News just in from our friends at Amazon Studios – team JD Payne and Patrick McKay are on board to develop The Lord of the Rings Original Series. Here’s what the press release tells us:
After a long process and extensive search, which involved going to Middle Earth and back, Amazon Studios is thrilled to share the news with fans, elves and the Amazon Prime Video audience everywhere that we have chosen the duo of JD Payne and Patrick McKay to take us on the development journey for The Lord of The Rings.
Of their involvement in The Lord of the Rings, Payne & McKay said: “The rich world that J.R.R. Tolkien created is filled with majesty and heart, wisdom and complexity. We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with Amazon to bring it to life anew. We feel like Frodo, setting out from the Shire, with a great responsibility in our care — it is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime.”
Writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay have been working together since meeting on the high school debate team more than two decades ago. Their most recent projects include writing Star Trek 4 for Paramount and producer J.J. Abrams, adapting Jungle Cruise for Disney and stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, and setting up their original, 2017 Blacklist drama scriptEscape with Academy Award-nominated producer Mike DeLuca.
Finally, while speculation is human nature, you can trust that when we have more news to share about this journey, we will share it with the world.
Payne and McKay
About The Lord of the Rings Original Series Based on the celebrated fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, Amazon Studios has a multi-season commitment for The Lord of the Rings. The upcoming Amazon Prime Original will be produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
A world-renowned literary work, and winner of the International Fantasy Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, The Lord of the Rings novels was named Amazon customers’ favorite book of the millennium in 1999 and Britain’s best-loved novel of all time in BBC’s The Big Read in 2003. Its theatrical adaptations, from New Line Cinema and Director Peter Jackson, earned a combined gross of nearly $6 billion worldwide. With an all-star cast that included Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom, The Lord of the Rings trilogy garnered a combined 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Amazon may tell us that they will share any news when they have it, but rest assured, here at TORn we’ll be speculating all the way through to the first episode and beyond! Stay tuned…
No, it doesn’t reside in the depths of the Misty Mountains, or mutter “My precious, my precious…” in the dark.
However, the possible fate of a particular toad from Malaysia, that gets its name from everyone’s favorite duplicitous, conniving, yet lovable, precious-coveting character from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is concerning scientists after becoming the latest to join a list of animals at great risk of extinction.
TOR.n received an exclusive announcement today from Empire -the worlds biggest movie magazine- that they will be publishing a special edition on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, due out next week! Per Empire: “It’s a comprehensive look at all six films using both our archive on-set material and new features. It also features some of the reunions we’ve made happen over the years”.
This will be a print-only edition, and not available as a digital download.
Empire Classics: Return to Middle-earth will be available for purchase world-wide starting Tuesday morning (UK time), 31st July from Great Magazines UK
A note on shipping: “If you have purchased one of our print magazine specials or single issues your purchase will be processed and delivered within 1-3 days for orders within the UK and up to 10 days for orders outside of the UK. In most cases we will deliver your item much quicker but have allowed for bank holidays and weekends.”
For more on what you can expect to see, check out the video below!
Earlier this summer, TORn staffer greendragon had the great pleasure of going across to Edinburgh to meet with the good folks at Oscha Slings, a Scottish company who are our fellow licensees with Middle-earth Enterprises. This company, created by a father and daughter who are both big fans of Tolkien, makes beautiful fabrics, primarily for baby wraps, but also for wonderful throws, scarves and bags.
The company started after daughter Zoe fell in love with using a baby sling with her own children. She wanted to support parents who like the ‘baby wrap’ way of carrying (or even ‘wearing’!) an infant, and felt that most fabric designs were based on what the children would like, rather than what parents might like to wear. There was a gap in the market for elegant fabrics, and so Zoe and her graphic designer father began creating celtic, mythical and art nouveau weaves. As big fans for Middle-earth, they were delighted to be able to secure a license from Middle-earth Enterprises, and so begin dreaming up amazing designs, in a variety of art styles to represent the different races of Tolkien’s realm.
All of Oscha Slings fabrics are designed in Scotland and woven in England. They source their materials in the UK as far as is possible, and always make sure that anything they use is cruelty free, as organic as possible, and uses no harmful chemicals. (The company feel strongly that being as ecologically friendly as possible would be approved of by the Professor.) They have an army of fans, and when you see their incredible work, it’s not surprising! Many of the baby wrap fans are also Tolkien fans, and they are very vocal about what they want to see; one fan even designed a Mithril pattern for Oscha Slings! They have very active fans on Facebook, and 35,000 members in their international fan-run community – they’re no strangers to passionate fan bases!
Oscha also have plenty of items for those of us who don’t have babies to transport! Fans have even been known to hang their fabrics on the wall, as beautiful tapestries. Others have ordered smaller pieces of the fabrics to use for their own quilting projects.
We’re hoping to have some goodies from Oscha Slings for fans to look at (and maybe even take home) at DragonCon and New York ComicCon this year. Meanwhile, you can check out all the gorgeous items available at Oscha Slings here.
A week or so ago, we reported that Graham McTavish (aka Dwalin) is going to be directing his first movie, a horror comedy called This Guest of Summer. He’ll be joined in it by fellow dwarf actors Adam Brown (Ori) and Dean O’Gorman (Fili), along with Graham’s Outlander chums Stephen Walters (Angus) and Duncan Lacroix (Murtagh).
Having promised to keep TORn in the loop (and let us have behind the scenes access when filming gets going!), Graham has been in touch to let us know the crowdfunder has passed the halfway mark! They’ve also been adding many cool ‘perks’ along the way. For example, you (well, your photo!) could appear as part of the set dressing of the film. Or you could have a unique piece of art work created specially for you by a cast member (imagine if Dean O’Gorman wrote you a poem…!) Or – in the ‘Grand Perk package’ – you could have a special guided tour of Hobbiton in New Zealand with Graham himself!
Here’s Graham to tell you a bit more about the film:
And this is what Dean O’Gorman has to say:
Check out the Indiegogo campaign here, show the lads your support, and see what goodies you might like to claim! And watch TORn for news as filming gets underway.
Comic-Con 2018 is in the books, and if you followed us on Social Media you had a chance to see us share what was going on at our friends at Weta Workshop’s booth. Now that I’m back, I wanted to share all the pics I took of the wonderful things I saw at their booth. They had the jaw dropping (watch a recap of the Weta live video when they unveiled the new pieces) Master Collection Treebeard, new Balrog Bust, and the stunning Arwen on Asfaloth. All of these pieces were absolutely awesome and all may end up in my collection! The one piece we can all add right now is the Arwen on Asfaloth statue. She comes in with a price tag of $699 and an edition size of 750. However, fans will have to be patient until early 2019 to get her. In the meantime please enjoy the booth tour and various shots of what amazingness was at the Weta booth. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Comic-Con 2018 Recap”
News just in from our friends at Amazon Studios – team JD Payne and Patrick McKay are on board to develop The Lord of the Rings Original Series. Here’s what the press release tells us:
