Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are in negotiations to star in the long-gestating adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which David Fincher is directing. Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures are co-financing the project, with Paramount handling domestic rights and Warners taking international. [More]

Charmed Sister writes: I received this info today about a Renee Fleming concert in Montreal and thought you might want to post it. From the website: A private evening in support of Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts, including a champagne reception and dinner by moonlight, and featuring world-renowned opera singers. [More]

Celebrities and Good Charlotte are set to take over Skywalker Ranch for a special edition of MTV's "Total Request Live" (TRL) in celebration of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, which hits theaters worldwide on May 19. TRL's Star Wars special -- airing on May 13th at 5:00 p.m. (ET/PT) -- is hosted by MTV VJs Damien Fahey and La La Vasquez, and features a special performance by Good Charlotte, who are also passionate Star Wars fans...Some of the invited celebrity guests include Elijah Wood and many others. [More]

Tomorrow (Fri, May 6th) ABC's '20/20' will be doing a feature on Dominic Monaghan's show 'Lost', from the 20/20 website: Elizabeth Vargas goes on location with the stars of "Lost," and learns the secrets behind the success of the pop culture phenomenon. [20/20]

Orlando Bloom continues his world-wide domination on TV this week. Today he will be on 'Live! with Regis and Kelly' and late tonight he will be on 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien'. Get those TiVo's ready!

Our friends from The Tolkien Society send this along: This year’s Tolkien Weekend at Sarehole Mill is not only going to be even bigger than last year but it’s also the first event in the recently founded Shire Country Park. Fun at Park is the sixth Tolkien Weekend event, and is now an annual item in the Birmingham calendar. Sarehole Mill itself was the "original" for the Mill at Bywater in the Shire in The Lord of the Rings and is a central point in the Shire Country Park (see below for details) that covers the River Cole, Chinn Brook, as well as Moseley Bog, the Dell and the Dingles where JRR Tolkien played as a child. [More]

TORONTO - Alexander Frith is the circus consultant and stilts adviser for the stage production of The Lord Of The Rings, which heads our way next year. Casting is getting underway, and yesterday stiltwalker auditions were held at the Toronto Circus School Of The Arts. [More]

Wellington's Weta Workshop has started "importing" animators from overseas to work on a new television series. Weta has set up five Singaporean animators in New Zealand to work on a 26-episode, 3D animated series it is producing with Canadian entertainment company Nelvana, the Channelnewsasia website reports. The animation series, Jane and the Dragon, stars 12-year old Jane, a headstrong knight in the King's Guard, and a 300-year old dragon for company. It will be broadcast in Australasia, North America and Europe early next year. [More]

Best Friends Animal Society is conducting a silent auction to benefit their Los Angeles Programs that provide adoption, spay/neuter and educational programs. You can bid on tickets to the World Premiere of "Elizabethtown", a romantic comedy directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst in October 2005, including the premiere party. Best Friends Animal Society is working with animal lovers, shelters and rescue groups nationwide to bring about a time when there will be no more homeless pets. Best Friends operates the nations largest sanctuary for homeless animals; provides adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs; and publishes Best Friends, the nations largest general-interest animal magazine. Kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us. [Bid]

Peter S. Beagle's novel THE LAST UNICORN is recognized as one of the all-time classics of fantasy, but it has never been available in an unabridged audiobook edition. Even more exciting is the news that Peter has finally — after 37 years — returned to this rare world of his imagination, penning a 64-page story called TWO HEARTS that is both sequel and coda to THE LAST UNICORN. [More]

Two films out on DVD today include Sean Bean's fun 'National Treasure' and John Rhys-Davies laughable 'Chupacabra Terror'. Take a look! [More]

Orlandomination continues this week leading up to the release of his first film as a leading-man, 'Kingdom of Heaven'. Take a look at the cover of USA Weekend featuring Bloom. [More]

Be sure to check Bloom out on TV shows coast to coast this week:

May 4th: 'The Late Show with David Letterman' (CBS) 11:35PM EST
May 4th: 'MTV's Total Request Live' (MTV) (check local listings)
May 5th: 'Regis and Kelly' (check local listings)
May 5th: 'The Late Late Show with Conan O'Brien' (NBC) 12:35AM EST

Sytske writes: An additional selection of the LOTR costumes at the Elf Fantasy Fair 2005. There were some very beautiful, but there was not always room to take a picture in the crowd, so I can't send you the best Eowyn Shieldmaiden costume I ever saw, or the very beautiful Galadriels Grey Havens costume, nor the dog dressed as a dragon. I hope other people send those in and many others. [More]

Take a look at Gallery I here! [More]

New York, May 2 – Hey nerds, if you had saved up $5,000 for a ticket to the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute gala instead of standing outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater for the past month, waiting for the new "Star Wars" movie to open, you would have been able to meet both "Sith" star Hayden Christensen and LOTR’s Elijah Wood. [More]

