The sixth video production blog from The Hobbit has been released and you can watch it here below.

Now that filming at the Hobbiton set has wrapped director Peter Jackson and his hale and hearty cast and crew have taken the production to even more scenic locales in New Zealand, which has no shortage of gorgeous scenery. Andy Serkis, obviously returning as Gollum, is also enjoying his new job on the shoot as second unit director and gets to go up in a helicopter to film scenic footage… in 3D!

Having just hired a writer for their planned sequel to X-Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox is also moving forward with a sequel to another one of their hit summer movies, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The studio reached a deal with performance capture king Andy Serkis to reprise his role as Caesar the ape, which will see him paid a hefty seven-figure sum. Serkis is the man to see when it comes to performance capture work, having given life to characters like Gollum and Kong in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, and it’s exciting to see the man score some big paydays (he was paid well to return for The Hobbit as well).

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
Starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis, David Oyelowo, Brian Cox, Tom Felton
Release Date: August 5, 2011

Next to Star Trek the Planet of the Apes series is my favorite science-fiction and adventure film franchise by far. I can watch each one of the films, even the lesser sequels like Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and come away with something new to think of every time. Each film was a bold and heady Molotov cocktail of intriguing ideas, complex characters, pitch-black satire, and rousing adventure. With the exception of Battle, none of the films ever reached a fully optimistic conclusion, and despite some last-minute tinkering not even the ending of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes was all sunshine and relaxed laughter. The movies were all about the downfall of the human race, brought down by their own imperial arrogance and replaced in the pecking order by the highly evolved apes once treated as pets and slave labor by the ruling elite. It’s certainly one of the most influential series of films in the history of the medium, the original genre franchise, and a merchandising powerhouse years before Star Wars and Harry Potter even existed.

Even though the series reached its end in 1973 with Battle, the Apes franchise endured for decades to come; there was an ill-advised attempt to relaunch the Apes film series in 2001 with the Tim Burton-directed “reimagining” of the original Planet of the Apes and attempts to keep the Planet of the Apes thriving in live-action and animated television that never had achieved the impact of the films. Now the series is getting another shot in the arm with the long-awaited prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which approaches the legend of the Planet of the Apes from an interesting new direction.

20th Century Fox is starting to ramp up the promotional campaign for Rise of the Planet of the Apes as the movie’s August 5 release date fast approaches. Just recently the studio released a pair of television spots and new domestic and international trailers. If you’ve seen any of the previously released trailers, you won’t find much new in these videos. The international trailer probably contains some extra shots, but I’ve seen it all before. You can watch the new videos and trailers here below.

Still, I love the look of the film so far. The CGI motion-capture on the apes looks amazing to the point where even in their brief appearances you feel a great deal of sympathy for them, especially in the lead performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar. But with the exception of John Lithgow, the human actors don’t fare as well in these trailers. I hope it’s just a case of the promo materials holding back.

Director Peter Jackson has made the last major casting announcement for his t adaptation of The Hobbit, and one of the new announcements is causing a bit of a stir.

Jackson announced that LOST star Evangeline Lilly has been cast as Tauriel, a Woodland Elf whose name means “daughter of Mirkwood.” Jackson shares his excitement in Lilly being the one who will “bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life,” but says the character is a new one, leading many to wonder why the director would add a new character to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s classic tale.