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January 20, 2003 - January 26, 2003

News for Jan. 26, 2003

More Info On LOTR Themed Planes

1/26/03, 11:55 pm EST - Xoanon

Sandra sends along more information she learned from myplanet.com regarding the two Air New Zealand planes dolled up with LOTR images on them: The picture weighs more than 60 kilograms and that it is made out of 300 separate pieces. Also interesting enough they are making a new version, which will feature pictures from Return of the King.

Radio Watch: Andy Serkis On NPR

1/26/03, 11:46 pm EST - Xoanon

Pippin's Scarf writes: There was a 4 minute segment about Andy Serkis on Marketplace. Follow the link, click on the January 24th's 8:50 am update. The segment starts at 4:36. [More]

'Lord of the Rings' star takes cyberspace crown, too

1/26/03, 11:41 pm EST - Xoanon

Viggo Mortensen is winning many fans in his portrayal of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Mortensen, who is also a jazz musician, poet and artist, has appeared in nearly 40 films. [More]

IMDB Lists TTT As Second Best Movie

1/26/03, 4:28 pm EST - leo

IMDb.com currently has 'The Two Towers' ranked second on their top 250 movies of all time-list; not because a lot of people voted for it but because a lot of people gave it a good grade. The number one spot is for 'The Godfather' and 'The Fellowship of the Ring' is currently at number 7. Check out the entire list here! Thanx to Morog for the heads up!

Massive Attack

1/26/03, 4:24 pm EST - Arathorn

From last weekend's Sunday Times Culture supplement, here's yet another article all about MASSIVE - the artificial intelligent crowd scene generation software used by Weta Digital on the films. Whilst most of it's regurgitation of the excellent video documentaries on the Official Site, there are a few new snippets to be garnered. [More]

Korean LOTR Book news

1/26/03, 2:44 pm EST - Arathorn

Thanks to Lee Loorien of the Lord Of The Rings Lab, we have some interesting news from back in November regarding the the Fourth Korean version of the books. Of special interest is the effort made by the translators to take the Old English etymology of Tolkien's place- and people-names - and reconstruct them out of equivalent Ancient Korean elements, with the intention of preserving the same fundamental relative cultural meaning. [More] Updated! with some great photos of the books in question.

Sean Bean to Hand Out Awards

1/26/03, 12:49 pm EST - leo

Caz writes: Just to let you those English Bean fans out there know, Sean will be handing out a few awards at The South Bank Show Awards on ITV1 tonight (sundaynight) from 10:45pm to 12:00am. Be sure to catch it if you can!

Why Can't They Just Lose The Ring In The Sink?

1/26/03, 12:45 pm EST - leo

The Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry wrote up a column about LOTR today insinuating that The Two Towers was too difficult to follow for him (or maybe he meant to say something else and I missed that point), so he wrote up a simplified screenplay which I found quite funny! [More]

FOTR Most Popular Movie At Box Office Mojo

1/26/03, 12:45 pm EST - Strider

Brandon Gray
BoxOfficeMojo.com

The Fellowship of the Ring was by far the most popular movie at Box Office Mojo in 2002, making up a whopping 15.7% of all the traffic to the movie pages. It handily beat Attack of the Clones (9.0%) and Spider-Man (8.8%). The Two Towers ranked fourth at 3.5% despite only having two weeks of playtime, compared to the full year for 'Fellowship and about eight months each for 'Clones and Spidey'. [More]

Box Office: Republic Of Ireland

1/26/03, 12:24 pm EST - Strider

Just a little note for all Irish Ringers that The Two Towers was number one in the Irish Box Office as of the 10th of January according to The Irish Independant, and grossed an extremely respectable €451,381 in that week - over 300 thousand more than second-placed Sweet Home Alabama.

New Cartoon!

1/26/03, 12:07 pm EST - leo

The people over at community-site TheFellowship.nl have a new cartoon online! You can check it out here!

News for Jan. 25, 2003

SOLD OUT!

