Amidst all the controversy surrounding The Hobbit High Frame Rate in 3D and decision to expand to a full-length trilogy, Peter Jackson and his team could not have seen this one coming. A report from the AP says that animal wranglers who worked on the movies claim that up to 27 animals died during the course of filming the trilogy. Jackson’s team is refuting the argument by saying that “no animals were harmed on set” and the American Humane Association, the organization which oversees animal welfare on film sets, confirms this claim, although they added that they don’t have the “jurisdiction or funding to extend that oversight to activities or conditions off set.”

A spokesman for Jackson said that while no animals were harmed on the set, there were two horses that died outside of production and that those deaths were avoidable. The spokesman said the that the production company moved quickly to improve conditions after the death of the horses and that the other animals’ deaths were from natural causes.

The animals were reportedly housed at a farm located 186 miles from the main film set and 26 miles from the soundstage that the animal wranglers claim was filled with bluffs, sinkholes, and other “death traps.”

In one month’s time audiences around the world will be taking a return trip to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Middle-Earth via the comfort of a plush theater seat for the first time in nearly a decade when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the opening chapter of Peter Jackson‘s eagerly-anticipated three-part adaptation of the 1937 classic fantasy-adventure Tolkien tome that would serve as the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, hits cinema screens from Oregon to Oslo. To bring this heroic endeavor to life on the big screen Jackson recruited nearly every integral member of the cast and crew that together made the LoTR trilogy the epic achievement in genre filmmaking it almost wasn’t, most prominently composer Howard Shore, who won Academy Awards for his vibrant and awe-inspiring orchestral scores to The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King.

Fans of Jackson and Shore’s previous collaborations were wondering how their latest musical jaunt through the land of wizards and monsters would sound, and most importantly how much of Shore’s compositions for the Lord of the Rings movies would be utilized for the Hobbit trilogy. They can rest easy because the score for An Unexpected Journey, which won’t be available for sale until the Tuesday prior to the movie’s opening, is now streaming for free in full online.

Oooohh! I am SO excited to announce this contest!

Our good friends over at WETA Workshop “” those dream engineers behind so much of the great movie imagery of the last two dozen years “” have given us the opportunity to bestow our readers with three of their amazingly detailed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey art prints direct from their New Zealand workshop.

We’re not giving away three copies of one print, we’re giving away one copy of three DIFFERENT prints; An Unexpected Journey art print by Gus Hunter, Thorin’s Map parchment art print by Daniel Reeve, and Floor Plan of Bag End parchment art print by Daniel Reeve. So when you submit your entry, we ask that you please note which print you desire most.

AND, unlike many of our contests, for this giveaway the folks at WETA have made it possible for us to accept entries from everyone, everywhere! That’s right, it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do it, but this contest is open to all citizens of the planet Earth “” WORLD WIDE, baby!

One (1) winner will receive:

• One (1) copy of An Unexpected Journey Art Print
  by Gus Hunter

One (1) winner will receive:

• One (1) copy of Thorin’s Map Parchment Art Print
  by Daniel Reeve

One (1) winner will receive:

• One (1) copy of Floor Plan of Bag End Parchment Art Print
  by Daniel Reeve

In one of the more unexpected announcements, it’s been revealed that Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, will have a cameo at some point in director Peter Jackson‘s upcoming trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit.

Colbert is a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien’s work as a whole, and he was even invited to the set in New Zealand to visit and check out 25 minutes from the movie. It appears this visit is what turned into the cameo appearance.

TFAW has a pre-order deal on the Hobbit Gollum Mini-Bust for only $50.00 (that’s 23% off the list price of $65.00). The figure will be released on March 27, 2013.

But to grab the Hobbit Gollum Mini-Bust at a discount, you have to pre-order it today, Tuesday, October 9, 2012, before 11:59pm PST while supplies last.