There were also brief looks at the studio’s fall product including the Hugh Jackman/Jake Gyllenhaal drama Prisoners, and the George Clooney/Sandra Bullock stranded-in-space thriller Gravity, and the second in the Hobbit trilogy for Christmas. The latter was introduced on tape by Peter Jackson who this time did not even mention the controversial 48 frames format. After the first Hobbit‘s global blockbuster status, the theatre owners who may have balked at being forced to install the equipment to show films in 48 frames seemed to be eagerly awaiting whatever Jackson has in store for them this year.

''Do another'', I say, waving my wine glass at him. ''Do...the dragon''.

Smaug, from The Hobbit. He doesn't say anything. Just starts breathing. Breathing like a dragon. The sound of a dragon, breathing in it's cave - his neck lengthens, his hands reach out for invisible things, palpable talons. I have it all on tape. I will play it to you. It is amazing. It is the thing. It is the thing every actor hopes they will be, and almost never is. It is someone becoming utterly, brightly gone.

Seid ihr gespannt auf Der Hobbit 2: Smaugs Einöde?

Graham McTavish ‏@grahammctavish

Great birthday night for @IanMcKellen and a great welcome back for all of us here in #Wellington. So good to see the gang all together!

BBFC approves The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer
June 6, 2013 at 7:35 am by Demosthenes -

desolation-of-smaug We’ve been waiting and waiting for some official word on the first trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Rumours have persistently indicated it would debut on around June 14, potentially attached to Man of Steel.

Now, finally, the British Board of Film Classification has given its stamp of approval for the next Hobbit trailer.

Rated 12A, just like the second trailer for An Unexpected Journey, the trailer will clock in at two minutes and one second. That’s some 25 seconds shorter than the trailers for An Unexpected Journey, but still quite substantial.

Filming on The Hobbit trilogy will resume this month on Mt Crawford in Wellington, where a patch of bush has been transformed into a gutted citadel.

Sir Peter Jackson's spokesman, Matt Dravitzki, said the site on Miramar Peninsula was being prepared for a few days' filming as part of 10 weeks of final-cut shooting for the last two instalments of the trilogy.

"We're back filming in Miramar for 10 weeks, here till early July. We will be filming on Mt Crawford for a few days."

He would not comment on the details of the set or the filming taking place.

However, the set most probably depicts Dale, the town of men built in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain. Many of the yellow townhouses with terracotta roofs appear to have been gutted by fire, suggesting the shooting of scenes after or during the attack by the dragon Smaug.

Another set shows an elaborate entrance carved into a stone wall, possibly the gates to Erebor, the lost dwarven city where Smaug lives.

The next Hobbit instalment, The Desolation of Smaug, is due in cinemas in December.

Producers New Line published the first shot yesterday of Lost actress Evangeline Lilly as elf warrior Tauriel in the movie.

Her character has angered some Tolkien purists as she has been created by the film-makers to give the male-dominated cast a bit of a female touch.

Tauriel heads the Elven Guard and, as a woodland Elf, is of a lower social status than the likes of Arwen, Galadriel or Elrond.

There has been speculation of a movie romance between her and Orlando Bloom's character Legolas, although Lilly declined to confirm or deny this. She said the relationship between the pair was "significant".