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July 03, 2007 - July 11, 2007

News for Jul. 11, 2007

Is New Line brass softening its stance on PJ?

7/11/07, 11:00 pm EST - MrCere

TORn friend Mark from Chicago sent along this story from the New York Post and it may signal a softening from the New Line brass about Peter Jackson and a future version of 'The Hobbit'. It may also be an attempt to smooth the ruffled feathers of fans who may have been bothered when the dispute over the future billion dollar film got a bit personal. The story is about New Line in general but Bob Shaye said, " "There's nothing I can really talk about except to say that I believe 'The Hobbit' will be made," says Shaye. "I don't like to have issues with anybody. Any issues with Mr. Jackson, I would prefer to have them closed, rather than open." " Read the full story here.

SAINT-URSANNE LA FANTASTIQUE Photos

7/11/07, 8:28 pm EST - Xoanon

SAINT-URSANNE LA FANTASTIQUE Photos

John Howe sends along images from the 'Saint-Ursanne la Fantastique' festival in Switzerland. Take a look at those great sculptures!

Howard Shore Confirmed for Cleveland Concert

7/11/07, 7:54 pm EST - Xoanon

Robbi Kearns, Producer at CAMI Music writes: Hello to every one at theonering.net. I hope all is well. I saw a posting on July 6th regarding the performance of the LOTR Symphony in Cleveland and wanted to confirm that Howard Shore is conducting the performance in Cleveland on Saturday July 21st. For more information or tickets, please visit the orchestra's web site at clevelandorch.com

LOTR Online: Characters of Middle-earth: Sons of Elrond

7/11/07, 7:51 pm EST - Xoanon

Vanessa "Saffron" Price, Online Community Representative for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar writes: Meet the eldest of the children of Elrond and learn why the twins, Elladan and Elrohir, burn with a terrible rage against all of orc-kind. [More]

MARS Production Update: Middle Earth Idols & Dragon*Con

7/11/07, 7:50 pm EST - Xoanon

From the Scott girls at M.A.R.S. Productions: We're just a few weeks away from Dragon*Con 2007. The M.A.R.S. Productions film "Middle Earth Idols" is the feature film at the Tolkien Track film festival this year. "Middle Earth Idols" stars Kiran Shah (LOTR), Daniel Reeve (LOTR), Michael Regina (TheOneRing.net), Dean Haglund (X-Files), Alexis Cruz (Stargate), Grant Wilson (TAPS/Ghost Hunters) as celebrity guest judges, with special musical guest, Emerald Rose. [More]

Orlando Bloom says he will not go naked on London stage

7/11/07, 7:39 pm EST - Xoanon

LONDON (AFP) - "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Orlando Bloom disappointed thousands of female fans, insisting Wednesday he would not strip off in his London stage debut, despite fans' hopes he would follow the lead of Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe. Bloom will be treading the boards in the West End as one of the leads in David Storey's play "In Celebration," which opens Thursday. But despite rumours on Internet fan sites that he would bare all, as Radcliffe did in a recent London production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus," Bloom, 30, said that his modesty would remain intact. [More]

News for Jul. 09, 2007

Setting Heavenly Sword in Motion

7/09/07, 8:11 pm EST - Xoanon

Heavenly Sword (PS3) Behind the motion-capturing scenes with creative director Tameem Antoniades and Andy Serkis: Week 2 of the blog and so far it’s been a blast! Nearly 7,000 people have read last week’s entry and I’ve had some good questions that hopefully I’ve answered well enough for you all. On this note, it's worth mentioning that, while I want to be as open as possible with you guys, obviously there are things I can’t mention just yet so I may dodge the occasional question. I know you all understand why...This week, I’ve asked Tameem Antoniades, our creative director and co-founder of Ninja Theory, to write some stuff for you all. Tameem has had the cool idea of giving you guys some flashbacks to key moments in the game’s history, giving you some insight into the last couple of years. [More]

Gandalf steals the show from Potter in poll of 'World's Favourite Wizard'

7/09/07, 8:07 pm EST - Xoanon

London, July 9 : 'Lord Of The Rings' wizard Gandalf, played by Sir Ian McKellen has topped a poll of world's favourite wizard, beating Harry Potter, in a survey conducted by cinema advertising firm Pearl & Dean. Gandalf, who got 44 percent of the votes, was followed by Professor Albus Dumbledore, brought to life by Sir Michael Gambon in Harry Potter came second with 17 percent of the votes. Author J.K. Rowling's young wizard Potter played by Brit actor Daniel Radcliffe was ranked third with 9 percent of the votes. [More]

News for Jul. 08, 2007

Pre-Ordering opens for ManMelter Raygun

7/08/07, 9:20 pm EST - Xoanon

Weta Limited will open the ManMelter Raygun for pre-ordering exclusively to their VIP clients this Friday 13 July. The Raygun, officially titled the ManMelter 3600ZX Sub-Atomic Disintegrator Pistol, is the third Raygun to be released for pre-ordering from the ‘Weta Originals’ limited edition series. [More]

