Photos and video highlights from The Desolation of Smaug world premiere

at 5:29 am by - December 6, 20135:29 am by Demosthenes

Did you watch the red (black!) carpet for the world premiere for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

If you missed it (or even if you watched it) here are a few photo and video highlights to tide you over while we all wait for the movie to open in cinemas for the general public. The setup photos are all courtesy of Ron Hall.

Whatever liberties people say we take with the books … if it makes people read Tolkien’s original books then that’s great as well,” he said. “And obviously we’re also inspiring young people to make movies as well.

Personally, one of Peter Jackson’s comments that really caught my ear was this one:

Why? Because it recalled to my mind of one of his closing comments to the audience at the Fan Event in Wellington at the beginning on November.

At the end of the day, I just want to entertain people and get them to come along to the movies and have a good time. That’s what it boils down to.

Together, I feel these two statements give a really strong indication of Jackson’s priorities and aims with his adaptations of The Hobbit.

Then, at the other end of the scale, we have Benedict Cumberbatch apparently pinching Martin Freeman on the bum while Martin was chatting with our Happy Hobbit crew.