A Ringer Spy writes: It's official - we have finally had our last day of filming on Saturday. We were still lined up with the (CG) Grond waiting to Highlight to read! bust down the doors on Minas Tirith, and had to chant "Grond, grond, grond" over and over (which will be replaced with the recording from the stadium during a rugby match, of around 25,000 voices). We started doing crew names in our chant, then to finish, did the haka.

Anne writes: I was on a forum a couple of minutes ago, when a guy posted that the extended versions of FOTR and TTT would be released in France at UGC and Pathe Gaumont cinemas, to be followed by the LOTR marathon on December 16 (FOTR 13:00, TTT 17:00, ROTR 21:00).

Becky sends along this image of herself and Billy Boyd (Pippin) at the London Expo from this past weekend. [More]

Did you attend? If so, send us your images!

The October 20th issue of Weekly Variety will feature a look at Ian McKellen (Gandalf), who was recently named UK Personality of the Year by the magazine! [More]

Ruby writes: I just read in the Montreal newspaper «La Presse», that some theater in Quebec will show Tuesday Trilogy. The 5th to 11th December, it will be FOTR and from the 11th to 16th it will be TTT.

Xoanon here, it MAY be safe to assume these dates are the same all over Canada. I will work on confirming that info for you this week. Also, if you are interested in joining a marathon screening on December 17th in Montreal, click here!

Astin As Keynote Speaker at Generations United Conference in DC

Astin in DC

TeaBee writes: Sean Astin signed autographs and photos after his speech at Generations United on Saturday afternoon. Each person in line was allowed a few personal moments to talk with him and get autographs. When you talk with him, he is very attentive and you feel like you are the only person in the room. I've met many celebrites, and he's easily the nicest. I highly recommend meeting him if you ever have the chance!

Queron writes: Just a quick note to those Tolkein fans in Canada's Atlantic Provinces. Theatre New Brunswick, the province's touring company, is now travelling with The Hobbit. [More]

Australia's most famous elf returns to his roots, Colin Rose writes. Will humankind survive? The final instalments of the two biggest serial movies of recent years are almost here - man v machine in The Matrix Revolutions and man v, well, an army of really nasty looking monsters in The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King. [More]

Anya writes: At Rob McIntosh in Pointe-Claire, Quebec they are selling LOTR goblets. My mother saw them and she said they were just beautiful. [More]

Spoiler-free fans beware! The brand new LOTR Trivial Pursuit is full of spoilers from the upcoming Return of the King film. Some fans have sent in a few of the questions for your spoiling pleasure. !!! MAJOR SPOILERS!!! [More]

tmn writes: "After reading that the LOTR bookends may be available now at Borders, I ran over there this morning and bought a pair, being determined not to miss out on these bookends again. Everyone at TheOneRing.net will be tickled over the message on the jacket cover of the book in the gift set: The cover for this Book and Bookends Gift Set edition was selected by visitors to TheOneRing.net. Thank you to the 13,500 individuals who participated. The Road Goes Ever On." Very cool!

We reported earlier in the week that the Power Issue of Entertainment Weekly mentions Peter Jackson and some other LOTR participants. We now have scans. [More]

Cricket writes in: "I was just watching 'ET on VH1' and they had a story snippet about the hobbit actors doing a photo shoot to promote ROTK. Apparently they are recreating the Beatles' famous Abby Road album cover in the shoot. The show will be on again today multiple times on both VH1 and MTV for anyone who wants to catch it! Check your listings!" (We're not sure if this will be repeated for Sunday, but the photo shoot sounds cool.)

David writes: Hey everyone, I was just on EA's website looking at the upcoming RotK game, and I saw there's a new trailer for the game. It looks incredible! There's a widescreen and a full screen version. [More]

Chipwyn writes: "I work for a Waldenbooks in Maryland and I wanted to let y'all know that we got our shipment of the Bilbo/Gandalf bookends set (complete with single vol LOTR with TORn survey selected cover art) on Fri Oct 17. I noticed today that the local Borders also had a few sets available. So this is well in advance of the November release date listed on the HoughtonMifflin website. I can say that these are beautiful, well-crafted bookends and that we TORn fans selected a very appropriate cover! Well worth the price!"