1/25/03, 7:22 pm EST - Calisuri

Just a small, insignificant update as far as the 'Two Towers - One Party' goes...we are SOLD OUT! Those of you who have tickets, can now rejoice, those of you without them...do not fear quite yet. We are reviewing all of the orders and should know if we are completely maxed out in a few days. If more tickets are available, we will make an announcement on the frontpage.

Report from Viggo and Karl signing

1/25/03, 7:02 pm EST - Calisuri

Ringer Helena sends this report from her trials and tribulations at the 'Stage One' appearance of Viggo Mortenson and Karl Urban. [More]

News for Jan. 24, 2003

More Pictures From Japan

1/24/03, 5:06 pm EST - Xoanon

The official LOTR site in Japan posted these images recently. Take a look! [More]

Sean Astin To Attend Sundance Award Show

1/24/03, 2:27 pm EST - Xoanon

Our friends at SeanAstin.com write: Sean Astin will be attending the awards ceremonies at Sundance, Saturday night the 25th of January. [More]

Arwen And Aragorn NZAir Plane Pictures!

1/24/03, 1:54 pm EST - Xoanon

Toymainia has posted some images of the new NZ Air 'Arwen and Aragorn' plane. Take a look! [More]

Andy Serkis At Arclight Cinemas This Weekend!

1/24/03, 1:47 pm EST - Xoanon

On Saturday, Andy Serkis will introduce the 8pm showing of LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, and will participate in a Q&A immediately following. [More]

Media Watch: Yugoslav's 'Huper' Magazine

1/24/03, 1:44 pm EST - Xoanon

Eärendil The Mariner writes: A Belgrade magazine called "HUPER" published a huge Legolas poster with the TTT logo! It is the well known picture of Legolas on his horse, wearing Rohan armour, with a bloody sword in his hand, it's printed on high-quality paper and definitely a must-have for the fans.

'No Blood For Oil' Shirt In Asia

1/24/03, 1:39 pm EST - Xoanon

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) and Karl Urban (Eomer) are currently in Japan promoting TTT, Viggo has once again donned his 'No Blood For Oil' shirt at the press confrence. Felipe sends the image. [More]

Liv Set To Wed In Leeds

1/24/03, 1:30 pm EST - Xoanon

Actress Liv Tyler has turned her back on a Hollywood wedding - to get married in Yorkshire instead. The Lord of the Rings star is set to tie the knot in Headingley, Leeds. Her rock star fiance Royston Langdon, who fronts Spacehog, is from the area. [More]

TTT Region 4 & 2 DVD Release Date Announced?

1/24/03, 1:28 pm EST - Xoanon

Tom from dvdanswers.com writes: The official date for TTT theatrical cut DVD in region 4 (Australia) is apparently set at August 5th. Seems that a lot of distributors are giving out massively different dates as the region 2 official releasedate is the 30th June......2 months difference seems way too much seeing as the Fellowship discs were released at pretty much the same time last year.

GAMING: Decipher Dives Into The Deep

1/24/03, 1:25 pm EST - Xoanon

Arhat writes: Decipher.com has started posting cards from the upcoming Battle of Helms Deep set. The second set in the TTT block. [More] [Gaming Havens]

Support Your Local Stoor

1/24/03, 1:18 pm EST - Xoanon

Thorbjørn writes: Yet another poll at The Internet Movie Database. The question is: "Should the Academy Awards consider Andy Serkis for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of Gollum in The Two Towers?" It requires registration to vote, but it's free of charge and spam. [More]

Tolkien for Tourists

1/24/03, 1:15 pm EST - Xoanon

Guide books to South Africa tend to describe Bloemfontein, a city of 500,000 people, as being the kind of place where you can buy a cup of coffee on your way somewhere else. Fast. [More]

Second `The Lord of the Rings' Themed Aircraft Takes Flight

1/24/03, 1:10 pm EST - Xoanon

Air New Zealand will unveil Friday the second of its The Lord of the Rings themed flying billboards -- a Boeing 767-300 depicting the epic love story of key film characters "Aragorn" and "Arwen." The aircraft shows the characters, played by Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler, set against the stunning backdrop of the Remarkables mountain range near Queenstown, New Zealand. [More]

AOL Moviegoer Noms Announced!

