[Lotr_announce] TheOneRing.net Newsletter - June 2008

[Michael Regina]

TORN #365

June, 2008

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Rings Roundup (Top headlines of major interest)
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Jack Black (and Guillermo Del Toro) deny “Hobbit” Rumors
The names of Jack Black, James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe were making the
rounds in the media this week, as rumors about who will be cast as Bilbo in
the upcoming movie of “The Hobbit” begin to fly. According to Black,
however, there’s no truth to that rumor. Black: “No, no. There’s no talk of
it,” the comic proclaimed, denying the article’s validity. Of course, we
could have told everyone that, as GDT posted the same thing on our message
boards the day the original story came out.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/31/28925-jack-black-and-guillermo-de
l-toro-deny-hobbit-rumors/

Sideshow Collectibles LOTR Updates
Sideshow Collectibles has started taking pre-orders for the ‘Dark Counsel‘
diorama - featuring Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue and Bernard Hill as
Theoden. They have also posted a 360° turnaround of the piece.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/30/28913-sideshow-collectibles-lotr-
updates/

Del Toro: “We’ve Agreed on our Choice for Bilbo”
Several of you alerted us to this story from Empire online: As part of an
exclusive chat with Del Toro for the next issue of Empire, on sale Friday,
we spoke to him further about many details, including the casting of Bilbo.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/27/28900-del-toro-weve-agreed-on-our
-choice-for-bilbo/

Hobbit chat with Peter Jackson and G. del Toro peppered with big news (and
little details about both films)
Future “Hobbit” director Guillermo del Toro and former “Lord of the Rings”
director Peter Jackson sat down with a world-wide internet audience and
answered a lot more than the announced “20 questions” this weekend. Hosted
by Weta, there were a lot of minor details and significant confirmations and
revelations about the gigantic production that will yield two “Hobbit”
related movies, one in 2011 and the second in 2012.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/24/28882-hobbit-chat-peppered-with-b
ig-news-and-little-details/

Hobbit movies meet dire foe in son of Tolkien
>From TimesOnline.com: “Christopher Tolkien, 83, is calling for “one last
crusade” in a long-running court battle against the producers of The Lord of
the Rings only weeks before carpenters are due to begin work in New Zealand
on the sets for the latest Middle-earth epic.”
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/24/28883-hobbit-movies-meet-dire-foe
-in-son-of-tolkien/

“Variety” Hobbit news - Viggo approached, pre-production “soon”.
More news from Kristin of The Frodo Franchise regarding the Hobbit. A
Variety interview with Del Toro talks about how the scripting duties will be
shared, and the three LOTR actors who have been approached to return for The
Hobbit.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/21/28875-variety-hobbit-news-viggo-a
pproached-pre-production-soon/

MGM’s Mary Parent Talks ‘Hobbit’
Diedye from our message boards sends this along. Mary Parent was recently
quoted about MGM’s upcoming slate.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/20/28873-mgms-mary-parent-talks-hobb
it/

TORN Cruise now has Extra WETA Coolness!
Garfeimao writes: I received a rather intriguing email a few weeks ago from
someone at WETA. They simply asked for details of when and where the Cruise
to Middle-earth took place. When I confirmed that the cruise would have a
full day in Wellington, they invited our group for a little visit. When I
asked “what do you have in mind?”, the below itinerary is what came out of
this discussion.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/19/28868-torn-cruise-now-has-extra-w
eta-coolness/

New Details on Tolkien Trust vs New Line Cinema
Author Kristin Thompson writes: There has been a development in the lawsuit
the Tolkien Trust filed against New Line Cinema in February. It’s not clear
what it means, but I offer some suggestions on The Frodo Franchise. New
Details on Tolkien Trust vs New Line Cinema.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/13/28842-new-details-on-tolkien-trus
t-vs-new-line-cinema/

‘To be Continued’ Radio Transcript
Ringer Spy Elven was kind enough to transcribe the ‘To be Continued’
interview from last weekend. This latest episode features news on ‘The
Hobbit’ casting, our back-and-forth with del Toro about Smaug, and Pandemic’
s LOTR: Conquest!
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/12/28833-%e2%80%98to-be-continued%e2
%80%99-radio-transcript/

The Dragon Solution: GDT shares his thoughts
Recently, TheOneRing.net featured an essay on the challenges and
opportunities faced by Guillermo del Toro and WETA workshops in brining the
Magnificent Smaug to movie screens in the upcoming Hobbit film. The
fan-friendly director has long been open to fans and can be found posting at
DelToroFilms.com”. Del Toro, or “GDT” as he is affectionately already known
on the TORn message boards, responded to the thread, giving a healthy
discussion an extra shot of energy.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/10/28822-the-dragon-solution-gdt-sha
res-his-thoughts/

