From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for 4/9/01
"Want to visit a magical realm filled with elves and unicorns? Well read that book by that Tolkien guy, but if you long for a world of hard hitting news and cutting edge info graphics, call now for free tickets to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
Thanks to TORN Staffer Corvar for tipping us off!

It seems that Cate Blanchett isn't the only LOTR cast member in London this week!

As the Australian Film Festival in the Barbican Centre rolls on David Wenham (Faramir), paid a suprise visit to the event. Thankfully, BBC Entertainment caught up with him, and asked him how he's been getting on as late. [More]

"The Brothers Hildebrandt ­ Their Tolkien Years" 2002 wall Calendar ­ full color ­ has 14 paintings from the 1976, 1977 and 1978 calendars, and numerous sketches, photos and quotes from Greg and Tim. A short running biography on the Hildebrandts is also in the calendar. [More]

We've got the entire press release from New Line regarding Cannes. See you in the south of France...

'The Lord of the Rings' Generates More Than 350 Million Hits On Website as New Line Prepares to Unveil Footage in Cannes. [More]

Liv Tyler (Arwen) has recently spoken to the folks at Virgin.net about 'One Night at McCools' the Oscars and the fact that there was no sushi on the LOTR set. She speaks on LOTR for only a few moments, but what she reveals is interesting, including her own take on the books and the films. [More]

New Line is letting a little out of the box with some news regarding LOTR and Cannes 2001. Read the following report, via Cinescape.com. [More]

Arwen (Liv Tyler) features over at Expressen... IS that a sword in her hand? Sure looks like it, and she looks pretty determined with it. The other pictures look mis-labelled: that looks more like Elrond (Hugo Weaving) with Arwen.
Ringer spy Daniel Z included this translation:

"Alicom Licensing (Roland Lindholm) is going to market the products connected to the movie in Scandinavia. They sell licenses for local manufacturing of everything from computer-, console-games to puzzles, bags and shoes with motifs from the movie. (SHOES??? Drool!! -T.)

As of yesterday people in Sweden could buy the first of ten collecters cards with LotR motives, from SF (Svensk Filmindustri). You can also see the trailer and the first movie poster is up at cinemas.

Ringer Spy PFox sends in a new pic of Elijah Wood (Frodo) and The One Ring. SPOILERS [More]

Empire On-Line caught up with Cate Blanchett during the weekend, as she headed an Australian Film Festival in London. Blanchett, who plays Galadriel in the trilogy, spoke out about her patriotic pride, the joy of working on the films in New Zealand, and even the love of her prosthetic elf ears. [More]

Ringer fan Jason C. sends us this humorous tidbit. [More]

The Elf Fantasy Fair 2001, the biggest fantasy-related event in western-Europe, took place this weekend, I got the chance to go there on both days, meet up with John Howe and take a look at some awesome new pictures from the upcoming movies! Read on for a full report, which might include several spoilers! [More]

We've recently updated our posters page to reflect some recently added Tolkien related posters at Allposters.com. In all, we've added 5 new entries, including a very nice 'Watcher at the Gate' by Steve Hickman. [More]

Another chance to see your favorite LOTR cast member on the small screen. [More]

Ringer Spy Mushroom sends along news from HBO Asia about a small 'behind the scenes' report that was aired. Follow the link to hear the details, including what PJ said about making 3 movies back to back in the future. [More]

Ringer Spy Jon peeps in with his knowledge on screen numbers versus theatre numbers. Check it out, and try not to tie your fingers into a pretzel counting on them :)

... the 10,000 print launch of LotR would by far still be a record but I think coming in Dec this is HIGHLY unlikely. Not only are screens at a premium but it would amount to 40% of the entire North American screen total. [More]

Ringer fan Daddy Twofoot sent an email reminding us that Ian McKellen (Gandalf) narrates the IMAX production of Cirque du Soleil: The Journey of Man. Try to catch it at an IMAX theater near you. [More]

The Brazilian magazine Sci-Fi News has a special four-pages' report on Tolkien and LoTR this month, written by our very own Imrahil, from Pelennor.com, TORn's Brazilian community site. The article discusses the many subtleties of Tolkien's linguistic invention, and the problems that can happen when the subtitles for the movies are translated:

"The mythology that Tolkien developed to provide his constructed languages with a history, ending up with the 1100 pages of "The Lord of the Rings", was to him only the second step; he used to say to astonished readers that his imense book was in fact 'an essay on linguistic aesthetics". [More]

Brazilian fans may visit Pelennor.com for more info and scans! Cheers!

-Dúnadan

The latest film Sean Bean (Boromir) is working on was the Michael Douglas action drama 'Don't Say a Word'. Nona from 'The Compleat Sean Bean' has an article regarding the film. [More]

From: Unono

The greek movie mag "CINEMA" is featuring an article on Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) on their April issue. Translating part of her interview on LOTR:

Blanchet says she is fascinated by the experience [of filming LOTR]: "By reading the books of Tolkien being an adult, you understand how dark, tortured and occult is their writer. I think that Peter Jackson is the perfect man to direct this movie."