Ruth writes: "On Canada's STAR! network today (Oct. 18) on the show 'Star! At the Movies' they showed the ROTK trailer. It's right at the end but it's cool to see it on your own TV. Thought you might like to know."

TORn friend Irascian reports: The BBC’s 13 hour radio dramatization of “The Lord of the Rings”, adapted by Brian Sibley and starring Ian Holm as Frodo, has just been reissued in a special “Ring” tinned “Collector’s Edition.” [More]

Richard writes: It's voting time again! Back in April, the BBC asked the public to name the UK's favourite books. From a list of 100 comes the top 21 and LOTR is in there. [More]

Thanks to everyone for writing in!

While there aren't yet any details on Trilogy Tuesday in Canada, there is an event in Toronto which will feature all three films on Dec. 17th. 'The Gathering of the Fellowship' will present the trio of films as the highlight of a three-day conference, complete with panels, special guests, banquets, and more. To catch up with TORn folks attending the event, visit their group page.

Lee sent us this: The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is proud to announce its continued association with New Line Cinema as a sponsor of 2003 Teen Read Week, and the unveiling of the new Teen Read Week poster featuring "The Lord of the Rings" cast member Orlando Bloom. [More] Feast your eyes....I mean, get reading!

Kauthor writes: Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) was on E-Talk Daily on CTV last night. Even though he didn't give anything away, he did confirm that ROTK would be longer than the other two films, that it would be a lot more emotional. He quoted Peter Jackson by saying that this film was the one film he'd meant to make all along. Sir Ian also pointed out that one of the acting jobs he'd most look forward to doing in the future would be to work on none other than the Stratford stage in our beloved province of Ontario.

The guest list for the world premiere of the third part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in Wellington could rise to 2850, more than three times the number first planned. The capacity has been increased with a decision to screen The Return of the King at Reading Cinemas in Courtenay Place at the same time as it is screened at the Embassy theatre on December 1. [More]

erestor writes: Issue # 7 of "pink khaki", a sci-fi, fantasy and cinema webzine is up, featuring interviews with Mark Ferguson (Gil-Galad) and Cameron Rhodes (Farmer Maggot). There is also a "Pirates of the Caribbean" coverage and contest. A PK LOTR special is announced for later the year. [More]

Fighting orcs and goblins was the easy part of The Lord of the Rings for John Rhys-Davies. The hard part was the skin-peeling makeup he had to wear as bearded dwarf-warrior Gimli. "It just ripped my face apart to put that damn makeup on," Rhys-Davies says. "I'd lose the top layer of my skin every time. It was just miserable. It itched so much under the prosthetic -- you go insane." [More]

Today, October 18th is Howard Shore's Birthday! Howard was born on October 18th, 1946 in Toronto, Canada. That makes him 57 years old today! Happy Birthday Howard!

Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Craig Parker (Haldir) will be at the London Expo this weekend. Here's a great chance to meet them both! [More]

A small reminder to fans in the DC area, Sean Astin (Sam) will be the keynote speaker at the Generations United Confrence this weekend. Follow the link for more info. [More]

The city of Minas Tirith holds its breath waiting for news of the war, while in the Houses of Healing Eowyn rises from her bed. The concerned Warden takes her to see the Steward of the City. Faramir is soon struck by her beauty, but he also perceives that here is one greatly troubled by grief and unrest. Eowyn for her part sees in Faramir both a gentle spirit and a great warrior and slowly hope is kindled in her heart.[More]

Given the number of relationships that have started on or because of TORN, we've often toyed with the idea of starting a matchmaking service for Tolkien fans. However, TORN reader Luindil's actually gone and done it: His 'Sam Loves Rosie' site on Yahoo is a matchmaking site for Tolkien fans. Check it out! [More]

From Stuff.co.nz: The power of the ring is yet to weave its magic on Wellington hotels, with most still hanging out vacancy signs for December 1. Fans needing a lie-down after the excitement of the world premiere of the third Lord of the Rings movie in Wellington still have plenty of accommodation to choose from. [More]

