Now here’s an interesting concept. Assuming part of why you frequent TheOneRing.net is interest in the LOTR/Hobbit movies, would you have paid to see them on opening night – at home? Some of you may already be aware of the proposed ‘Screening Room’ offering from this article at deadline.com in March. More recently, deadline reports that Sir Peter Jackson has enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon in support of Screening Room, joining a number of other directors, including Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams.
If, like many of us, you heard about the making of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies before they even started production (and were old enough to read at the time, haha), you probably remember the good old days of endless debates and discussions around casting rumors! Was Sean Connery really considered to portray Gandalf? Was Sylvester McCoy considered for a role long before he brought Radagast to life in The Hobbit movies? This interesting article over at moviepilot.com puts a number of those rumors to rest.
Do you think Patrick Stewart would have made a good Gandalf? What about Jake Gyllenhaal as Frodo? If there are any rumors left over from the olden days that aren’t covered in this article, let us know in the comments section and we’ll see what we can find out. Read the full article here.
Do you love The Lord of the Rings? Do you love to color? Then our friends at HarperCollins have just the thing for you. You can now experience some of your favorite scenes from this brilliant trilogy in a new way. Up for Pre-Order right now at $15.99, with shipping starting May 31st of this year, you can now color The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The sheets with the detailed characters is done on heavy duty paper so any type of artist can have their go at the first authorized coloring book based on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This is a great item for any fan of Middle-earth or artist in your family.
With the sixth season of The HBO series Game of Thrones just around the corner, are comparisons between it and The Lord of the Rings inevitable? The Irish Times seems to think so. In this provocative article, author Ed Power explores the irresistible urge of some fans to rank them against each other.
“Central to the whispering campaign against Tolkien is the idea that he peddled a reductive world view. While George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire sequence is regarded as mature, complex and reflective of real human life, Lord of The Rings is felt to be fusty, puritanical and cheesily moralistic. Nobody in Game of Thrones is truly good or bad”
The Lord of the Rings is cheesy and puritanical? Oh dear. Of course, devoted fans of J.R.R. Tolkien would never describe it that way, but devoted fans of George R.R. Martin (who haven’t read LOTR?) might – and some apparently do. Can Jaime Lannister hold a candle to Aragorn, or vice versa? Are Gollum, Eowyn or John Snow one-dimensional?
As a devoted fan of both (yes, it’s quite possible), I personally think that the difference between the two is a good thing. Both approaches can be enormously entertaining, cringe-worthy at times, yet pierce the heart with both beauty and tragedy. What about you? Do you have a preference or do you enjoy both? Read the full article, and let us know!
Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” turns 15 years old this year and the Newport Beach Film Festival in Southern California is planning a fun little celebration next week. In fact, I’m quite sure TheOneRing.net will be celebrating this fact all year long at various events. Anyhow, if the FOTR Anniversary screening goes well, the Festival will host one for The Two Towers next year, and again in 2018 for The Return of the King.
On Sunday, April 24 there will be a full afternoon of Tolkien fun, starting first with a lunchtime Moot at the Corner Bakery Cafe at 1621 W. Sunflower Ave in Santa Ana. This is in a little shopping center across the street from the theater and very near to the South Coast Plaza. There will be some opportunity for fun and games at 2pm over at the theater where we plan on having our Barrel and backdrop for photo ops, some trivia and most importantly, a costume contest. Below is a little timeline to help you organize your day.
*Moot – Noontime till 2pm at the Corner Bakery Cafe
*Line Party fun – 2pm till 3pm – Regency South Coast Village theater
*Film – 3pm start, should finish around 6:30pm or so
Normally, a retrospective film like this only costs $5 per person and tickets can be purchased at the Film Festival website, but TheOneRing.net has secured a Barrel full of Tickets to share with local fans, especially those in costume.
All you have to do to secure a pair of tickets is email me at garfeimao@TheOneRing.net and tell me what costume you plan to wear. It can be a full on fancy costume with prosthetics, or a costume lite variation, or even a mash-up or gender bender, anything even remotely Tolkien related, including Tolkien himself. After all, not only will there will be a costume contest, but really, who needs an excuse like a free ticket or prize to wear a costume, don’t we all live for this?
One note, for those of you with costumes that have weaponry or large accessories, you can wear that for the contest, and then it must be returned to your car before entering the theater for the film.
Costumed attendees, or those with a companion in costume should RSVP to me by Monday at noon. If we still have tickets left after that, I will open it up to those who do not wish to wear a costume. All updates and announcements will be made on our Facebook Event page.
So come join TheOneRing.net and a load of local Tolkien fans at what should be a lovely day at the theater.
Wellington’s Tolkien Society, Welly-moot, have been in touch to let us know that they are hosting the ULTIMATE Middle-earth Marathon at the Roxy in ‘Wellywood’ over 24 hours, Thursday 24th to Friday 25th March. That’s all SIX of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies, Extended Editions, over one day!
Now here’s an interesting concept. Assuming part of why you frequent TheOneRing.net is interest in the LOTR/Hobbit movies, would you have paid to see them on opening night – at home? Some of you may already be aware of the proposed ‘Screening Room’ offering from this article at deadline.com in March. More recently, deadline reports that Sir Peter Jackson has enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon in support of Screening Room, joining a number of other directors, including Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams.