Thanks to Ringer fan LC for sending in this follow-up to our March 16th Report on Creative Screenwriting Magazine (Vol.8 No.2). Minor Spoilers [More]

Josephina has proved as good as her word. Long ago she mentioned that she would love to organise a gathering of Tolkien fans for the first screening of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and now it seems that her plans are becoming reality, and the invitation is going out to all Tolkien fans. (More)

TORN's Spanish-language community members over at Elfenomeno are good at organsing parties. They've planned a big gathering near Barcelona for their members and any interested Tolkien fans starting on April 28th. This would have to be wall-to-wall fun, so anyone interested in finding out more should head over to their site. [ More]

Further to our report from the Games Workshop who are making LOTR-themed figures for their Middle-earth battlegame, we got this in the mail:

I noticed that there was no mention of a BALROG in the 'Forces of Evil' list of figures on the GAMES WORKSHOP site. I found this slightly worrying as they did have other Moria stuff listed, so I decided to enquire at the big Games Workshop in (somewhere secret otherwise they'll get in trouble.)
The guy I talked to there was very excited about the whole thing, and seemed to know more about it than he was letting on, and HE said that there definitely WOULD be a Balrog produced by them, and that it would be some sort of special release, separately boxed type thing. He also said that although all the other figures would be released up to 6 weeks before the release of the film, the Balrog figure is not allowed to be released until AFTER the film. This is apparently because of the secrecy surrounding what the Balrog will actually look like, and he mentioned how closely guarded the stills/pictures were."

Thanks to Luthien Tinuviel for a great scoop

The May 2001 print edition of Yahoo! Internet Life has a small article on page 51 about LOTR. The title of the article? "Lord of the Rings Hype. So much buzz, so little to watch - so far." Ouch! [More]

While I was listening to TOPPS fiscal fourth quarter report and year end conference call...well, okay, maybe it wasn't me listening, but ZDnet.com was! This is an excerpt from their report:

"The company is on track to introduce trading cards featuring the new 'Planet of the Apes' movie this summer. 'Lord of the Rings' trading cards and sticker/album collections are planned for late 2001." [More]

So i guess we can expect to see those cards in the checkout aisle at Wal-mart! Our very own staff member, Quickbeam, wrote an article for Green Books on the potential threat of Merchandising Hell. Check it out! [More]

Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) is hosting a film festival by the Australian Film Insitute in the Barbican Centre in London this weekend.

Teletext.Co.Uk has a large on-line article on the Film Festival and the Hollywood star herself. [More]

From: Pieman

Was just watching Access Hollywood, and they had a quick report about LOTR. I heard that LOTR will be premiering in over 10,000 screens. They made it sound pretty huge.

Xoanon here: I watch AH every night, and the night I miss it, I miss some LOTR news! Ah well, if this story from Pieman is correct, LOTR will by FAR have the largest amount of screens on opening weekend ever. From what I've gathered, last X-Mas' 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' currently holds the record at 3,127 screens in the US. Other biggies include: 2,938 Gladiator, 2,674 Titanic, 2,970 SW1, 2,104 SW4 (re-release), 2,111 SW5 (re-release), 2,111 SW6 (re-release).

We do know that New Line is working on a world wide release, so 10,000 seems like a realistic amount. Just image the amount of popcorn....

In a recent interview with one of the biggest Dutch newspapers Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) talks a bit about her part in Lord of the Rings... [More]

Call me a slacker, but I'm honestly not sure if this is 'new' news. The Official Site has some REALLY nice wallpaper. Specifically, check out "Fog", "Dark Rider" and "Banners." The consensus in Barlimans was that most have not seen them, so I figured all you Ringers out there might want a heads up. Thanks to Armand for the email. SPOILERS [More]

UPDATE
Okay, so they weren't new...i guess I'm a slacker! But, like me, a lot of fans wrote in to say they never actually looked that deep into the official site. If you are interested in more desktop images, check out the fan wallpaper section of the site.

According to this morning's 'Dominion' newspaper, Liv Tyler (Arwen), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Elijah Wood (Frodo) are returning in the next few months because some of their lines need to be re-recorded. Spokesman Melissa Booths said, "automated dialogue replacement was needed when background noise intruded on an actor's lines."

Thanks to Tiggy for that tip.

Liv Tyler (Arwen) is talking up her latest film 'One Night at McCool's', you can read the interview here. [More]

Version A of the Official Lord of the Rings Teaser poster is back at the New Line Shop. You know, the one with Elijah looking at us. Hopefully the marketing folks over at New Line ordered a large enough stock for ALL! [More]

Thanks to T. Jones for the tip.

UPDATE
Ringer fan M. sends in another place to buy the poster! Check out PixPosters.com. [More]

The BBC online breaths new life into the LOTR vs Harry Potter angle today. They are asking readers for their opinion on which trailer was better. Well, lets tell them! Follow the link and send them an email. Release the hounds! [More]

Fundraiser Planning Underway for The Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey Begins

Fundraising efforts are underway for Ovation's premier production of The Fellowship of the Ring: A Journey Begins, an original stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's first book of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings. [More]