Veteran ‘The Lord of the Rings’ actors, Sean Astin (Sam) and Billy Boyd (Pippin), will star in the upcoming film ‘The Witches of Oz.’  The film, to be released in 2011, also stars comedic legend Christopher Lloyd.

The Witches of Oz follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children’s book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.

The official website for the film has posted a behind the scenes and teaser combo video to whet your whistle. [Check it out]

Congratulations to Pippin, aka Billy Boyd, who got married yesterday at a service in Glasgow, Scotland. Billy married his long time partner Ali McKinnon. The ceremony served as a LOTR reunion of sorts as both Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan were in attendance. Read more in the following EveningTimes.co.uk article. [Read More]

As part of their annual ‘12 Days of Sideshow‘ promotion, SideshowCollectibles.com has revealed quite a few upcoming LOTR statues for 2011. Joining the already pre-ordering Aragorn and Gandalf, are new statues of Arwen, Legolas and Gimli. Click on the image above to see the full version of their tease. [Gandalf Pre-Order] [Aragorn Pre-Order] [12 Days of Sideshow]

Bruce Hopkins writes: This is my down home version of a video card to you all trusting that you will have a wonderful Christmas and a superb 2011, performed without talent but sent with love, much love and happiness to you wherever and whomever you are.

Orlando Bloom Deadline.com is reporting that Orlando Bloom is expected to reprise his role as Legolas Greenleaf in the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films. You may ask, how can this be? Well, quite simply, the character of Legolas was very much alive during the timeframe of The Hobbit. In fact, he was probably several thousand years old at the time of The Lord of the Rings! Since Legolas is the son of Thranduil (The Elvenking), a major player in ‘The Hobbit,’ one can easily see Peter, Phillipa, and Fran writing him into the script. *MINOR SPOILERS* Not only would he appear in Mirkwood with the other wood-elves, he could very well lead the wood-elf contingent into the Battle of Five Armies! Deadline also mentions the negotiations for Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis are still ongoing. [Read On]

LOTR vet Sean Bean is heading back into the realm of epic fantasy as one of the central characters in an HBO series, “A Game of Thrones.” Last night the pay-for-play network unveiled an 11-minute commercial preview for the series which has fans all excited and reminds some of us around here of the good old days when “Fellowship of the Ring” was getting close to its release date.
Bean plays a pretty significant part in the series, talked about by the “R.R.” author who is still living and appears in the video along with Bean himself, seen below. And to follow day-to-day news of the production, you can check out winter-is-coming.net