It's nearly at the point where I hate typing the words "Trilogy Tuesday" in tandem (grin), BUT I know all you U.K. fans have been very patiently awaiting details on showings on your side of the Atlantic. Here is what we know so far. If you have CONCRETE information, send it here. [More]

Paul writes in with some information that will bring partial relief to Candian Ringers: "I hope I am not advertising my way out of a ticket for this, but I received the following e-mail from Empire Theatres which is the largest cinema chain in eastern Canada." [More]

Welsh-born John Rhys-Davies got his first big shot at international fame in 1980, for his scene-stealing role as a Spanish ship's captain in the TV miniseries "Shogun." The next year, he landed another juicy part, the Egyptian character Sallah in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," a role he repeated eight years later for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." [More]

Ringer Spy Elf Lady sends along this image from the latest issue of the LOTR Fanclub Magazine. It features Sam and Frodo at the Crossroads! Take a look! !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

The Sony 'Shoot for The Stars' exhibit, where photos from people like our Orlando Bloom (Legolas) are presented, has moved from Miami to Chicago's Loews House of Blues Hotel and is open for business today. For more information on the whole 'Shoot for The Stars' thingy...follow this link. [More]

Susan Thea Posnock writes: I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among many of the emails I’ve received for this column. I know it has been all fun and games up to this point, but now it’s time to get serious. Email after email describes how husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, co-workers, casual acquaintances, random strangers on the street, etc. don’t support the hobbit habit. Frankly, this kind of behavior SICKENS me. Yes, it is a real tragedy that could reach epic proportions. [More]

Eriniel writes: I received the latest LOTR newsletter from Japan Herald, the distributor of LOTR trilogy in Japan, and I found a article about "Trilogy Tuesday" Tour by a travel agency called Travel Pia. [More]

airearan writes: I spotted the Realms of Fantasy December 2003 issue yesterday. The end of the LOTR article is a tad spoilerish, especially for non-book readers (well, really very spoilerish for them). But even for us who have read the book and can't wait for the movie. !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

Elizabeth writes: I was in Mann theatres' web site just now and on their calendar is the following: December 3: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King -- Premiere -- Mann's Village Theatre in Westwood at 7:30 pm. [More]

Lately Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) has been doing the press circut unlike any other star ever before, she's everywhere these days promoting her latest film 'Veronia Guerin'. The film is in limited release today in the States. Follow the link for showtimes. [More]

Mrs. Elessar writes: Yesterday at 10am, the ticket presales for Return of the King starting on December 17th as well as for the trilogy screening on December 16th, opened in Switzerland. Many many fans lined up in front of the cinemas and those who could not come tried it on the internet (at www.kitag.com, only in German) where you can also buy your tickets. "Tried" because the website couldn't handle the hundreds of bookings at the same time and crashed down for several hours. Status today is that the Trilogy Tuesday is almost sold out, the premiere on Dec. 17th too and the following dates are selling very well. Luckily they reacted to the huge demand for the trilogy screening by adding another cinema to the list. Again, half of the tickets are sold already. Little Switzerland is going LOTR crazy!:)

Hotpinkbadger reports that over half the tickets for the Cinemark TinselTown Theater in El Paso, Texas remain unsold. Also, Line Party Leader monkeytechahoo writes: As of 13:00 on 10/16 the Carmike Wynnsong 16 theater in Mobile, AL, still has about 100 tickets left for Trilogy Tuesday. I have been checking back every other day to see how sales are going in this small Southern town. [El Paso] [Mobile]

A day after the preview of the Sideshow/Weta Collectibles 'You Shall Not Pass' wall plaque, we have some extremely hi-res images in our scrapbook. [More]

Barliman's own Figgy sends in this link to some Oscar gossip from E! Online. Not only does it make a case for Viggo Mortensen as Best Actor, "who has done the best work of his career in the Lord of the Rings trilogy," but scroll to the bottom and read some very encouraging Best Picture buzz! Wooo! [More]

Ringer Krista sends us specifics on the unabridged Tolkien audio books available for download at the iTunes store. iTunes is now available for Mac and PC. [More]

CHUD also got to see the 20-minute press-only teaser for ROTK. CHUD's verdict? "20 minutes of ROTK is better than 120 minutes of almost every other feature that's come out this year." [to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts] "Don't be stingy and make yourselves look bad to history. Just hand over all the g*****am trophies to Lord of the Rings."

