Author Kristin Thompson sends along word of her new book due out soon ‘The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood’. The book is available on Pre-Order at Amazon.com: ‘”Once in a lifetime.” The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s seventeen Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood–the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet–to encourage existing fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight. Kristin Thompson interviewed seventy-six people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, videogames, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.’ [More]
Month: April 2007
Take an early look on our ‘DVD Tuesday’ feature…every Monday! Check out some Kung-Fu on DVD goodies like ’36th Chamber of Shaolin’, ‘King Boxer’ & ‘One Armed Swordsman’. There are a few compilations out tomorrow including; ‘The Doris Day Collection, Vol. 2’ & ‘Hanna-Barbera Storybook Favorites’. The big release of the week is ‘Bobby’. Personally I’m interested in ‘Bobby’ & ‘Batman: Complete Third Season’! Check out the whole list here! [More]
Thanks to those who have written in to point out the UK’s Tolkien publisher HarperCollins has released a trailer for the new ‘Children of Hurin’ book that will be released in about a week. TORn will be on hand at the New York City book event at Barns & Noble on the 17th in Manhattan where copies signed by Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee will be for sale. Houghton Mifflin is the US publisher for the book. Check it out the book “trailer” here
The keys kindly provided by Turbine Inc. to try its massive multiplayer game “The Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadow of Angmar” have now been distributed! Winners from last week’s contest have been notified via e-mail along with the key to try the game. A big thanks to Turbine Inc. (game developer) for providing the keys. We look forward to seeing many of you during the game’s trial period before its official launch on the 24th! See Lord of the Rings Online for more info about the game.
Daniel Reeve also informs M.A.R.S. Productions that his maps of Cape Cod are now available! The famous Cape Cod, with its distinctive topography, features in this beautiful hand-drawn map, which covers an area of New England in the northeastern USA, from Boston to Connecticut, including Rhode Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod itself. These beautiful limited edition prints are individually signed and numbered. Limited to 50 pieces worldwide. [danielreeve.com]
Mark writes: BBC Radio 4’s Today programme have recently aired a series of quite interesting stories about Ian McKellen’s King Lear. They offer a listen again service, and have some info on their website. [More]