From Keith Stern: Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Frances De La Tour wrap up their successful run in London’s West End this Saturday. Sir Ian is committed to film work, including some additional shooting in New Zealand for THE RETURN OF THE KING. Only three more days to catch what is probably the finest English production of Dance of Death. [More]
Month: June 2003
Celefinniel writes: I was booking a Disneyland weekend today and was “warned” by the Disney Club Travel desk that the “Pirates of the Caribbean” Premier will be at Disneyland Theme Park in California on the evening of June 28th, and the park will close early at 6:30. She also rumored that “those in the park may be able to see the stars arrive down Main Steet prior to the park closing.” She thought Orlando was worth lining up and waiting on the curb for a photo!
We have no confirmed information that Orlando will be attending…so don’t book those vacations just yet!
Erkenbrand sends along this scan from the Chicago Sun-Times. It’s about the boom in NZ tourism since the LOTR movies have been released. [More]
Ringer Spy Garfeimao ties up her Book Expo America report with just a few more pictures that are a nice addition to the other set. If you’re a fan of Billy Boyd, you’ll be particularly interested about the Master and Commander covers she got a peak at. There’s also a few tidbits from Ringer Spy Vegan about some new LoTR merchandise that USAopoly has planned. [More]
Ringer Spy Garfeimao ties up her Book Expo America report with just a few more pictures that are a nice addition to the other set. And if you’re a fan of Billy Boyd, you may be particularly interested about the Master and Commander covers she got a peak at …
Garfeimao writes:
One is just the other side of the Houghton Mifflin display, with the Aragorn [from Return of the King, in fact – Dem.] picture up.
The other image will be of great interest to Billy Boyd fans, as it’s concerns his next film project. Norton & Company is the publisher for the Patrick O’Brian series of books that the movie Master & Commander: Far Side of the World comes from.
They will be releasing two new covers on those books, since it’s actually two books that the movie is based on. They will also be releasing a Making of Master & Commander: Far Side of the World book written by Tom McGregor.
All this will be released on October 6, and the promotion will incluude a floor display with images from the film as well. This will be timed to promote the new release date for the movie, which is now November 14.
From the pictures, you can see they are using Russell Crowe on the covers all of all three books, but the Making-of book has images throughout that will be from the film and the filming process. This is the book that Billy fans will find of most interest, since he’s third billed in the film, behind Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany.
Finally, I happened to pick up a Fall/Winter catalog for a publisher named New Page Books, a division of Career Press. They will be releasing the Essential Tolkien Sourcebook in October, and here is what the sell sheet has to say about it. I’ve included a pic of Colleen Doran with her current bestseller Orbiter, as she is doing the interior illustrations for this book.
The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook: A fan’s guide to Middle-Earth and beyond by George Beahm.
This will be a reference book of sorts, for both book fans and movie fans. It will include a bibliography of Tolkien, the movie tie-in books, and other books on Tolkien for fans to look for. It will list the wide variety of collectibles available to fans and list all the best Tolkien websites out there. It will look at many of the artists who have played in the Tolkien universe and finally show some of the Geography of Tolkien, the real world places a fan must visit.
The sheet has a lot more info, but that’s the simple version of what to expect from this book.
And if that wasn’t enough, Ringer Spy Vegan writes in with these tidbits about upcoming LoTR merchandise and board games:
I don’t have much in the way of details, because I was happily speeding through the aisles picking up free books every two seconds, but here’s what I can tell you is coming out:
USAOPOLY will be releasing Lord of the Rings backgammon and checkers sets. The checkers set will feature replicas of the One Ring as the pieces, with a map of Middle-earth serving as the board.
Also, it appears that Reiner Knizia, the makers of that LoTR board game we find so frustratingly difficult to beat (it’s great, though) will be coming out with a trivia board game. I’m not sure how the mechanics of the game work, but it was very similar in design to the previous board game. I did take the opportunity to field a few trivia questions, and you can rest assured that there are some stumpers in there.
So there you have it, much of this is probably not news to those who are on the pulse of these things, but it was fun to see this stuff up close. That Gandalf statue was magnificent, by the way, and I hope to see it a few more times before it’s retired.
The Lord of the Rings official website has been nominated for Best Internet Advertising by the Hollywood Reporter for their annual Key Arts Awards. While the final award is voted by an industry panel, this year the ordinary punters also have a say with the new “Online Voters’ Choice”. [More]