Warning, this is packed with SPOILERS and strong language - but that won't stop a lot of you I know. [More] Thanks to Lee for the link!'

Aranince Adanedhel writes: The theatre I work for, Casa Mañana, is presenting "The Hobbit" from October 24-November 2. The tickets run from $11-$13, showtimes and info can be obtained from www.casamanana.org or by calling Box Office Manager Ryan Roach @ 817-332-2272 ext 134. If you could post the information on the main news page, that would be wonderful. People who call for tickets should mention that they heard about the show on TORN.

Funky_Grooves writes: Today I visited the London Science Museum to see the LOTR exhibition, when none other than Sir Ian McKellen turned up to be shown around the exhibits by (who I presume to be) the curator, and in tow was a camera crew and various production people and museum staff. [More]

Sideshow/Weta Collectibles announces a "You Shall not Pass!" wall plaque and just posted the first image of their Fell Beast and Morgul Lord Statue! The vertical wall plaque features Gandalf the Grey facing the Balrog, and unlike previous wall plaques from Sideshow/Weta, this one is fully painted. Check the news over at SideshowWeta.com. [Wall Plaque Preview] [Fell Beast Statue]

After working out a few technical glitches, we've reposted our Return of the King Trailer Survey. Feel free to make your voice heard! [More]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Movie and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer, riding high with "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," topped Entertainment Weekly's annual list of the most powerful figures in show biz. Rounding out the Top 10 of most powerful creative forces are Spielberg; Hanks; Imagine Entertainment Co-Chairmen Ron Howard and Brian Grazer; author J.K. Rowling; Oprah Winfrey; Tom Cruise; director Peter Jackson, Eminem and Nicole Kidman. [More]

LOS ANGELES - Actor John Rhys-Davies, who plays dwarf Gimli in the "The Lord of the Rings" films, has sued producers of the not-yet-released miniseries "La Femme Musketeer" for negligence after he suffered serious injuries in an on-set accident last year. [More]

From HollywoodReporter.com: Echoing Gollum's covetous cries of "My precious!" fans of "The Lord of the Rings" are competing with one another over the precious few tickets to New Line Cinema's special marathon showing of the "Rings" trilogy, scheduled for Dec. 16. [More]

Speaking for the many "rabid fans" who also contacted TORn, the "angry e-mails" weren't about not getting tickets, but about not having a *fair shot* at tickets. Misinformed theaters, changes in announced sales processes, and nearly no-limit sales (and yes, too few theaters) is what led to unhappy fans, not lack of a ticket. If it were indeed an initiative to "pay back the fans," then there seems to be little reason to restrict not only the number of theaters, but even the number of showings. What instead happens is a large number of fans unhappy on a day everyone has long looked forward to.

Melt-Banana writes: I work for *snip* and yesterday I got the opportunity to watch a friend playing The... !!!SPOILERS!!! [More]

Silmarien sends in this article from the latest edition of 'Hutt News'. It goes into some detail (mainly tounge in cheek) about Peter Jackson's adaptation of King Kong, his first post-LOTR film. [More]

Cathie writes: The TV show "Burke's Backyard" on Channel 9 in Australia will be doing a New Zealand special including a visit to Hobbiton and possibly other locations on Friday, October 17th at 7:30pm on Channel 9.

Lou writes: Amazon.com has a special offer good through only Oct.18th mind you, if you purchase LOTR Trivial Pursuit for $34.99 you can receive a free additional item from quite a long list of items. Some of them are the LOTR chess set, LOTR Risk game, and LOTR Monopoly. The monopoly sells for $29.99, so it's quite a good deal, getting LOTR Trivial Pursuit & LOTR Monopoly all for $34.99, plus free shipping. [More]

Score writes: I just saw this at rockclimbing.com, the biggest Internet forum for the english-speaking climbing community. My humble opinion is that Gollum may have been a good rock climber, but his speciality must have been cave diving. [More]

Just a heads up for current members of the Columbia House DVD Club - they are running a special offer to pre-order the ROTK 2004 Wall Calendar for just $6.48 when you buy a DVD priced $17.95 or higher.