What is “THE LORD OF THE RINGS: CONQUEST”? Pandemic Studios’ Eric “Giz”
Gewirtz Tells Us About It!
Pandemic Studios, the geeks behind Star Wars: Battlefront I & II,
Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans, and other titles contacted us a while back
giddy with excitement over their new project ‘Lord of the Rings: Conquest’.
This is setting up to be the battle game to end all battle games, I sat with
game director Eric “Giz” Gewirtz to talk about it. Take a look!
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/08/28812-what-is-the-lord-of-the-rin
gs-conquest-pandemic-studios-eric-%e2%80%9cgiz%e2%80%9d-gewirtz-tells-us-abo
ut-it/

The Dragon Problem: What challenges await GDT and WETA?
Stories of dragons are as old as the written word and probably a lot older.
To keep things inside the J.R.R. Tolkien realm, “Beowulf”, one of the oldest
written stories of Europe features not only the monstrous Grendel but his
serpentine Mother. Ancient biblical writings allude to the great serpent or
dragon while global mythology has oversized lizard creatures popping up so
consistently that some have suggested there must be some common shared
memory or primitive survival instinct built into humanity to cause us to
tell our tribal stories about such a monstrosity.
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/05/02/28782-the-dragon-problem-what-cha
llenges-await-gdt-and-weta/

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Palantir Visions (Things seen from beyond the front page)
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TORn braves airwaves with bi-weekly segment on ‘To Be Continued
’

TheOneRing.net is proud to announce we will be providing a bi-weekly Lord of
the Rings and Hobbit update on the radio show ‘To Be Continued
’ with Sohaib
and Stuart, a pop-culture broadcast from WNJC 1360 AM, Philadelphia. Don’t
live in Philly? No big deal! The show is streamed via the WNJC website on
Sunday at 7:30pm ET.
http://wnjc.duxpond.com/

TORN Books:

The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien

The People's Guide is written by five contributing writers of
TheOneRing.net -- the leading fan website devoted to Tolkien, his books, his
lore, the New Line Cinema movies, and the fan community that centers on
Middle-earth. TheOneRing.net has always been distinguished by the quality of
the original articles appearing on its Green Books and Tehanu's Notes pages.
This book adapts some of the most popular articles on the TheOneRing.net as
well as offering readers completely new articles that are not available
online.
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/6/1046309473


More People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien

Following last year's successful The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien, this
volume continues in the best tradition of Green Books and Tehanu's Notes to
explore the words and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien through essays, Q&A from
readers, and interviews with special guests.
http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/1/1098932815


The Tolkien Fan's Medieval Reader, edited by Turgon

Over the years Tolkien's fondness for and indebtedness to medieval
literature has often been mentioned. His special devotion to older Germanic
literature, including Beowulf and the Eddas, has long been known, for as a
professor he taught these works in addition to teaching the languages in
which they were written. This anthology has been compiled in the hope of
sharing the pleasures of these -- and other -- classics of medieval
literature that were part of Tolkien's professional life and inspirations to
him in his creative work.
http://greenbooks.theonering.net/turgon/files/032504.html

Ongoing EXCLUSIVES from "Ringers: Lord of the Fans"

Ringers: Lord of the Fans is a feature-length documentary that reveals the
ongoing cultural phenomenon created by The Lord of the Rings. Very funny and
often moving, Ringers shows the hidden power behind Tolkien's books -- and
how after 50 years a single literary work continues to spark the minds and
hearts of millions.
http://www.ringersstore.com

ADVERTISE ON THEONERING.NET

TheOneRing.net is happy to announce we are finally 'selling' our own ad
space on all pages of TheOneRing.net. If you are interested in reaching the
largest audience of Tolkien fans online, visit our advertising page. No
campaign is too short and no business is too small to advertise.

Do YOU Have Any Cool Contest Ideas?

We're always looking for interesting contests to have fun with all the LOTR
goodies we get everyday. Do you want to submit your ideas and see them come
to life?! Send along any ideas to gamgee at theonering.net and who knows!
You may just win a prize from a contest you invented!

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Scouring of the Site (Breakdown of our various sections)
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-The Official Peter Jackson Fanclub (TBHL)- The Lord of the Rings Director's
very own fanclub! Stop on by to learn more about the man, the myth, the
beard. If you are a Peter Jackson fan, then 'TBHL' is the place for you!
GOTO: http://tbhl.theonering.net/index.shtml

-Shop.theonering.net- is THE place to find all your Tolkien items available
online! From Tolkien cards to weekly ebay items, you should keep clicking on
over to our shop section for all your Tolkien needs!
GOTO: http://www.theonering.net/torwp/category/merchandise/

That's all for now, keep clicking, have fun and keep sending in those
letters! We love to hear from you!

See anything you want to add to the site? Have any suggestions as to chat
guests, content items, or just want to say hi? Drop us a line at theonering
at theonering.net, do you want to speak with a specific person? just type in
their handle (i.e. Jincey = jincey at theonering.net).

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Michael Regina
Editor in Chief
PH: 514.947.5221
http://www.TheOneRing.net
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