John Callen (Oin the dwarf in The Hobbit) tells us the very disappointing news that Warner Bros. won’t be taking the New Zealand-based dwarves to London for the world premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The studio declined to fly them over, citing “budgetary” considerations.

John posted the following message on his official facebook page (you should go like it if you haven’t already).

Just had the word that Warner Brothers won’t be taking the Kiwi dwarves of the Hobbit to the London premier because of “budget” considerations.Sorry to all…

That would mean that, in addition to John, Jed Brophy (Nori), Mark Hadlow (Dori), William Kircher (Bifur), Peter Hambleton (Glóin), Stephen Hunter (Bombur) and perhaps even Dean O’Gorman (Fili), would not make the trip to London unless they paid their way completely out of their own pocket.

That’s seven (more than half) of the 13 dwarves of the company of Thorin who are basically ever-presents — and key supporting cast — throughout all three films.

It seems shortsighted: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey made $1.017 billion (US) at the box office while The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug made $958.3 million (US).

Factor in recent news from New Zealand that total production costs up until March this year were around $745 million US, and one is kinda left scratching one’s head.

We are currently reaching out to Warner Bros. publicity for comment from the studio.

Update: some folks have pointed out that Warner Bros., despite its budgetary concerns, seems to be set to include cast (and maybe crew) from The Lord of the Rings films. Orlando Bloom says in the video announcement of the world premiere location and date:

We will all be there along with our incredible cast and collaborators from all six films to celebrate this epic conclusion.

We’re still waiting to hear from Warner Bros.

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