A glance at the recently-updated character section of the official LOTR site confirms that the spider seen in the ROTK trailer is definitely Shelob, rather than one of her smaller offspring. This has been one of the most oft-debated questions raised by us overly-speculative fans since the trailer's release. Thanks to Michael for pointing it out! [More]

At Monday's lecture and question and answer session Tony Wolf, who designed fight scenes for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, addressed an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 60 students. [More]

Megwen writes: I received a Return of the King Advent Calendar for Cadbury chocolate from a friend in England, and you open the little compartments for each day of the month to get a piece of chocolate, and inside are little pictures from Return of the King (though some are from The Two Towers). There are also Frodo and Gollum door hangers that came on the back. [More]

Greetings, Quickbeam here. The Ringers: Lord of the Fans website is proud to announce it's first ever contest! We're giving away one pair of general admission tickets to TheOneRing.net's upcoming Oscar Party for The Return of the King, appropriately titled "The Return of the One Party." All you have to do is to sign up for our Ringers mailing list to enter! One lucky winner over the age of 18 will be randomly drawn from the mailing list's email addresses and notified on November 17th, 2003. (PST in California.) For more information read on...

Ringer Spies Goose and Hutson write in about what could possibly be the Witch King, spotted in the ROTK trailer. [More]

Line Party Leader CamillaBorgia writes: Tickets to Trilogy Tuesday are still available in Southwest Florida! Join our line party in Fort Myers at the Regal Belltower 20. FtMyers-ROTKparty member Matt says: "There were STILL 107 tickets left as of 8 PM ... 10/14/03. That means that 113 have been sold." We'll be there with a costume contest, trivia, and more! Your $35 ticket includes all 3 films and a special collectible from New Line. Contests are free, brought to you by US, The Fort Myers Tolkien Fan Club. [Join the line party] [Buy tickets]

Mastercard are running a promotion where if you are a New Zealand resident and you use your Mastercard enough, you go in the draw to win a ticket to the world premiere. [More] Thanks to Hamish for the news.

Tickets for our "Return of the Ringers" party for the world premiere in Wellington are selling briskly, so don't miss your chance to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event with hundreds of other Lord of the Rings fans from all around the world! [More]

Also, LOTR Homestays project chief Phil Capper has given some thought to what we could do while the premiere is screening on Dec. 1st. [More]

The Hollywood Film Festival gets underway today in California. Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Howard Shore are both to be honoured at the 2003 Hollywood Film Festival Awards Ceremony later this week. Bloom for 'Hollywood Breakthrough Actor' and Shore for 'Music-In-Film'. [hollywoodawards.com]

Ian McKellen (Gandalf) has updated his 'E-Post' section of his LOTR site. Take a look! [More]

The Motion Picture Association of America, representing the major movie studios, banned sending DVD "screeners" of potential Oscar nominees to Academy voters. The MPAA says screeners can be used by pirates to make counterfeit copies. [More]

While I was at the fabulous Best of Both Worlds convention in Canberra just a couple of weeks ago (expect a full report later this week!), I had the privilege of being able to chat with Craig Parker (Haldir of Lorien). The feature (complete with mp3 snippets of the interview!) has been much delayed by the fact that I'm currently moving house, but I hope you'll agree that it's worth the wait! [More]

Canadian Ringers should rest easy: No, we haven't forgotten about you, there simply isn't any information on Trilogy marathons in the Great North yet. As soon as we have the facts, be sure that we will post them! Most theater managers seem to feel they will have more concrete knowledge towards the end of the month.

