The official site has updated with a list of what we can expect on the Return of the King DVD arriving near you from May 25th. Unfortunately no Extended Edition-preview this time around. Preorders for the DVD will commence on March 12th. [More]
Month: March 2004
Things are coming together for Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Soopi sends along this image of a large ship currently docked in Wellington. The ship is rumored to be used in a ‘spectacular explosion’ during the film. Anyone with closer access and a nice digital camera, send me some more images!. [More]
The New Hollywood?
Thain Brandybuck sends in this report from the Oscar celebrations in Wellington: The Oscar festivities saw people celebrating all over the world. And the real party begun even earlier with a gathering of good friends in Wellington, New Zealand. Unaware that movie history would be made on Monday, our group Cormacolindor met for the weekend. [More]
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Thain Brandybuck sends in this report from the Oscar celebrations in Wellington:
The Oscar festivities saw people celebrating all over the world. And the real party begun even earlier with a gathering of good friends in Wellington, New Zealand. Unaware that movie history would be made on Monday, our group Cormacolindor met for the weekend. Here, back in the capital of the Kiwi version of Middle-Earth, we participated as stunt fighters at the Cuba Street Carnival parade. Fighting in full armour, including the weight of real chain-mail, swords and shields, was a challenge. We also had to brave heavy rain that stopped literally only minutes before the parade begun. And I am not sure if it helped when one of our group members recalled his experience from the filming of Helms Deep.. anyway, we came, fought, survived (well, most of us) and after 90 minutes of cheering, music and flash lights we successfully finished another public display. And after we had secured hundreds of pounds of armour and weaponry, we could finally hit town!
Wellington looked at its best, the sun kept shining and with hundreds of performers and spectators the street festival was well attended. Even more important, there were still heaps of Lord of the Rings-related things to discover.
We Cormas kept strolling around for hours, and there was so much to see! Buskers from all over the world performed, there was live music everywhere.. and all this time spent in the company of fellow Tolkienists! Oh, did I forgot to mention that we were all clad in authentic medieval/Middle-Earthish garb?
We surely drew some attention to us, especially when we improvised our favourite book and movie scenes of Lord of the Rings. Thanks to my Hobbit costume, I was put into the bucket fountain. Unnecessary to mention that my cloak about doubled its weight. Though who else can say they bathed in, well, Elijah Wood´s .. ah, nevermind. Anyway, the looks I got were nothing compared to those when another group member posed as a Nazgûl. I think we were all a little bit creeped out by how authentic it looked.
The day lights faded, we allowed ourselves a few drinks while watching the rugby and then retired into an exceptional good Turkish restaurant.
The next day was Academy Award day. The Day. The sun was shining, probably because we didn´t have to wear armour, and the wind reminded us that we were in the windiest capital of the world. Most of us had to work but I escaped the treadmill and was thus free to live the moment. And I was not alone. I even had to line up to take pictures for the Embassy Theater, a new top sightseeing attraction. A seemingly touched Lord of the Rings-fan was forced to chase his cap down Courtenay Place, which was probably a remarkable experience in itself. As my evening garb was starting to look like a sailor´s work wear, I opted for going into the Embassy. The Theater was nicely decorated with huge golden Oscar statues, and of course posters and banners.
More and more people started arriving, most of them in formal dress. Only five people/creatures were in costume: three Hobbits, a Nazgûl and a famous director. I was relived at not having put on my full gala armour! People walked around, socialising in the foyer or watching L.A. footage inside. The Embassy had arranged live coverage of the Academy Awards, and I was one of those glued to the screen. Looking back, the hours passed far too quickly! Starting with the Red Carpet ceremony, and the Countdown, the atmosphere built up. Every time Keisha or one of the Lord of the Rings- cast and –crew was seen, the crowd cheered and clapped madly.
And then the Official Ceremony begun. We surely enjoyed the Lord of the Rings-spoofs, and even better – straight afterwards the Oscars started coming home! The Kiwi audience got more and more excited.
When I thought I wouldn´t mind, I was wrong. As the hour drew closer, I became more and more excited. By now I was pacing around the theater with my newly found friend Tony, who happens to look remarkably similar to Peter Jackson. Could we Kiwis secure our position on Top of the World?
And then (finally) Steven Spielberg stepped on stage, opened the envelope – and the rest is history. The audience begun screaming and whistling. Nearly everyone was on her or his feet by now – even the Prime minister of New Zealand who was also one of the invited party members. I actually cannot clearly remember the next half an hour but national television showed us dancing in the aisles. With huge Hobbit smiles. And fairly roundish eyes.
The audience slowly moved out to the foyer where our celebration began.. there were VIPs everywhere, and cameras and.. well, fellow Tolkienists were difficult to identify. This was Peter Jackson´s hour of triumph and anyway, I had given in to that already. I was introduced to a few people, surprisingly many of them American, and finally escaped to talk to one of the Hobbit extras.
With the noise slowly dying down, we finished giving TV and radio interviews and finally fled to the waterfront. What better way to finish this day then congratulating the magic crew itself?
