Parting is such sweet sorrow (there will be spoilers for the last few Harry Potter films)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a wonderfully creative film with a more unique look due to a new director. But the film franchise always had the same set of Producers, and thank goodness for that. They were the real shepherds to make sure Rowling’s story stayed the course. After all, this series of stories was turning into an epic tale of good versus evil, and there were character arcs to maintain, bits that had to be dropped in to earlier films so that they could pay off in later films. When Dobby first showed up, didn’t you wonder if he was just going to be another Jar Jar Binks? Who knew that he’d be so important to the story later on, or that you’d cry at the end of Deathly Hallows part 1 when he dies? But we also had to have knowledge of the basis of the Horcruxes and the qualities of the Sword of Gryffindor and learn about Polyjuice potion and dueling and the Room of Requirement too. So Prisoner of Azkaban was followed by the Goblet of Fire, and we get our first death and our first indication of the seriousness of this epic battle in the making. We were now getting the type of high drama we’d gotten in the Lord of the Rings. This was followed by Order of the Phoenix, and another high profile death, coupled with a really spectacular duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded The Bridge Direct, Inc. the Master Toy License for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. The toy line will launch in the fall of 2012:
TheOneRing.net has an exciting LIVE show today for TORn Tuesdays! Hosted by long-time staffer Clifford Broadway, aka Quickbeam, we will have an exclusive conversation with star-designers from Fantasy Flight Games’ HOT bestselling “Lord of the Rings Living Card Game,” Nate French and Lucas Litzsinger! Expect REVEALS OF EXCITING NEW CARDS, and in-depth conversation with our guests on the challenges of adapting Tolkien, which so many artists must face. You can participate too — interacting live and posing questions in our Barliman’s chatroom. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE event section at 5:00PM Pacific Time! [LIVE Event Area] (TORn Tuesday will take place from approx 5-7pm PT – See All Times)
During the month of October Sideshow Collectibles holds its awesome Spooktacular Event. Now, while this would tend to make folks think Halloween, Vampires, Zombies, and not something from Middle-earth. However, the next character to get the maquette treatment in the The Lord of the Rings maquette line does, I would say, meet the requirements to be announced during Spooktacular. We have seen a quick glimpse of the maquette in a statue video Sideshow had out a while back. In that video the Ringwraith was holding the Witch-king of Angmar sword so that right there could be your exclusive item while the regular would just be a standard maquette. As soon as this new maquette is fully shown hopefully during Spooktacular we will have the images and information for you. Stay tuned! [Spooktacular]
Keith writes: A limited edition t-shirt of the Balrog as depicted by legendary comic artist Walter Simonson (The Mighty Thor) will be on sale exclusively at the Epic Proportions booth at New York Comic-Con in October. More..