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, tomorrow may report an 18 percent drop in first- quarter profit from a year earlier, when its movie unit was boosted by the final installment of ``The Lord of the Rings.'' [More]

It was the 'Kingdom Of Heaven' premiere in London last night (Monday). Around 5000 people showed up to see Orlando Bloom. He spent over an hour signing autographs and seemed totally overcome with all the posters saying things like 'Welcome Home', luckily he had his mum and sister for support. [More]

Donna writes: I work in New York City and this morning the radio station I listen to announced that Orlando Bloom will be on tomorrow, May 4th. The show, called "Scott and Todd in the Morning", is on station WPLJ, 95.5 fm. They are on from 6:00 to 10:00 am. They did not give a specific time but their guests are usually on between 8:30 and 9:30. I just thought all the Orlando Bloom fans might want to tune in.

From news.com.au, Phil Bartsch writes about the impact of Rings on NZ tourism, and some of the options for visitors wanting to scout out set locations for themselves. [More]

The folks from Tolkien Forever write: Tolkien Forever, the So. Calif LOTR fan club, adopted the Coldstone Creamery for the night on Monday, 4-25 at the Paseo Colorado Mall in Pasadena as part of Make-A-Wish's 25th anniversary celebration. Cold Stone Creamery stores across the U.S. launched a month-long fund-raising effort to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. [More]

AP and Reuters have a bunch of images with Orlando Bloom at the London premiere of 'Kingdom of Heaven'. Take a look! [More]

Three years ago, Oscar-winning partners Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger were keeping vigil beside their son in Wellington's neo-natal unit. Now they are patrons of the Neonatal Trust, which raises money for equipment and helps other children and parents in the same situation. The vigil was a life-changing experience for the Weta Workshop co-owners, and one they describe as extremely "humbling". [More]

An advertisement promoting organ donation that was rejected by the Ministry of Health has been given a lifeline by film-maker Peter Jackson. The Oscar-winning Jackson has included the ad, which encourages people to be organ donors, as an extra feature on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King special edition DVD. It was made three years ago by film-maker and cancer victim Cameron Duncan for GiveLife, a public campaign founded by Aucklander Andy Tookey. The ad won the Fair Go Ad Award just before Cameron died in late 2003, aged 17. [More]

The stars are beginning to align for the upcoming biography of legendary musician Bob Dylan. Variety reports Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Adrien Brody, Richard Gere, Julianne Moore and Charlotte Gains are all eying roles in the film, titled "I'm Not There." The actors will officially sign on when the film's finances are in place. [More]

Ringer Spies Charlie & Yelsel send along images from this past weekends Collectormania 7 Convention held in the UK. Take a look! [More]

Michael writes: I was in London last week and went to the Theatre Museum and there are a few costumes on display from a Hobbit play that had been touring the UK around the year 2000. There´s also a quite interesting video about the making of the costumes. You can find more information about the museum here. Admission is free. [More]

Stuart writes: Last night (April 30th) Miranda Otto won a Logie for the Most Outstanding Actress for her role as Lindy Chamberlain in Through My Eyes. Well done Miranda! [More]

Charlie and others send in their reports from the geek-tastic event held this weekend in the UK, Collectormania 7. No matter what genre you are into this was the place to be! LOTR alum in attendance were Sean Astin, Bernard Hill, John Rhys-Davies, Lawrence Makoare & Kiran Shah! [More]

Got a Collectormania 7 report? send it to us right here!

With Orlando Bloom's latest film 'Kingdom of Heaven' ready to hit the big screens next week, the publicity campaign has hit overdrive. Take a look at a few of these articles from various sites. Plus be sure to catch Bloom on various chat shows this week. [More]

Thousands of you voted...and here's the result - the Top 50 Movie Soundtracks. And what a fascinating list it is too - no surprises that John Williams clocked up the highest number of entries - 7 in total. But the sweeping popularity of The Lord of the Rings just goes on and on. When we ran a similar poll in 2001, Star Wars was top, with Gone with the Wind at No.2, Lawrence of Arabia at No.3, Titanic at 4 and Casablanca at 5. This time, The Lord of the Rings has stormed to the top, giving Howard Shore his only place in the chart. [More]

Tolkien Weekend at the Shire Country Park 14th & 15th May 2005. The sixth annual Tolkien Weekend will be held at Sarehole Recreation Ground and Moseley Bog Local Nature Reserve, part of the new Shire Country Park. This year’s event also commemorates the 50th anniversary of the release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This family event includes attractions such as Tolkien archives, Moseley Farmers Market, dramatisations in Moseley bog by ‘ Shire Productions, historical re-enactments, crafts stalls, have a go archery, woodland craft demos, children’s activities and craft workshops. [More]

Working with the best to produce a world-class TV animation series. That's what five Singaporean animators are doing with one of the world's foremost special effects house responsible for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. "Jane and the Dragon" is a 26-episode, 3-D animated series co-produced by Oscar-winning team - WETA Workshop of New Zealand and renowned Canadian entertainment company Nelvana. [More]

