Sideshow Collectibles has started their Comic-Con celebration early with the launch of their month-long Online Comic-Con. Each day they are revealing new products, exclusive discounts, and a slew of contests and giveaways. Today’s super secret product release was the Gandalf Statue, part of their recently launched Lord of the Rings Statue line-up. These statues, like the previous Sideshow/Weta line-up, are made of heavyweight polystone. Unlike the past line-up, the hope is to capture the essence of each character instead of simply capturing a moment from the films. They released Aragorn as Strider a few weeks ago, teased Legolas in a video, and now have made the Gandalf statue fully available for pre-order today. We’ll keep you updated on any other Lord of the Rings related events during their Online Comic-Con. [ Pre-Order Gandalf ]
From rpgamer.com One of the big features of this hardware generation has been the inclusion of co-op play. Online connectivity has been permitting people to go blow up zombies, Nazis, zombie Nazis, aliens, buildings, and ghosts with a buddy, but there hasn’t been much in the way of good co-op orc chopping.
WB Games and Snowblind Studios are hoping to remedy this. They found a paragraph in The Lord of The Rings mentioning a war in Mirkwood and decided to make a game out of it. Best of all, since this is being made by the same people that brought you Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, there’ll be plenty of hacking and slashing. Even more best of all, you can bring a friend. But even better than more than best of all, you can bring two friends. More..
The U.K. Daily Mirror has reported that the next film in the James Bond franchise has been suspended indefinitely due to financial woes at MGM:
Production company EON confirmed in a statement yesterday: “We do not know when development will resume and cannot comment further at this stage.” Production crews were told in April the £132million blockbuster, starring Daniel Craig, had been postponed amid “financial problems” at debt-ridden movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which co-funded the film. But now it has confirmed the movie has been axed – and it could be years before the secret agent with a license to kill is back on the big screen.
What this means, if anything, for The Hobbit is only speculation, but it certainly isn’t encouraging. Let’s hope the fact that The Hobbit is literally poised to move forward, once the green light is given, encourages both sides of the financial crisis to settle their differences as soon as possible. Read the full story here.
Message board member Ataahua sends this in ‘hot off the press’ from stuff.co.nz:
Film-maker Sir Peter Jackson can’t guarantee The Hobbit will ever be made as concerns grow that a lack of jobs is causing movie industry workers to leave Wellington. However, a spokesman for Jackson confirmed yesterday that the second of three Tintin movies will be shot in Wellington. Jackson will direct the film, with production duties going to Steven Spielberg – a reversal of their roles from the first film, to be released next year. But Robert Baldock, of Wellington’s Westside Studios, said shooting the film may not come in time to stop the drain of the capital’s movie production talent. “If somebody was to come here with a major movie right now and wanted to get some talent, they might struggle because it’s drifted north. They’re being offered three-year contracts on [TV show] Power Rangers. It is a lower rate than The Hobbit would offer, but they’re looking for that continuity” Read the entire story here.
Arch Nemesis writes: Sir Ian talks a bit about The Hobbit in this clip from TVNewZealand. He expects an announcement imminently, but states if it doesn’t happen soon – he may not do the film as he has other things planned.
From TVNewZealand: Sarah caught up with veteran actor Sir Ian McKellen when he was in New Zealand starring as Estragon in Waiting for Gordot.
