I'm all over the news about that TV spot! Have you seen it? I know a lot of the posters on TORn are avoiding it for spoiler reasons. I am avoiding spoilers myself, but not if it's a TV spot. TORn has it on the forum now (although not in very high quality) and I had to watch it.
That quote by Peter Jackson has me very hopeful! Smaug has to look very real, and very scary.

I don't disagree about Dragon Eustace. It just wasn't what I expected him to look like.

Well, good luck with the reading, Purpleotter!
I have had friends say that 'Fellowship' is somewhat hard to get into -- perhaps Tolkien's writing style. I never had any major issues with not being able to understand the story, but that could be because I read books nonstop.

Thanks! Who's your fave character? Mine is Pippin

That's a hard choice. I like Bilbo, Eowyn, Galadriel, ( ) and Gandalf. Gandalf is certainly near the top. The way he almost always "speaks in riddles" intrigues me. And also, I won't give away any specific spoilers, but it seems to me that his personality morphs from The Hobbit until the end of the Return of the King. I find I prefer his more humorous and gentle side, and I don't recall him showing that as much later on in the stories.

Faramir, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Éowyn, Éomer, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, and Treebeard. I love Ents. I agree with you about Pippin, purpleotter. He makes me laugh.

So I have to ask...which of our lovely NarniaWebbers are going to the cinemas?

There is a whole thread discussing that in the Hobbit Reading Group I plan on going 3 times: once with NarniaWebbers in Kansas, once with local NarniaWebbers (If you live in the Twin Cities MN area and would like to join us, send me a PM), and once with my family.

I'm not sure who my favorite character I like Sam a lot both in the books and the movies.

Currently Sam is my favorite - with Gandalf as a close second.
Then there is also Faramir ...

It's almost worse than choosing a Narnia favorite. There are even more to choose from!

Bilbo Baggins is my favorite, no contest. Second favorite is a tie between Gandalf and Smeagol. Merry, Pippin, and Thorin Oakenshield get honorable mentions.

~Riella

Anyone else here been watching Peter Jackson's amazing video production blogs. If you are at all interested in the making of the Hobbit or even film in general these are definitely worth the watch. You can find them on Youtube or PJ's Facebook page.
And they are mostly spoiler free.
I've been watching all the TV spots multiple times (there are so far) and I'm still getting goosebumps watching them.

Definitely going to see it in the theater!

I've been watching the Vlogs. They're all so good, and PJ was so nice to do it and include the fans on the process! I hope we get a new one soon, I see him with his phone taping at all the premieres, so hopefully...

What are you seeing the film in? Lot's of people had said not to see it @ 48 frames and 3D. Seems a shame though, to go though all the trouble filming and then have it not work out.

If I could, I'd see it at 48 frames for the clarity, but not in 3D.

My favorite character(s) in the films is Aragorn, but in the books Elrond, Aragorn and Treebeard, in that order, thought most of the characters are interesting.

By the way, I saw the Hobbit movie today (normal amount of frames per second and 3D).

Spoiler

Though I didn't agree with everything in it, it was mostly good and definitely worth seeing.

I got to see the Hobbit at the midnight showing lost night with 2 of my brothers and my sister-in-law. I saw it in normal 2D 24fps.
Here is my mostly spoiler free review.

I will start off by saying that this movie is NOT the Lord of the Rings. And neither is it mean't to be. And seeing as that in my opinion the LOTR are the best films ever made, they couldn't measure up to them even if they were trying to.

That said I REALLY liked this movie. Peter Jackson was able to almost perfectly capture the adventurous, funny and slightly silly spirit of the book. There are some huge changes but none of them mess up the overall story being told.

Things I Loved:

The Actors:
Martin Freeman playing Bilbo was absolutely perfect! He wonderfully plays Bilbo's reluctance to be caught up on such a nasty thing as an adventure and his random acts of unexpected courage. And he is very funny.
Richard Armatige who plays Thorin is also great. He plays the brave, noble, jerk of a dwarf perfectly.
Ian Mckellan and Andy Serkis as Gandalf and Gollum are also wonderful, it was really great to see them again.

The Misty Mountains song gave me goosebumps when I first heard it in the trailer over a year ago and still did as I watched it in the theater.