1/24/03, 1:05 pm EST - Xoanon

Larry W writes: AOL is taking nominations for the annual AOL Moviegoer Awards. Categories include: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Hottest Kiss, Most Unforgetable Scene, Best Line, and Best Song. They have a predetermined list of potential nominees, but write-in nominations are also allowed. The Two Towers seems to have candidates in most categories, but Gollum's Song is NOT on the nomination list! [More]

More Dourif News

1/24/03, 1:02 pm EST - Xoanon

Luineannuniel writes: Brad Dourif (Wormtounge will be a guest at Ring*con in Washington. Ring*Con will be held on February 21,22, 23, 2003 at Gig Harbor, (near Seattle & Tacoma).

Up Close With Wormtounge

1/24/03, 12:56 pm EST - Xoanon

Jeannie sends along her picture with Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) at the Collector Expo in California. [More]

News for Jan. 23, 2003

WETA's Schleifer To Speak At University of Teesside

1/23/03, 9:20 pm EST - Xoanon

Jason Schleifer of WETA Digital will be giving a talk about creating the films at University of Teesside in the UK. It is on 31st January and tickets are available on the website. [More]

LA Tolkien Toast Pictures

1/23/03, 4:54 pm EST - Xoanon

Ringer Spy Rebecca sends along these pictures from the Tolkien Toast pictures from LA. Take a look! [More]

SHOP: Be My LOTR Valentine?

1/23/03, 4:38 pm EST - Xoanon

Ringer Spy Sydney sends along these scans of the LOTR Themed Valentines cards... [More] [Shop]

TTT 'Golden Eddie' Nomination!

1/23/03, 12:53 pm EST - Xoanon

From The Hollywood Reporter: American Cinema Editors president Tina Hirsch on Wednesday announced a broad range of film, television and documentary projects that made the list of nominees for best editing in the 2003 ACE Eddie Awards. 20th Century Fox's "Minority Report," New Line's "About Schmidt" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and Miramax's "Gangs of New York" and "The Hours" made the cut for best edited dramatic feature film.

TTT Premiere: Russia

1/23/03, 12:50 pm EST - Xoanon

Yegor writes in to tell us that the Russian TTT premiere is today!

Andy Serkis Video Online

1/23/03, 12:48 pm EST - Xoanon

Denis writes: Here is the link to Canada AM and on the site you can click on the video for the entire Andy serkis (Gollum) interview. There are some cool behind the scenes shots as well. (Windows Media Needed) [More]

John Howe Website News

1/23/03, 12:46 pm EST - Xoanon

The John Howe Website has sent us a whole stack of news items from the comings and goings of my favorite watch-wearing Tolkien artist, John Howe. [More]

TTT Premiere: Ukraine

1/23/03, 12:35 pm EST - Xoanon

Jamie writes: Today (January 23rd), the country of Ukraine will see the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

More On Voting For The BAFTAS...

1/23/03, 6:55 am EST - leo

Okay, so it is still not clear to everyone. I will explain it again: everyone with a mobile phone number is able to vote for The Two Towers as 'Orange Film of the Year'. It does not matter whether you are from the US, Holland or for all I care Zimbabwe, everyone with a mobile number can enter. The terms and conditions mentioned on the website (Orange.co.uk) only apply when it comes to entering with the chance to win a ticket to the BAFTAS (you have to be over 18, live in the UK etc etc), so everyone from all over the world can vote for TTT by just entering their mobile number but only people from the UK who are over 18 can enter to win a ticket to the BAFTAS. This is however not really important since we all want TTT to win this award, so go out and vote!