P.S. We are also putting together the mounds of mail we've received on other International showings into some sort of coherent order. Stay tuned for further details.

musicfromthemovies.com writes: Composer Howard Shore will conduct a series of concerts around the world of his epic six movement The Lord Of The Rings Symphony. The first confirmed date is Friday 16th April 2004, in Antwerp, Belgium. Yet to be confirmed is the premiere performance in New Zealand on Saturday 29th November 2003. Further dates are to be announced, including a performance in London. Shore is also set to record the symphony, which runs over two hours, for release on CD. [More]

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of the eighth annual GQ "Men of the Year" Awards(TM) were announced today by GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson. The twenty-six men from all walks of life were judged and selected by the editors of the magazine. The GQ "Men of the Year" Awards(TM) recognize sensational men of distinction from the worlds of music, fashion and style, film, sports, comedy, and television. Winners Appear in the November Issue of GQ, on sale October 21st. One of the magazine's most anticipated events, the GQ "Men of the Year"
Awards(TM) show will be televised LIVE at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 21, for the first time on Spike TV. The show will feature ten "Men of the Year" award winners from the November issue of GQ. The GQ "Men of the Year" Awards(TM) live on Spike TV, is sponsored by Hummer and L'Oreal.

FREE RADICAL: Viggo Mortensen
VISIONARY: Peter Jackson

Ringer Spy Elf Lady sends along these very interesting images from the latest issue of White Dwarf Magazine. They appear to be slightly different images of Pelennor Fields, Aragorn, Merry & Pippin than we've seen before. !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

Knight of Gondor sends along some great images and details on the ROTK action figures for Gandalf and Dernhelm! Take a look! !!Spoilers!! [More]

Line Party Leader Benjudah writes: Hi. I'm the line party admin for the Cinemark Tinseltown USA party in Rochester, NY. I just called the theater today to find out how many tickets remain and I spoke to the manager who said there are about 100 tickets still remaining for the show. [More]

Robert from Musefanpage writes: Muse, a magazine for kids aged 8 to 16, is devoting its November-December 2003 issue to the Lord of the Rings and fantasy. Articles will cover Elvish (including a handy Sindarin phrasebook), LOTR movie special-effects, and dragons. There will be also be a Return of the King spoof and a special parody adventure by cartoonist Larry Gonick. [More]

Giuseppe writes: According to local newspaper "La Sicilia", the Symphony Orchestra of the Massachussets Institute of Technology (Boston, MA), directed by Dante Anzolini, will perform on October 24th the symphonic poem "Through the Mines of Moria" (world premiere), by the Italian composer Giovanni D'Aquila. This work is clearly inspired by an episode in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This performance will open this year symphonic season at the MIT Kresge Auditorium in Boston. [More]

It was intriguing from the start, says Cate Blanchett. Jerry Bruckheimer -- the producer known for mega-budget machismo spectacles -- was spearheading a low-budget film about the murder of a female Irish journalist. But what made playing Veronica Guerin more compelling, says the Australian actress, was the woman herself. [More]

The sci-fi sequel to the hit 1999 film ' The Matrix' is out on DVD and VHS today. 'The Matrix: Reloaded', which once again stars our own Hugo Weaving as the evil Agent Smith, a program in the Matrix that is out to destroy Neo and all humans. Check it out on Amazon.com! [More]

Ringer Spy Buck writes: According to videogames.com, Return of the King for all 5 Platforms has gone gold, which means that the game is finished and is ready for packaging and distribution. [ROTK Game Section] [Gaming Havens]

I've just returned from seeing approximately 20 minutes of The Return of the King, and while I can't go into intense detail on what I've seen, I can tell you that ROTK is going to knock your socks off! [More]

Salquendor writes: I was in Wal-Mart today and picked up a copy of Glamour magazine. (Yes, I was bored.) Anyway, it had Hair do's and don'ts in it. In the do's part, there is a pic of Legolas and Gandalf the White, cropped from some of the released ROTK pics where they are walking in Edoras, and it says that a definite "do" is to use the Middle Earth colorist for blonde hair!!! It was hilarious!!! LOTR is glamour now!!!

