From canada.com: Everyone loves a franchise. And why wouldn’t they? Franchises always mean more of a good thing. More books, films, video games, and unnecessary novelizations for the fans and more money for the Hollywood types. It’s when franchises crossover into new territory that fans get a little nervous. Adapting that awesome comic book or beloved novel into a film can send even the most optimistic and loyal devotees into spasms of fear. With the release of Twilight, an adaptation of the insanely popular series of novels by Stephenie Meyer, we take a look at ten film franchises that had to please rabid fan bases. Great Expectations
Category: Movie Return of the King
Mary writes: Attention all Rings fans, Entertainment Weekly is running a poll on after a few years, which movie really should have won the Oscar in 2003. Get your votes in for ROTK!!!!
Kangi Ska from the Minnesota Tolkien Society writes: The Riverview Theater (3800 42nd Ave South Minneapolis, MN 55406) will be hosting its fourth annual screening of the trilogy on Sunday December 21st. This year, for the first time ever, they will be showing the extended editions of Fellowship of the Rings and Two Towers! The following link is to ticketing information and times Etc. Tickets can be ordered on the site. Showtime Info:612-729-7369 Box Office: 612-729-7360
Bluepilgrim writes: The 2-week-old Montgomery Cinema n’ Drafthouse in Wheaton, Maryland will be presenting the annual Lord of the Rings Movie Festival with all-three theatrical versions, costume and Gollum impersonation contests on Sunday October 26th beginning at 11:30am. This event has been held in Virginia for the last few years and it’s been a blast! If you wish to join the DC Ringers: Fellowship of the Beltway at this event, follow this link.
Tickets are now available for the Royal Albert Hall showing of FOTR in high def with the London Philharmonic! The event will take place on April 14th and 15th. Follow the link for more details!
Empire Magazine has published their 500 Greatest Movies list gauged in a poll of critics, filmmakers and the public. I’m still scouring the entire list to get you some individual actor’s achievements, however the breakdown for the LOTR trilogy is:
The Fellowship of the Ring: 24
The Two Towers: 54
The Return of the King: 34
Peter Jackson’s King Kong clocks in at 450, Empire writes: Most remakes are exercises in money-grubbing cynicism, but Peter Jackson’s King Kong is all about love – for a film, a monster, a style of cinema and a child’s instant bonding with a screen icon.
Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste clocks in at 416, Empie writes: Filmed during four years’ worth of weekends by Jackson and his mates, this cheerfully psychotic tale of human-eating aliens had its micro-budget funded in part by a New Zealand government grant.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is 132: Guillermo del Toro fuses personal and commercial interests with a tale of the power of fairy tale, even against the grimmest of political settings: the Spanish Civil War.
You can see the entire list here.