What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly column that counts down the best links and notes of the day. Today, it has a theme. Because who doesn’t love a good theme? We begin our unexpected journey (see what I did there?) with all kinds of marketing and news for The Hobbit, because there isn’t enough going around about this movie. The folks in New Zealand are especially stoked. Air New Zealand even painted some characters on their plane. Somewhere Murray from Flight of the Conchords is admitting defeat. Or he’s doing last-minute ADR work for The Hobbit. Either way…

According to Variety, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien is filing suit against Warners, New Line and the Saul Zaentz Company for what they claim is a breach of their original 1969 licensing agreement. The estate is seeking $80m. At issue here is the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit-flavored slot machines and online gambling games that the estate claims violate the limited use terms of their agreement (they probably couldn’t have anticipated internet gambling or video games in 1969, and the contract apparently doesn’t cover rights for media not yet devised at the time of signing). The good news here is that this scrape between partners shouldn’t at all affect their ability to make movies together. They have a symbiotic business relationship that creates vast amounts of money, so it’s easy to imagine that even if this creates some soreness, both have a vested interest in continuing to mine for gold together.

Just a day after Peter Jackson and his team released Neil Finn’s song from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the folks at Empire have released the full soundtrack for free online. Now you can get a preview of what the December 13 release will hold. The score is from composer Howard Shore, who as you know also served as music man behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s all got a very Middle Earthian feel to it, as is appropriate for such a release. However, fans will undoubtedly find enough in Shore’s new score that feels fresh and new.

What is Movie News After Dark? It happens thrice times per week. It’s awesome. You can read it. Right now. We begin this evening’s marketing-heavy edition of Movie News After Dark with the absurdity of the day. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first in a new trilogy from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, now has seventeen character posters that can be ogled. It’s a little much, even for what may turn out to be the biggest film of the year. Above you’ll see Dwalin, a badass dwarf. Just after the jump, Gandalf and his fall collection.

It just doesn’t stop, does it? Not only is one film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s “The Hobbit” not enough for movie fans (or director Peter Jackson? or his vast and very talented cast? or the country of New Zealand?), two film adaptations are also not enough, so you better believe that just one soundtrack isn’t even close to good enough for a production that has now ballooned to include three films based on one novel. WaterTower Music has just announced (via Fandango) the release of the official soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and, shock of shocks, just one disc isn’t going to cut it. The Official Motion Picture Soundtrack will arrive in stores and online on December 11 as a two-disc set, with a Special Edition also available on that same day. The so-called Special Edition will include six exclusive bonus tracks, seven extended score cues, and deluxe liner notes. The soundtrack features an original score by Academy Award winner Howard Shore (who also did the score for Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy), along with a new original song by Crowded House’s Neil Finn. You can check out the full track listing for both editions of the soundtrack after the break, if you’re into that sort of thing.

As we’ve learned from Flight of the Conchords, one of the only things that New Zealand is known for these days is Lord of the Rings. And they seem to be quite proud of it. As evidence in this new art installation by Weta at the Wellington, New Zealand airport. Opening this week, the massive statue of Gollum reaching out to catch a juicy sweet fish will now greet travelers as they enter the terminal. As you will see from the images below, it’s both awe-inspiring and terribly frightening.

As any of us who’ve dressed up as movie characters for Halloween know, it’s the distinctly designed roles that make for the most interesting costumes. Nobody is dressing up as Alex Cross or Aaron Cross this year — not because their movies weren’t popular, but because the characters don’t have a very recognizable look. Peruse the popular suits for sale and clever homemade ideas this year and you’ll find mostly characters who wouldn’t be what they are without the craftwork of costume designers and makeup artists. That’s why I consider theirs the Halloween categories at the Oscars. And yet, the best and most common outfits and frightening faces aren’t necessarily those that tend to be recognized by the Academy. This year’s list of popular movie-related costumes predominantly consists of superheroes, which has been the norm for a while, but there are even more timely examples represented now thanks to the The Avengers featuring so many masked and caped crusaders. Also, we had another movie starring the Caped Crusader. And while once again Linda Hemming will be nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award for a Batman movie (she was nominated for Batman Begins and won for The Dark Knight), it’s very unlikely that The Dark Knight Rises will earn her a second Oscar nomination let alone win (she won her first time nominated, for Topsy-Turvy).