Nona writes: Sean Bean (Boromir) has designed some interesting-looking diamond cufflinks to aid the National Osteoporosis Society, a British charity. He joins a number of other British celebrities who are contributing to this project. [More]

Giles Smith writes: On a recent Tuesday, the composer Howard Shore left his hotel in London and climbed into a black Mercedes for the forty-five-minute drive to Watford, an unromantic suburb northwest of the city. There, in the Watford Colosseum, a municipal dance hall opposite a tanning salon, a sweetshop, and a pharmacy, Shore was working on the score for “The Return of the King,” the last movie in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, a project that has occupied him for the past three years and will soon be completed. [More]

thaxson writes: Frodo Baggins is in 5th place on Forbes Magazine Top earnings for all Fictional Characters. Frodo Baggins is #5 ahead of Darth Vader with a whopping 2.2Billion Annual Income. He is however behind Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Harry Potter and Spiderman. [More]

HilltopHood writes: I'm not sure if you know about this already, but I haven't noticed it on your site so I thought I'd let you know. The Hoyts (Australian cinema chain) website has details about screenings of the extended edition or FOTR and TTT. Fellowship of the Ring screens from December 11-17 and The Two Towers from December 18-22. [More]

G writes: This review is in the December issue of PCZone (UK). Take a look! [More] [Gaming Havens]

From Stuff.co.nz: Filming for The Return of the King continues, six weeks out from its world premiere in Wellington. But executive producer Mark Ordesky of New Line Cinema says the film is on schedule and will be ready for its December 1 debut. [More]

Lissa, the Tulsa Line Party Leader, writes: Thought you might be interested in knowing that as of today Tulsa still has about 150 tickets available for the marathon Tuesday showing. So if people from Texas or surrounding states wouldn't mind driving a few hours, they may still yet attend. You can purchase them through Fandango.com by phone.

Auckland Lineparty Leader Tark wrote to us with great news, from the people at Village Cinemas. Tickets nowhere near being on sale yet, and we have plenty of time to warn cinemas about the shambles in the States over ticket buying. It might make a difference, who knows? [More]

The official website has posted a bio for the Witch-king. Yes, we've seen him before, but never like this! Check out what the Witch-king looks like in ROTK. !!!SPOILERS!!![More]

In case you missed the news over the weekend - we're delighted to announce that our Premiere Party in Wellington has been expanded and there are more tickets available! [More] We've also added a Black Tie Banquet the previous night. [More] Either event will certainly be a night to remember....

Remember you can book through Ticketek's website, and if you're outside of New Zealand we will have the ticket available to pick up at the venue when you arrive. You just have to show ID.

RangerOfTheEast writes: New, revealing interviews up at the Official Site!! Most interesting is the one with Viggo Mortenson, but there's a new one with Karl Urban and PJ as well! [More] Viggo discusses the Paths of the Dead!

Australia's Time Magazine reports: Eliza Jane Wenham was born on Friday, October 10 to first-time parents, actors David Wenham and Kate Agnew. Their healthy baby girl weighs 3.5kg. The young bub showed up a Sunday newspaper report showing Agnew still heavily pregnant -- despite having delivered the baby two days earlier.

The TORN Family would like to wish the Wenham Family all the best!

John Rhys-Davies at FACTS Con in Belgium

Kris, Wendy and Rafer sent along some great pictures from last weekends FACTS con in Ghent, Belgium. Take a look at John Rhys-Davies in action! [More]

Noratrill writes: Anyone in the Washington DC area who is interested there's a book discussion group meeting for two hours once a month beginning November 2nd. It's not free ($90 for members, $135 for non-members) but they will have "sherry and cookies"! [More]

Gino Acevedo & Richard Taylor with Sala Baker & Lawrence Makoare at Comic Con 2002

London, Uk - For the first time at any IMATS, Weta's Richard Taylor and Gino Acevedo will take the keynote platform to discuss their work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Weta oversaw five key departments for the films including: the design, fabrication and on-set operation of special make-up effects and prosthetics, the armor, the weapons, the creatures and the miniatures. [More]

Some VERY cool 3D puzzles soon to be available by 'Puzz 3D', take a look! [More]

Jason Zinoman writes: Ever since it was announced in London that "The Lord of the Rings" would be turned into a musical budgeted at $13 million, fans have feared the worst: Gandalf singing a rock ballad, Orcs doing jazz hands, high-kicking hobbits. [More]

Ben from the Dallas Comic Con writes: Our next big show (October 25 & 26 at the Plano Convention Center) has an incredible growing guest lineup of celebrities and comic artists. Shop more than 150 exhibit tables of old and new collectibles, movie memorabilia, toys, comics, cards and more! [More]