From Weta, last night:
"After four and a half years working on the movies, we are very excited The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is launching next week. We hope you all enjoy it.
Last week, we had the great pleasure of hosting the World Premiere in Wellington and were delighted to see so many fans from all around the world. We even had our crew Xmas party at the St James Theater looking down on the Red Carpet
Annabel kindly organised a mini-Moot at the Roxy Cinema for some of the Flamers (Elliot_B, Leaflock, pixynormous, Annabel, seregon13) and some Weta folk (Dave Tremont, Peter Lyon, Magnus Hjert and myself). Thanks Annabel !
We had 120+ international media in town for a few days, so it was a super busy week. I think you will be seeing many of their reports in the next week or so.
So we can now turn our attention back to collectibles! I keep getting messages from collectors asking when and what we are launching ? The honest answer is that we have been so frantically busy launching a wide range of items, that we have not had a clear schedule in mind. We have just been launching products as soon as they come into stock.
However it's now Dec, so I thought we better give you a bit of a forecast for the next few months:
1/6th scale Sculptures
Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin are now in stock in all 3 warehouses in the UK, US and NZ. We are already well into our 2nd production run for Bilbo and Gandalf. And we have a 3rd production run coming in 2013
We will be launching 2 new characters before Xmas. They will be In-Stock items ready to order immediately from all 3 warehouses. We expect to be launching them within the next 10 days
And of course, we have several more new pieces coming in 2013. Creatures tend to take longer to launch, as they usually require computer generated effects, which are finalised late in the production of movies.
Some of our pieces will be open edition and some will be limited edition.
Prop Replicas
We have launched 4 x Weapons and the Key to Erebor to date
We will be launching at least another 4 more very cool prop replicas before Xmas for pre-order. They will be shipping in either Jan or April next year
Daniel Reeve has been working overtime to try and keep up with orders for his 2 hand made props; Bilbo's Contract and Thorin's Map. For the first time, we now have enough stock of Thorin's Map to be "In-stock" since we launched
Jewelery
The One Ring - Gold Plated Tungsten Carbide, has been hugely popular. Every time we have stock, it sells out quickly. Our Hobbit One Ring (without runes) is just back in stock today, and our LOTR One Ring (with Runes) should be back in stock at the end of this week.
The LOTR Evenstar is also out of stock. More pieces are arriving next week
Thorin's Ring - we will only have enough pieces to fulfill existing pre-orders before Xmas, with more stock coming in Jan
Art Prints
We have now launched 2 x Hobbit art prints by Gus Hunter (An Unexpected Journey and Riddles in the Dark), and have 2 more exciting prints coming by Paul Tobin and Nick Keller, who were both conceptual designers on the movie
Maps
Again, these have been a real favourite. Thorin's Map is just back in stock, but the LOTR Parchment Map of Middle-earth has just sold out again. We have more stock coming in mid Dec.
Chronicles - Art and Design
We will start processing pre-orders for our new book this week. We are having a massive signing operation with Richard, Daniel and other artists tomorrow and Thursday. We will not be sending out our normal 1 week email warning (Sorry!), as we need to mail the books out to you next week. After payment is processed, Magnus will then be sending out a seperate email with Thorin Oakenshield's reward. This will include the special discount code which you can use on our website.
For folks in New Zealand, we are launching the book at the Weta Cave at 1-3pm on Saturday 15 Dec. Please come along and talk to the artists who worked on the movies
We can't wait to release this book in the series. There is a reason this book has been held back until after the release of the movies ... there is too much in it !
Barad-dur- Fortress of Sauron
We are now processing pre-orders of this incredible model from our NZ and US warehouses. And the UK warehouse will follow shortly after.
Xmas
We will have a reduced team working during the holiday period from 22 Dec to 2 Jan, so our service will slow down at this time. We strongly suggest you make any orders as early as possible, to avoid Xmas delays.
Running low on stock
The following LOTR items are all running low on stock :
Rivendell
Orthanc
Strider
Miniature Shields
And John Howe's :
Smaug the Golden
Eowyn and the Nazgul
And of course, we still have a couple of sneaksy tricks up our sleeves, which we can can't tell you about it. Afterall, we are Weta and it is Xmas ....
Kind regards
Tim "
Good news, as all about the Hobbit that days...happy collecting!!!
) going begging for a slice of it.
Here's hoping we get them regardless.