It’s not unfair to say that Butt-Numb-a-Thon 5 turned me into a cinephile. Something about the combination of seeing Oldboy and Buster Keaton’s death-defying The General with a live accompaniment shook something loose in my brain. I was fortunate enough to have parents that shared their favorites with me through the magic of AMC and TCM, but sitting in the Colorado Street Alamo Drafthouse, surrounded by strangers and beautiful cinema was graduation time. For those who don’t know, the easiest explanation for BNAT is as a 24-hour film festival put on with the bottomless knowledge of Harry Knowles from Aint It Cool and the showman’s flair of Tim League. Sometimes that involves eating scrambled eggs after watching the live birth in Teenage Mother or getting a Fleshlight just before seeing Hobo With a Shotgun. At any rate, Harry has just posted the application (complete with explanation for why you need to fill one out) that could become your ticket to attending. If you’re curious about what’s played before, here’s a great place to look, but the line-up is always a giant surprise. That element makes the event even more special, but given the timing and the festival’s history, it’s probably a good bet that a certain Peter Jackson movie will be on tap (and Jackson himself might make another appearance). Beyond that, it’s a mystery, and hearing what Harry has up his sleeve is a thing of joy. So if the thought of learning that you’re about to see a rare print of Orson

Some of you may already know me by my Twitter handle: @thefilmcynic. It’s a name I’ve gone by for nearly a decade (so, before current social media outlets), because I’m very cynical about the film industry and try to keep my expectations low. I’m also very cynical about the Academy Awards and awards season in general, because we devote so much focus on them — with a wide spectrum of positive and negative angles — and they’re really a bunch of malarkey (much like the V.P. debate, which has inspired my newfound obsession with that word). So, the higher ups at FSR have asked me to write a cynical column devoted to the Oscars. The first one is inspired by the films Seven Psychopaths, Looper and Lincoln and their celebrated performances. As someone who has studied acting (I’m not very good at it), I’ve long taken issue with the way people look at film performances, because there are just so many different kinds. But there are two real distinct types that we tend to recognize while watching and writing about movies that aren’t acknowledged by the Academy: realistic and artificial. The former has been a big favorite since method acting came into play, though it doesn’t necessarily apply to that style nor does that style necessarily always mean realism. The latter could be more expressive and therefore goes back to the dawn of cinema and its silent performances or could even be more stiff, if that’s what’s intended. Directors who

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news column that does not need an animated continuation. It just goes on and on with very live action. We begin this evening with a shot from The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2, the animated follow-up to The Dark Knight Returns. Warner Home Video has released the image with a promise to show some footage at the upcoming New York Comic-Con. This should continue to hold you off until Warner Bros. can figure out what they’re doing with live-action Batman. Or at least until the Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy is available on Blu-ray.

Reading J.R.R. Tolkien‘s “The Hobbit” and processing its myriad characters can be confusing enough for kid brains (I remember, quite vividly, making a cheat sheet of all the names within the book, a list that I stuck in the back of my paperback copy and would refer to frequently), and few of those names are more interchangeable (and confusing) than that of the thirteen dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf on their (unexpected) journey. I mean, the rhyming, while sweet, is just not helpful when trying to differentiate between Thorin and Gloin and Oin, but that’s just how things are in Middle-earth. Of course, now we have three whole films to look forward to, and a massive cast of talent to finally put faces to (a multitude of) names. So why not use a handy dandy banner to brush up on all the dwarves we will soon meet in Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? Heck, even Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Ian McKellan) are there! Take a look at the banner after the break. How many dwarves can you name before you look at it?

Welcome to the first installment of the CriterionCast takeover of Movie News After Dark. While Neil spends the week singing karaoke, or whatever it is that you kids do at Fantastic Fest, I’ll attempt to fill his manly, bearded shoes with my own geeky art-house sensibilities. Speaking of Fantastic Fest, the folks handling the PR have been releasing a ton of great material for all of us non-attendees, to soothe the pain. Apparently Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick, Brothers Bloom) joined in on the nerd karaoke fun that everyone was talking about this weekend, and they sent out a hefty pack of high resolution images, to help prove what we already know to be true: Rian Johnson is the coolest.

