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Re: An Email to Lego

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:24 am
by Formendacil
Kev wrote:Well my mistake then. But the point remains that the Hobbit is for younger folk, book and movie. Considering that it doesn't have the extended scenes of violence that LOTR has, I could definitely see Lego licensing it.
A book intended for a younger audience, definitely; whether it's going to be a movie intended for a younger audience (well, movies plr.) remains to be seen. I doubt it will be substantially different in tone from the LotR movies, because I can hardly imagine the studios wanting to mess with the moneymaking formula... but, as I said, we can't really say until it comes out.

As for licensing, I think we need to remember that a lot has changed with LEGO since the LotR movies (which came out 2001-2003)--and I don't mean the colour change! Back in 2001, when the Fellowship of the Ring came out, we had Star Wars licensed sets and Harry Potter coming out. I believe we also had Galidor somewhere around then--and that flopped.

Ten years later, we've had all kinds of licensed themes, including the megalithic, such as the aforementioned Harry Potter and Star Wars, to the (relatively) obscure, such as Speed Racer and Avatar. Given the *broader* range of themes that LEGO licences these days, it doesn't seem a huge stretch to licence LotR (after all, they've done the other mega-franchises, such as Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean--and to riff off these examples, it seems possible that we might get retroactive sets for the LotR movies if we got Hobbit sets).

On the *other* hand, Lego has a lot of licensed themes in the mix, so it's hard to say if they would pick The Hobbit, specifically, to be one of the next--and, honestly, the only way to know is to wait and get an announcement.

Re: An Email to Lego

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:47 am
by BTappel
Kev wrote:Well my mistake then. But the point remains that the Hobbit is for younger folk, book and movie. Considering that it doesn't have the extended scenes of violence that LOTR has, I could definitely see Lego licensing it.
I agree that they could do Hobbit sets instead of LOTR, and that would be more geared toward children if LEGO followed the books. However, LEGO could hypothetically take any violent theme and make it into sets that are G rated. The recent announcement of superheros for instance. Superhero comics are extremely graphic, but LEGO made sets of those. I think a combination of LOTR and Hobbit sets will be coming, or just LOTR alone. LOTR sets would certainly have a greater longevity than Hobbit sets, as there are 3 books instead of 1.

Re: An Email to Lego

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:19 am
by Lego Stu
The point here may be that the reply was ambiguous enough to say nothing. As for TLG being willing to use a theme with violence, I'd like to point out that Pirates of the Caribean III opens with folks marching to the gallows, including a kid. Pretty dark stuff. I would love to see LOTR as an official theme, I remember making a Gandalf fig in the late 80s.

Re: An Email to Lego

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:59 pm
by Coatsy
For Lego to get a license for "The Hobbit" makes so much sense. I hope it happens!

Re: An Email to Lego

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:41 am
by Heir of Black Falcon
Two thoughts.

One is that the 2012 Kingdom set is worth at least two or three smaller sets. Perhaps in part because what looks like a return of the venerable (and best) of castle factions, the Black Falcons!

As well it seems they do not release the kingdom sets till mid year so we still have several months or more to wait. They have released some massive teaser like sets the last few years so we got the Joust. With how tight-lipped TLC has become in recent years we might not know until we see it on their website or on the shelf.

Heir