Serkis.com Updates

1/23/03, 4:06 am EST - Demosthenes

The guys over at Andy Serkis's website dropped us a line to let us know he has a couple of events coming up over the next week. [More]

Tolkien Artists: The Brothers Hildebrandt

1/23/03, 2:12 am EST - Tehanu

Here's a report from Lonestarr, who went to the Bros Hildebrandt exhibition in Santa Monica [More]

Te Papa LOTR Exhibition; Elven Cloaks Online

1/23/03, 2:02 am EST - Tehanu

We've heard from Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, that their incredible exhibition of LOTR props will be travelling to London, Boston, Singapore and Sydney as well. Other news from Te Papa: their website now shows those amazing Elven cloaks, scarves and throws woven in the same fabric as was used for the film. [More]

News for Jan. 22, 2003

Vote For TTT As 'Film Of The Year'!

1/22/03, 5:08 pm EST - leo

The BAFTAS (the English equivalent of the Oscars) are rapidly approaching and one of their categories is 'The Orange Film of the Year'-award. The great thing about this award is that we, the fans, can vote for which film will win this award and (of course) The Two Towers is nominated! There are only nine days left to vote so make sure TTT actually picks up this award and head over to Orange.co.uk to cast your vote and maybe even win a ticket to attend the BAFTAS!

(Several people have emailed me saying that voting is only possible for UK-residents, this is however not true since I tried to vote and it all worked for me and I am as Dutch as they come... -leo)

Understanding Tolkien and LOTR

1/22/03, 2:34 pm EST - Tehanu

Michael Drout - editor of the recently-discovered Tolkien translation of Beowulf - is giving a talk tonight to speak tonight "Understanding Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings" at the Boston Centre for Adult Education. [More] Thanks to Hadley.

UK News: Animex

1/22/03, 2:20 pm EST - Tehanu

At University of Teesside in the UK, Middlesbrough, Jason Schleifer of WETA Digital will be giving a talk about creating the films, especially how they created Gollum. It is on 31st January and tickets are available website here Thanks to Samena for the link.

United Cutlery to expand range?

1/22/03, 1:59 pm EST - Tehanu

The people who make the full-size LOTR sword replicas are looking to expand their range to include staffs, helmets, crowns, bows etc. The site is here - click on 'Breaking News.' Thanks to Ranger of Dunland for the link.

Emerald Rose Selected to perform at Post - Oscar "Lord of the Rings" Party

1/22/03, 1:00 pm EST - Xoanon

North Georgia band featured by Tolkien fans at Hollywood Gala Event. Celtic folk-rockers Emerald Rose will be featured performers at the upcoming post-Oscar event to be held in honor of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" director, cast and crew. Tolkien fans from the internet web site www.TheOneRing.net will be hosting "Two Towers: One Party", in honor of the success of the latest movie in the popular series. [More]

Two Towers breaks Italian opening record

1/22/03, 12:57 pm EST - Xoanon

New Line International's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers scored the biggest bow of all time in Italy over the weekend as it opened on a staggering $9.4m. The second instalment of Peter Jackson's J R R Tolkien adaptation averaged $11,773 from 800 screens after opening on Jan 17, a Friday. The amount is roughly 19% higher than the opening weekend for The Fellowship Of The Ring. [More]

Lord Of The Bookshelves

1/22/03, 12:55 pm EST - Xoanon

"This tale grew in the telling." When John Ronald Reuel Tolkien began his foreword to The Lord of the Rings with that phrase, he meant, naturally, the thousand pages of his masterwork. And even at that length LOTR could barely contain the author's intricately detailed Middle Earth -- replete with the complicated histories of hobbits, elves, orcs, dwarfs, ents and men. [More]

Foxtrot Goes Geek

1/22/03, 12:51 pm EST - Xoanon

Or should I say 'geekier'?, take a look at D&D...LOTR style. [More]

