Sir Ian Mckellan said that the Hobbit will wrap in July which has me wondering: does anyone else have a sense that it is quiet, too quiet? Not that I'm looking forward to more Hobbit Diaries than we've been treated to already. But with the recent news that we can pre-order Hobbit action figures -- news that came without pictures -- as well as the (now settled) licencing spat (more like shot across the bow) concerning "The Hobbit" Pub, is there a sense that amidst the relative quiet, preparations are beginning for the coming marketing storm?PIPPIN: There’s no more stars! Is it time?
GANDALF: Yes.
PIPPIN: It’s so quiet.
GANDALF: It’s the deep breath before the plunge.
LOTR set a pattern for marketing to the nerd demographic. We have seen it play out with many franchises since. If you haven't noticed yet, all manner of items (key chains, action figures, box sets of the books, reprints of the books in varying degrees of magnificence (and price), new books on the philosophy growing out of the story, board games, puzzles, et al) are already available for the next big movie franchise, The Hunger Games. It's as if the marketers are sure people are going to be interested in owning such things.
But that is not the point of this discussion. What I am wondering is do you think things are being made deliberately quiet around the Hobbit Production so as to create a hunger for the films and merch; or that they are just too busy trying to get "that thing" in the can to bother with its profile right now? Or do you think it's not any more quiet now than it's been all along, just that interest is waning, in part due to the over saturation we've experienced already?
... additional theories welcome.