The Flashbacks telling of the fall of Erebor and the dwarves attempt to retake Moria are amazing and heartbreaking. And also a really cool scene that shows how Thorin became Oakenshield.

The Dwarves in action: No matter how silly they might be while relaxing, once they start fighting you better stay out of their way.

Riddles in the Dark: This is probably my favorite scene in the entire film. Very funny and scary at the same time. Basically lifted straight from the pages of the book. And the sequence directly after this one as Bilbo spares Gollum is also amazing.

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire: This entire sequence is in my opinion the best action set peace in the film. Very dramatic and we get to see some of Bilbo's heroism and a nice moment between him and a humbled Thorin.

The last shot of the film, a great tease.

Things I Didn't Love:

A scene with a falling bridge is really dumb and was pulled directly from PJ's King Kong remake.

While I liked Rhadagast in a lot of his scenes I think the Bunny Sled was a bit ridiculous.

The gross humor is overdone a few times.

And overall I think the silly humor was overpowering in some scenes.

So overall definitely an awesome movie with a few annoying elements. And I'm eagerly awaiting the next film. A year is way too long to wait.

(Note: I'll let the mods in question decide how spoiler-iffic this is ... the book has been available for more than 70 years.)

"The Hobbit part 1: an unexpected journey" opening night observations:

-How good to see Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, and Cate Blanchett again.

-Galadriel looks even more lovely, if that is possible.

-Saruman looks even more wise and devious, if that is possible.

-Scenery as usual is stunning.

-Galadriel and Elrond have new crowns.

-Thorin Oakenshield has a brighter Galadriel-light in his eye highlights than Galadriel does. Was this intentional?

-The dwarf with the axe in his head wasn't as noticeable as I'd thought. If I hadn't read about it in advance, it might have slipped past me. Part of that also is that the action was very swift.

-Some of the old Dwarves looked a little too like a caricature with heavy, heavy makeup, whereas the youngest Dwarves looked a little too human or Elvish with so little makeup. It's hard to find a balance, maybe.

-Bilbo's new actor nailed it.

-Thorin's actor nailed it.

-They make a good team as the prissy, whiny jerk and the bitter, condescending jerk who soften each others' sharp edges.

-Balin's actor nailed it as the fellow who has seen it all and keeps on plodding anyway.

In order of the plot:

-The Kingdom under the Mountain is (mostly) superb. There were a few small scenes of twee, but nothing achingly so.

-The Kingdom of Dale is reminiscent of Gondor. Maybe that can't be helped, as it was made of stone. Based on the geography, I expected Dale to be more Polish/Slavic.

-In the distance they see the Lonely Mountain. It doesn't look volcano-ey to me, more like earthquake-upthrust, but what do I know. As long as it has a kimberlite pipe, that's all that matters, I suppose.

-End of film.

...

Verdict: the book was a Bildunsroman, a coming-of-age story for Bilbo, not Gandalf-and-the-Elven-Avengers. I've always said that if padded material is any good, it deserves its own film, and if it's not good, it shouldn't be in any film. I still wish that Bilbo's story was contained in one film, but this wasn't as non-canonical as I dreaded. Wish it were better, glad it's not worse, and whatever else I'd think, I couldn't have done it myself.

I'm glad I saw the half-price matinee though.

Favorite characters from LotR: Frodo, Faramir, Gandalf, Sam, Theoden, Eomer, Gollum, Boromir, i think his name was Beremund (or Beregond? The Gondor guard who befriends Pippin in the book), and a whole bunch of other people, though the first three are definitely my top characters.

Saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at midnight, making only the second time i've seen a film in theaters the first time it opens. Definitely worth it.

Alright, i've tried a couple times to start up a review, but i can't word it right now. Maybe later, maybe not.

I'll just say that i loved it, and might even try to see it in theaters again. It's a far cry from a perfect adaption, and yes there are things they put in i didn't like and things they left out that i would've wanted to see, but it was still a fantastic movie.

Looks like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey dwarfed its USA competition this Friday. (Pun fully intended. )

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3586&p=.htm

Mod Note: We have opened a thread in the Hobbit Reading group for discussing the Hobbit Movie. Please direct all discussion of the movie to that thread. If you already post about the movie here feel free to repost in the reading group. And while you are there, feel free to post in any or all of the threads.