Adults, teens talk Tolkien

1/22/03, 12:49 pm EST - Xoanon

Fantasy fans taste elfin cuisine at Bartonville lecture. Linda Lowery says she knows J.R.R. Tolkien. Not just the author’s life, but his "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy of books, the movies adapted from them and the characters described in each. [More]

Jackson, Taylor & Selkirk Buy Cinema

1/22/03, 12:45 pm EST - Xoanon

The NZ Dominion Post has an article detailing the purchase of a cinema complex in Miramar, NZ. Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk bought the place recently, click for more details. [More]

New TTT (or ROTK) Picture Online

1/22/03, 12:39 pm EST - Xoanon

Bonnie sends in this picture from the February issue of Roadshow Magazine from Japan, it shows Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Bruce Hopkins (Gamling), Bernard Hill (Theoden), Karl Urban (Eomer) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) on horseback. Take a look! [More]

Ngila Nabs A Costumers Guild Nomination!

1/22/03, 12:31 pm EST - Xoanon

Pippin's Scarf writes: Ngila Dickson has been nominated for her costume work for TTT. [More]

TTT Premiere: India

1/22/03, 12:28 pm EST - Xoanon

Kunal Joshi writes: Despite the recent flurry of movies such as Spiderman, Harry Potter 2 which have made it to India within a month of their US release, it appears that TTT will arrive only sometime in Mid-March. I got this information from the Warner Bros. India office.

News for Jan. 21, 2003

PJ Gets DGA Nomination!

1/21/03, 4:07 pm EST - Xoanon

From IMDB: Oscar hopes continued to shine bright for Golden Globe winners Chicago and The Hours as the directors for both those films – Rob Marshall and Stephen Daldry, respectively – were nominated today for this year's Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film; it was the first DGA nomination for both directors. Previous DGA nominees Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Roman Polanski (The Pianist) and Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York) – none of whom have ever won.

Craft Corner: Frodo Doll.

1/21/03, 4:03 pm EST - Tehanu

"Kementari" shows how easy it is to make a cloth Hobbit doll. Crafty people could build on this simple idea to make some adorable presents to corrupt, uh, I mean, to give to young relations. [More] Thanks to Mel for the link

Resisting the lure of the Playstation2

1/21/03, 4:02 pm EST - Xoanon

Nick Georgandis writes: As anyone who's ever met me will tell you, the similarities between The Lord of the Rings' Aragorn (played by actor Viggo Mortensen) and myself are fairly obvious. With my rugged, brooding good looks, equal talent on horseback or with sword in hand, and my penchant for having Elvish princess Liv Tyler constantly swooning in my wake, it's easy to see how the two of us can be confused. [More]

The Must-See LOTR Cast Projects Of 2003: Part Two

1/21/03, 2:06 pm EST - Strider

Yesterday I listed the first half of my ten personal highlights of the upcoming movie year that involve cast members of The Lord of the Rings. If you found the list even vaguely interesting, read on for what will hopefully be five more of the most successful films of 2003. [More]

VARIETY: 'Towers' powers past $400 million

1/21/03, 12:49 pm EST - Xoanon

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" passed $400 million internationally and registered Italy's biggest opening weekend ever while rapper Eminem found his voice with stellar debuts for "8 Mile" in the U.K., Oz, Mexico and smaller territories. The Italian preem for "Two Towers" returned $9.1 million in four days in an otherwise soft market where the Warners co-produced local comedy "Ma che colpe abbiamo noi" is the only other fresh title. [More]

Gollum At The Golden Globes

1/21/03, 12:43 pm EST - Xoanon

Cat sends in this very funny photoshopped picture of Lara Flynn Boyle at the Golden Globes. Somehow Gollum looks better in this dress don't you think? [More]

The Long And Short Of It Online

1/21/03, 12:29 pm EST - Xoanon

PippinsSunshine writes: Here is a link to Sean Astin's short film that all the cast/crew was involved in during shooting of LOTR. It's almost 6 minutes long, but very well worth it! Be sure you watch through all the credits. You can download it full screen or you can view it high/low speed with Windows Media 8 or 9. [More]


(Here's hoping it doesn't get 'TORned', it's a great little piece Sean! -Xo)

TV Watch: Canada AM Talks To Andy Serkis

1/21/03, 12:16 pm EST - Xoanon

Seredic Tussock writes: "Canada AM" will be talking to Andy Serkis on Wednesday January 22nd: A computer-generated movie character is creating a Hollywood controversy. The character called Gollum steals the show in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; so much so that some people are pushing for the actor behind the computer image the get an Oscar nomination. We talk to Andy Serkis.