News for Jul. 07, 2007

Alan Lee in Switzerland

7/07/07, 10:22 pm EST - Xoanon

John Howe sends this in: Alan Lee will be present at the "SAINT-URSANNE LA FANTASTIQUE" festival for the closing weekend. Alan's presence as special guest will be the highlight of the summer-long festival, which will have featured concerts, exhibitions and conferences on the theme of Tolkien (with Vincent Ferré, French Tolkien expert) and fantasy. Alan will be signing books in the medieval cloister at 4:00 PM Saturday September 2nd. This will be Alan's first visit to Switzerland, so it's a unique opportunity, not to be missed! For more information, visit the official web site. [More]

Hobbit Grille partners want to please customers

7/07/07, 10:10 pm EST - Xoanon

The Hobbit Grille is taking orders and the two guys who run the place are willing to do anything to avoid turning a customer's request down. Tom Schillig and Paul "Head Hobbit" Mandell bought the restaurant that was once Uncle G's Deli just south of Bonita Beach Road on Old 41 in early April. "I always wanted a sub shop and the name hobbit has always been on my mind for it," said Schillig who named the restaurant based on another shop he used to visit on trips to see his sister at her university. [More]

News for Jul. 06, 2007

New Book: 'The Frodo Franchise'

7/06/07, 6:13 pm EST - Xoanon

The University of California Press is pleased to announce the publication of: 'The Frodo Franchise: "The Lord of the Rings" and Modern Hollywood' Kristin Thompson is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her many books include "Film Art: An Introduction" and "Film History: An Introduction" (both with David Bordwell) and "Storytelling in the New Hollywood". [More]

Andy Serkis: From Gollum, King Kong to Einstein

7/06/07, 5:25 pm EST - Xoanon

From an ape to a genius is quite a leap, but that’s exactly what Andy Serkis, also known for playing Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings,” is doing. It’s a tribute to the actor’s genius that, after supplying the body movements and facial expressions of King Kong, he is playing Albert Einstein in a new film, “Einstein and Eddington.” [More]

LOTR Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra

7/06/07, 5:22 pm EST - Xoanon

Katie writes: I received an advertisement in the mail today about a Lord of the Rings concert performed by the Cleveland Orchestra and the Blossom Festival Chorus at the 2007 Blossom Festival in Cleveland, Ohio on July 21 at 9:00PM. Prices for reserved pavilion seats start at $26 and general admission lawn tickets are $22. Gates open early at 6:30PM for picnicking. Tickets can be purchased by calling (216)231-1111 or (800)686-1141, or online at their website: clevelandorchestra.com. Also, if I have understood the letter correctly, it says that Howard Shore will be conducting! Again, this may or may not be correct. Either way, it sounds like something you wouldn't want to miss. :) More information can be found at their website.

'Rings' director has come a long way

7/06/07, 5:15 pm EST - Xoanon

New Line had good reason to be nervous in 1999 when entrusting its 11-hour, $281-million "Lord of the Rings" franchise to Peter Jackson. It was 1996's "The Frighteners," a ruder awakening than most for guys like Jackson, who dream of doing blockbusters that people will lose sleep to see early. Transitional splinters are rites of passage for directors with no-budget roots who reach high for Hollywood branches (Bryan Singer had "Apt Pupil," and Sam Raimi had "The Quick and the Dead.") Of course, just like Raimi's "Spider-Man" and Singer's "X-Men," Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring" earned more money in a few hours than the smaller titles did in several months. [More]

News for Jul. 04, 2007

Jackson joins chapel battle

7/04/07, 11:12 pm EST - Xoanon

Hollywood heavyweights Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have joined the fight to protect a historic Seatoun chapel from demolition. It is understood the film-making pair are even considering buying the Our Lady of the Star of the Sea Chapel, estimated to be worth $10 million, to save it for the community. They have been joined by other Seatoun residents, including Dame Pat Evison, concerned that a large residential development would replace the chapel. [More]

News for Jul. 03, 2007

LOTR Online: Sneak Peek: Session Play

7/03/07, 8:19 pm EST - Xoanon

Vanessa "Saffron" Price, Online Community Representative for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar writes: Take a brief sneak peek into our next content update and learn more about a new feature called Session Play! We’re egg-static to present this sneak peek to you and we hope you enjoy it! [More]

More LOTR Stage Reviews from the British Press

7/03/07, 8:15 pm EST - Xoanon

Anonymous writes: Here are some reviews from the British press which I don't think you have yet, First off from the New Statesman, some of the Sunday papers put their reviews on the web, other didn't. This is from the Independent and the Guardian, and finally here is a roundup from The Times.

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