“The best movie of the decade” Entertainment Weekly “…the Rings trilogy is more than movies. It’s a colossus on the march into screen legend.”...Rolling Stone, Peter Travers “The #1 film of the decade” Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY
The Multi-Billion Dollar Franchise Reigns Triumphant on Blu-ray™ Disc For the First Time! The Original Theatrical Versions of all Three Films with More than Seven Hours of Special Features and Digital Copies of Each Film Available April 6, 2010 from Warner Home Video
Burbank, Calif, December 14, 2009 – Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, one of the most magical, intensely spectacular epic adventures in motion picture history, can now be seen as never before when all three of Peter Jackson’s visual masterpieces explode onto Blu-ray Disc April 6th as The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy. The nine-disc set will reawaken the powerful connection that fans have to these films through rich, robust colors and crisp sound that home audiences can only experience on Blu-ray Disc. The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy will include digital copies of each film on three separate discs and will also be BD-Live enabled, offering exciting new interactive possibilities. The highly anticipated release will precede Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame launch. Read the rest of this entry »
Tourists at Matamata’s Hobbiton will soon see Middle Earth come to life before their eyes, according to a recent report on Stuff.co.nz. Vic James of Red Carpet Tours says he is “delighted” by confirmation that Lord of the Rings tourists will continue to be able to visit the site of Hobbiton as filming approaches.
Continuing an annual tradition, Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours opened its doors to Matamata locals yesterday. By the time the last tour had left over 600 people had undertaken a guided tour of the set and watched the sheep shearing demonstration whilst many decided to stay on for a “Second Breakfast” at The Shires Rest Café & Function Centre. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s great news that New Line and the Tolkien Estate have settled their lawsuit, but looking at the amount of work going on at the Hobbiton set in the past month, it seems as though the outcome was never in doubt. Here’s images from Holly, who saw this during her Red Carpet Tour through Hobbiton in August.
The folks at SnagFilms, an online documentary distributor, contacted us recently. They wanted to let us know that “Beyond the Movie: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” and “Beyond the Movie: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”, the National Geographic documentaries that explore the real life parallels between history and fantasy behind the epic tale, are embedded and are free to watch at snagfilms.com. These are currently available on DVD or as extras on the various LOTR DVD collectors editions. However now you can catch them online anytime at snagfilms.com. Take a look!
BARNEY MCDONALD from the Sunday Star Times writes: The first time I saw Peter Jackson on set directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the (now trim) film-maker was sat barefoot in a big, comfy armchair of dubious origin. He’d get up and move around, interacting with actors and crew, but before long he’d be back in the low, rounded chair, staring at his monitors, deep in thought.
During shooting of pick-ups for The Twin Towers [SIC] and The Return of the King, I spent a week apiece with a veritable United Nations of international media, watching Jackson working on set and location, snatching moments to talk to him about his epic journey with the film. Always unflappable, ever affable, Jackson controlled his environment with understated and seemingly effortless ease, so much so that the armchair became a symbol for the man himself. Whenever he wasn’t on set, the chair remained, motionless and serene, commanding respect on behalf of its master. More..
Celebriel sends along this article about the closure of NZ’s Deer Park, a filming location for many scenes in LOTR (notably the flight of the Rohan refugees to Helm’s Deep and Aragorn’s fall over the cliff). Queenstown tourist attraction Deer Park Heights has been closed to visitors after nearly 40 years. Owner Frank Mee said he was closing the park, but it was not for sale. He said the park had been making money and was “very popular”. “Everyone is going bankrupt in Queenstown, but we are not. . . we’re just getting too old, so we’re giving up,” he said. Mr Mee was born in 1922 and he, and his wife Jean, opened the park in 1970. More..
Ian Brodie, founding curator of the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum, is taking up a new position as media and communications manager at the Hobbiton tourist attraction at Matamata, near Hamilton. Meanwhile, a proposed $10 million revamp of the Wanaka museum is on hold indefinitely. Mr Brodie (52) has worked at the museum since it was founded in 1992 by Sir Tim Wallis. More..
TheOneRing.net delivered a 10:30 a.m. panel today at Comic-Con on its first full day of programming. TORn staffers Calisuri (owner), Quickbeam (celebrity) and MrCere (senior staff) were joined by Ian McKellen’s webmaster Keith Stern and Weta’s master chief, Richard Taylor. Read the rest of this entry »