Ringer Spy mafgrl writes: Went to see the Jimmy Kimmel show last night and Dom and Billy were there along with two of the guys from World Without Sundays and Billy's girlfriend. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood after the show and I took a couple of photos I wanted to pass on! [More]

Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson can add another award to their long list for ROTK. The Nebula Awards were named last night and the trio won 'Best Script' for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. SFWA's annual Nebula Awards Weekend is now underway in Chicago and runs until today (May 1st). [More]

Chris/Kit writes: The Chilrden's Theatre Company of Minneapolis has opened its production of The Hobbit. It runs April 26-June 19. CTC is one of the best children's companies in the U.S. No reviews have appeared yet, but I would look for them in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, both of which have websites. The cast includes two superb local actors, Nathan Christopher and Richard Ooms in the roles of Bilbo and Gandalf.

Garfeimao writes: On Friday, April 29, the awards ceremony for the Newport Beach Film Festival was held. Ringers: Lord of the Fans took home one of the awards, for Best Documentary: Feature Length, early on in the evening. The Festival website should be updated in the next day or so to reflect all the awards, because there were many! [More]

TaffyCat writes: Today (April 30th), at 3:00 pm in the Community Room of the Bloomington, Illinois Public Library, author David Salo will speak on the Elvish languages in the Lord of the Rings and various aspects of his involvement with the movies. David served as a linguistic consultant and wrote dialogue and songs in Elvish for the Lord of the Rings movies. [More]

The Science Fiction Writers of America have announced the nominees for the Nebula Awards, which cover works published in 2003 and 2004. The script for The Return of the King was nominated for best adapted screenplay. The Nebulas will be awarded in Chicago tonight (Saturday, April 30th). [More]

Ruth writes: I am writing about the John Howe weekend in Kitchener, Ontario. The Chapters bookstore was filled with dedicated fans wanting to chat with the famous illustrator. I happened to arrive an hour and a half prior to the book signing and there was already a long line up. It was fasinating chatting with LOTR fans. One of the men in line with me came on behalf of his wife. She couldn't make it due to work schedule and he came in her place. [More]

One of the stars of the blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy of films is set to swap hobbits for habits — by directing a film in Norwich about a city drug addict. Andy Sirkis(SIC), who portrayed Gollum in the hit movies will get behind the camera to film Addict, based on the autobiography of former drug addict and vagrant Stephen Smith, who lived on the streets of Norwich during the winter of 1978/79. Sirkis(SIC), who will be appearing in the re-make of King Kong later this year, is set to direct the movie, and filming is due to take place in Norwich in August. [More]

Tickets now on Sale for 2005 GC Game Music Symphony Concert in Leipzig, Germany. The organisers of the 2005 GC - Games Convention symphony concert have informed us that tickets are now on sale for this year's concert at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany on August 17th. Further details of the concert program have also been announced including six additional titles. World Of Warcraft, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Dragon Quest, Brothers In Arms, Chrono Cross & The Lord of the Rings (Vivendi-Universal series) [More]

From Sports Illustrated: Frodo Baggins talks about his new soccer movie. Elijah Wood, 24, best known for starring in the Lord of the Rings movies, plays a student who becomes immersed in the world of English soccer thugs in the upcoming film Hooligans. [More]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Ray" and TV hits "Desperate Housewives," "ER" and "Lost" were among the winners Thursday at the ninth annual Prism Awards, which recognize accurate depictions of drug, alcohol and tobacco use in entertainment. Presented by the Entertainment Industries Council in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, FX, News Corp. and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the PRISM Awards were handed out at a gala dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The awards ceremony will air Sept. 4 as a one-hour special on the FX Network. [More]

Jill writes: AMCtv have been recently advertizing having Orlando Bloom and others involved in 'Kingdom of Heaven' on a program called "The Suite" (Sunday mornings at 10:30am).

More Hollywood films may be on the way, but the New Zealand film industry needs to be wary of arrogance and overcharging, says Film Venture Taranaki's Peter Avery. Mr Avery, who has just returned with a Film New Zealand party from the annual Association of Film Commissioners Internationale in California, said New Zealand was still firmly in the minds of Hollywood film executives. [More]

Collectormania 7, a great Sci-Fi/Fantasy Con in the UK is the place to be this weekend. Bernard Hill, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Kiran Shah and Bruce Spence will be attending. Also be on the lookout for some of my personal favorites, James Marsters, Alan Cumming, Alexis Denisoft, Anthony Head, Dean Stockwell, the Red Dwarf Crew, almost everyone associated with Doctor Who and some Star Wars folks! Take a look! [More]

Dominic Monaghan is making the chat show rounds promoting the last 4 new episodes of his hit TV show 'Lost'. He will be on 'The Ellen Degeneres Show' today, and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' late tonight on ABC. Get those TiVo's ready!