Viggo's 'Hidalgo' News

1/21/03, 12:13 pm EST - Xoanon

Filmjerk.com has some interesting news regarding Viggo Mortensen's latest film 'Hidalgo'. Take a look at all the latest. [More]

Dourif At 'Collectors & Celeb' Show Report

1/21/03, 12:03 pm EST - Xoanon

Deb writes: Brad Dourif (Wormtounge) was at the Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show this past weekend (Jan 18-19) at Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn in Studio City, CA. signing autographs. [More]


Anyone with pictures of Brad at the event? Send them along!

Off with the pixies

1/21/03, 11:50 am EST - Xoanon

Overseas tourists are trying to book trips to Middle Earth without realising the destination is fictional, a holiday website has found. Places featured in the Lord of the Rings book trilogy and two films directed by New Zealand's Peter Jackson, such as Mordor and Rivendell, have become popular holiday search terms on internet search site Yahoo Travel, staff at the site say. [More]

A Fan's -Eye View of NZ

1/21/03, 6:46 am EST - Tehanu

Ringer Spy Lee went to New Zealand recently on what was meant to be a non-LOTR-centred tour...but hey, LOTR stuff was just everywhere, and too good to pass up. Read more on the stunt horses, the Ringmaker, flying ....[More]

Any Harry Potter Fans Out There?

1/21/03, 6:10 am EST - Tehanu

Kind of off-topic, but we know plenty of HP fans read this page, and you'll want to know that the publication date for the next HP book is announced on the publisher's page at BloomsburyMagazine Thanks to Pantalaimon for the heads-up.

More Name Generators

1/21/03, 6:00 am EST - Tehanu

Mentioning the Hobbit Name Generator brought up the Barrow-Downs site, that can give you your name in Elvish, Orcish and Dwarvish as well, according to Melissa. [More]

Cast Watch: Sean Astin on E! and KansasCityStar

1/21/03, 5:43 am EST - Tehanu

Seems that everyone who ever worked with Sean Astin can't find enough good things to say about him. "We tried to put as much of Sean into Sam as we could. Because really, Sean is Sam." Cynthia sends this nice article on him from the KCS / Orlando Sentinel. [More] Also E!Online Multimedia has a videoclip interview with Sean here - thanks to Nash for the link.

TTT tops US$300mil

1/21/03, 5:37 am EST - Tehanu

The list at boxofficemojo.com estimates that TTT topped US$300M at the domestic box office on Monday. [More] TTT has gotten in 6 weeks to the point that took FOTR 15 weeks to reach. Next milestone... passing FOTR's total box office take at $313M. Thanks to Ian for that.

News for Jan. 20, 2003

The Tragic Flipside

1/20/03, 8:42 pm EST - Xoanon

Cass Avery writes: When you tell people that Lonely Planet has just rated New Zealand the top travel destination for this year you can see the time lapse as their synapses struggle to cross the credibility gap. I mean I know it's a great wee place and all but, really, ya must be jokin'. [More]

Acting Through Pixels

1/20/03, 8:39 pm EST - Xoanon

We're all familiar with the awards acceptance speech cliché "I want to thank all the little people that made this possible." But with Gollum, Dobby and Yoda all turning in groundbreaking performances in 2002, who's to thank when the little people are up for the awards? [More]