Standing in front of the Chicago was a funny feeling: this is where the Red Carpet After Party in December 2003 was held. All of the outer decoration was removed by now, of course. But the bar itself was fully decorated, and loud music and cheering could be heard everywhere. This is where the crew of WETA Workshop and WETA Digital was still celebrating! And even after 6 hours of partying, people kept coming. We were mistaken for guests and treated quite nicely. We also managed to congratulate a few people, among them the armoursmith, the weapon maker and others. There were so many happy faces! Unfortunately, we were discovered and left with what was left of our dignity..
.. only to see footage of our arrival at the WETA party on late night news. Followed by pictures of The One Party in L.A. And so it was shown to the world that this was our day, too. We Ringers are everywhere!
Decipher announced today that Weta Workshop, the Academy Award-winning special effects studio responsible for creating many props and special effects used in New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings films, will create unique photographic images that will be featured on cards in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. Under the terms of their agreement, Weta Workshop will cast, costume and create character images that did not appear in the films for Decipher’s use in The Lord of the Rings TCG. [More]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ TRADING CARD GAME TO FEATURE ORIGINAL IMAGES FROM WETA WORKSHOP
THE AWARD-WINNING STUDIO THAT CREATED SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR THE FILM TRILOGY WILL DESIGN IMAGES OF CHARACTERS NOT YET SEEN EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE TCG
(Norfolk, VAR12;March 8th, 2004) R12; Decipher announced today that Weta Workshop, the Academy Award-winning special effects studio responsible for creating many props and special effects used in New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings films, will create unique photographic images that will be featured on cards in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. Under the terms of their agreement, Weta Workshop will cast, costume and create character images that did not appear in the films for Decipher’s use in The Lord of the Rings TCG.
Current plans for character designs include: Tom Bombadil, the enigmatic character who saved the Hobbits before they got to Bree in the first novel of the J.R.R. Tolkien epic; Goldberry, Tom Bombadil’s wife; Radagast, Gandalf’s wizard peer; Glorfindel, the original elf who took Frodo to Rivendell; and Elrohir and Elladan, sons of Elrond; among others.
“We are extremely honored to have Weta involved in bringing these characters to life through our trading card game,” said Warren Holland, Decipher’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Richard Taylor and his team in New Zealand have created some of the most outstanding special effects in the history of film. We are looking forward to the wonders that they will create for our game, further extending Middle-earth for TCG players, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien fans and collectors.”
Richard Taylor, Director of Weta Workshop, said, “Weta Workshop is very excited about the challenge of creating these wonderful new characters for Decipher’s The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. We wanted to create many of these characters for the films, but obviously the limitations of screen time prevented that from happening. These are characters the fans have been clamoring to see and now they can exclusively through Decipher’s game.” He continued, “Staying loyal to the words of J.R.R. Tolkien has been enormously important to us in everything that we have created for the film trilogy R12; and we intend to do the same with the images that we will create for Decipher.”
The first four cards to feature Weta’s original images are bonus premium cards from The Countdown Collection: Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Radagast, and Glorfindel. The Countdown Collection is a retail promotion that began in August; the promotion offers players and collectors the opportunity to earn 18 exclusive cards, a collector’s binder designed to house the cards earned through the promotion, and the four bonus cards bearing Weta’s exclusive designs that will ship this spring. The next Weta original image cards will appear in the game in 2004.
Creating almost every aspect of Middle-earth, Weta Workshop designed and produced over 1,200 hand-made suits of armor, 2,000 weapons, miniatures, and prosthetic feet and ears that helped create the authenticity manifested in the films. In addition, Weta Workshop was responsible for the creation of 12 major creatures, including such computer-generated characters as Gollum and Treebeard.
About Decipher
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2003, Decipher Inc. — founded by Warren Holland — is a worldwide leader in the collectible card game industry and fan club industry. The company’s Trading Card Game Studio produces STAR TREK™, The Lord of the Rings™, .hack//ENEMY, and Beyblade trading card games.
DecipherR17;s Fan Club Studio operates the official fan clubs for STAR TREK ™ and The Lord of the Rings™ which
includes publishing official fan magazines and managing online stores. Decipher’s Roleplaying Games & Miniatures Studio is responsible for the creation of the STAR TREK ™ Roleplaying Game and The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying Game. Decipher’s Online Games Studio offers digital versions of its STAR TREK ™ and, soon, its The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Games. Decipher’s Games Studio produces leading party, card and board games such as How To Host A Murder®, How To Host A Teen Mystery™, Scratchees™ and more. Decipher’s Boy Crazy!™ Studio markets the popular Boy Crazy!™ brand for girls which includes a magazine, web site at boycrazy.com, and various publishing and licensing ventures. Visit decipher.com for additional information.
ABOUT NEW LINE CINEMA
Founded in 1967, New Line Cinema is among the entertainment industry’s leading independent producer and distributor of theatrical motion pictures. New Line licenses its films to ancillary markets including cable and broadcast television as well as to international venues. The company, which is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., operates several divisions including in-house theatrical distribution, marketing, home video, television, acquisition, production, licensing and merchandising units. More information about New Line Cinema can be obtained at www.newline.com.