Fans are undoubtedly ready for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with willing hearts, and the second trailer is a fantastic look at the action of the film as well as some of the humor. Without question, Peter Jackson has recreated the massive scale of Middle-Earth, and all signs point to another adventure into the realm of darkness with an excellent, ragtag band of characters. And then there’s Gollum. How they managed to get that possible Jar Jar right in the first trilogy is a mystery (the answer is probably mostly Andy Serkis), but he looks like he’ll play his usual important role here – dedicated to worshipping his Precious (based on the novel…you get it) and threatening hilarious bodily harm against far hobbits. December cannot get here fast enough. [Apple]

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s about to be your deviant nightly gut punch of pure awesome. Pure. Awesome. Our evening begins with a look at the new Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX. Some of you may be wondering, “why lead with something so local in a column that’s read in over 50 countries?” Because it’s relevant to our upcoming barrage of coverage from Fantastic Fest. You see, the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar is where Fantastic Fest lives. This year, it’s been repainted to look like it’s part of the movie Frankenweenie. Next year, it will look like the futuristic CineMecca you see above. The booking of flights for Fantastic Fest 2013 begins now, friends.

Many of us weren’t at Comic-Con this year, and many of us felt a range of emotions about it. Oddly enough, there were a lot of people in San Diego sharing that same exact range of emotions. For those who didn’t get to make the trip and sleep on a hotel floor just to wait on a grass lawn for 5 hours in order to see a few scraps of footage, we missed out on at least one amazing thing: work from The Hobbit lovingly displayed by Peter Jackson. But despair no longer! In his latest production blog (and, seriously, isn’t it amazing that he takes the time and energy to share the process so intimately with fans?), Jackson brings us all to San Diego with him and delivers the visual goods. That includes some behind-the-scenes greetings from a few soon-to-be-familiar faces. Check out the video for yourself:

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news column that won’t back down. We begin this evening with a first look at the fortress at Riverrun in Game of Thrones’ upcoming third season. It’s just some fish flags, but those who’ve read the book will get all nerdy over it. Seriously, it’s very cool. And plenty of things center upon this particular set piece this season, with it being the holdfast of House Tully, Catlin Stark’s family.

Are the eleven hours and twenty-two minutes of Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings series just not enough for you? Do you require (what will most likely end up being) another ten- or eleven-hour run of J.R.R. Tolkien cinematic adaptations? Don’t care about shelling out the cash for three movies dedicated to telling the story of, in case you’ve forgotten, just one book? Have we got news for you! Following last week’s rumors that Jackson would ultimately end up splitting his already two-part adaptation of The Hobbit into three films, the filmmaker himself has now confirmed the news on his Facebook page (via ComingSoon), saying: It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made. Recently Fran, Phil and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie – and a large chunk of the second. We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’

Having never previously covered the behemoth known as Comic-Con, I’m currently feeling woefully unprepared (underprepared?) for the experience. But years of monitoring and reporting on the news coming out of the ‘con has prepared me for something – the incredible flood of tangible marketing material that accompanies the convention. We’re not talking about panel chatter, rumors, or announcements, we’re talking hard stuff like posters and banners, material spotted out in the wild of the convention floor as often as it’s released before Preview Night even kicks off that you may one day be able to possess for yourself (and your walls). After the break, feast your eyes on every poster and banner (within reason) released at Comic-Con, an ever-evolving gallery of both pretty pictures and essential information, including such highly anticipated fare as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Pacific Rim, Dredd, and some very special original works by the likes of Mondo and Gallery 1988.

Guillermo Del Toro with his ‘giant monsters vs. giant robots.’ Zack Snyder and his fresh take on one of the most iconic superheroes in history. Peter Jackson returning to Middle Earth. There’s a reason why fans stood outside Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center for hours-on end, many not getting in after waiting 9-hours in the sun. Today was the big day of movies at Comic-Con 2012, and the Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures panel was its centerpiece. To get you up to speed with everything that happened, we take a tour around the web with our favorite blogfriends to see what everyone had to say about the high-expectation pieces and the big surprises alike.

What is Comic-Con News After Dark? It’s Movie News After Dark’s alter-ego. As the streets of San Diego fill with hordes of nerd-kind, your loyal nightly movie news column must slip into its costume and become the defender of the sick, the infirm and the unbathed. It’s movie news, but with more booth babes! We begin this evening’s first ever edition of Comic-Con News After Dark, or CCNAD, with a look at what it would be like If Comic Conventions Had Warning Signs, courtesy of the folks at College Humor. The one about the Cosplay First Aid Kit is particularly fun, as dressing up like your favorite superhero can sometimes lead to interesting injuries. For those wondering what exactly cosplay is, I’ve included an image just after the jump.