UK Sunday Mail Eowyn & Theoden Images

1/20/03, 6:55 pm EST - Xoanon

We posted these images a while ago, however we have now managed to get our little hands on a great Hi-Rez scan of the Eowyn and Theoden images from the UK Sunday Mail. I zoomed in on each of them to give you a better look at the details of their costumes! [More]

SHOP: Stone Trolls on Pre-Order

1/20/03, 4:53 pm EST - Calisuri

Stone TrollsPartial to a little Hobbit history? Sideshow/Weta Collectibles has just placed their Stone Troll Environment on pre-order. It is limited to 750 pieces worldwide and each is individually hand numbered. Check it out! [More]

SuperBowl goes LOTR

1/20/03, 3:34 pm EST - Calisuri

Thanks to the various Tampa Bay Buccaneer (American) football fans who sent us the following link. Tampa Bay will be fighting to become 'The Lords of the Ring' this sunday at Superbowl XXXVII. Check out this highly creative flash animation at the official Tampa Bay website. [More] (PS - While I wasn't cheering for any particular team, this my lure me to the Bucs side - Calisuri)

The Must-See LOTR Cast Projects Of 2003: Part One

1/20/03, 2:38 pm EST - Strider

With the incredible success of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, many members of The Lord of the Rings cast have sensibly used their appearances in Peter Jackson's epic as a springboard for their movie careers. This year will see the actors and actresses we know and love so well as characters of Middle-earth appear in places such as Australia and Mexico as many of the LotR cast dabble in various genres, from action to drama to comedy. [More]

New Zealand's Middle Earth takes the cake

1/20/03, 12:56 pm EST - Xoanon

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- One of the world's largest travel publications has picked clean, green but quiet New Zealand as its top hotspot for 2003. New Zealand came out trumps after a survey of 450 Lonely Planet staffers, who were buoyed by the country's "breathtaking appearance" in the Lord of the Rings films, the group's global travel editor, Don George, said. [More]

Racist 'Rings'? Lord, no, says exec

1/20/03, 12:48 pm EST - Xoanon

'The Lord of the Rings" executive producer Mark Ordesky is lashing back at a claim that "The Two Towers" may be racially insensitive. [More]

Box Office Reports: Italy

1/20/03, 12:46 pm EST - Xoanon

Rudy sends in word from Italy that TTT has broken the Italian box office records held since 1994, it raked in 7.233.506 euro.

Boyfriends Of The Week: Billy & Dom

1/20/03, 12:36 pm EST - Xoanon

Jennifer writes: A long running site, "Meg's Boyfriend of the Week" has Merry and Pippin up as this week's feature. [More]

More Info On UK's 'Hobbit' Stageplay

1/20/03, 12:32 pm EST - Xoanon

Claire writes: Interesting to read Catherine's review of "The Hobbit" stage play in Liverpool (here). British fans haven't missed it altogether as it's on tour. Details of the tour are available here. [More]

Cate Blanchett At The Golden Globes

1/20/03, 12:13 pm EST - Xoanon

Yes...we didn't win, however that doesn't mean we don't have to report about it! Sean Astin (Sam) wasn't the only LOTR allum at the awards show last night. Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) arrived with U2's Bono and was a presenter for Best Foreign Language film. Take a look at all the pics! [More]

Return Of The King....'nuff Said

1/20/03, 10:30 am EST - Xoanon

Many people have been sending us this image from the calendar live website. Take a look! !!Spoilers!! [More]

Japan News: Fan Power Triumphs

1/20/03, 5:55 am EST - Tehanu

Now they're REALLY listening to the fans over there, and getting their input into the translations. And in further news, Viggo is going to Japan on Jan 22 for a booksigning. [More]

Cheer Up.

1/20/03, 5:44 am EST - Tehanu

So TTT didn't win. That's kind of depressing. Go have some fun on PVP's cartoon for Sunday 19th, or check out what your hobbit name is on the Hobbit Name Generator Thanks to Carl and Brian for those. And Neutron reports that the ROTK Clockdown has been announced. It will go up January 22nd. So we can all start moving forward.....


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