I am not too sure if you’ve noticed the goings on at our other site Kongisking.net, but Gandalf has returned to New Zealand to spy for us on the set of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Take a look at PJ’s crew trying to capture the quick-footed wizard, and a great few seconds of Andy Serkis with a machine gun! [More]
Category: Production
Scholastic Goes Back to Press on Cornelia Funke’s Latest Novel
Dragon Rider Hits #1 on New York Times and Book Sense Best-Seller Lists
NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ — Scholastic announced today that it was going back to press for 100,000 copies of its new breakaway best-seller, Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, bringing the total to 250,000 copies in print. Scholastic released Dragon Rider in mid-August with an initial print run of 150,000 copies. In less than a month the book hit #1 on The New York Times best-seller list as well as the Book Sense best-seller list. In the two short years since Funke’s debut in America, there are currently 2,000,000 copies of her books in print in the U.S. and Canada.
Scholastic is supporting Dragon Rider with a $150,000 marketing campaign including distributing thousands of advanced reading copies, a national print and radio advertising campaign and a national publicity campaign. Cornelia Funke will be touring to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in October, as well as to Boston where she will be a speaker at the New England Booksellers Association regional convention and Detroit where she will speak at the Great Lakes Booksellers Association regional convention. Funke will also be doing a live web chat on October 5 at 1 p.m. EDT. at http://www.scholastic.com/corneliafunke.
A best-selling author in Germany, Cornelia Funke made her American debut in the fall of 2002 with The Thief Lord and became one of the most successful first-time children’s authors in the United States. The book was a New York Times best-seller for 25 weeks and winner of the 2003 Book Sense Book of the Year Award. According to USA Today, ” … this exquisitely told tale of adventure and intrigue set in contemporary Venice can be read, or more accurately devoured, by teenagers and adults.”
In 2003, Funke followed up with another best-seller, Inkheart. The first title in Funke’s Inkheart trilogy was on The New York Times best-seller list for 21 weeks. The novel was also a Publishers Weekly and Book Sense best- seller and was a finalist for the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Award. The thrilling adventure about a young girl, Meggie, whose father can make fictional characters come to life by reading a book out loud, was hailed in a starred review in Publishers Weekly: “Funke once again proves the power of her imagination; readers will be captivated by the thrilling world she has created here.”
Cornelia Funke recently announced a deal with New Line Cinema who will develop her Inkheart trilogy as a potential kid’s fantasy franchise. In a Variety article, New Line executive Vice President Mark Ordesky said, “It’s the perfect segue from ‘Lord of the Rings’ to ‘Inkheart.’ Apart from Cornelia’s huge status within Europe, her international popularity is only just beginning to crest.”
Dragon Rider tells the story of Firedrake and Sorrell, two dragons whose peaceful valley is threatened with danger. Together they set off to find the mythical Rim of Heaven – the only place in the world where dragons can be safe forever. Along the way they meet an orphaned boy named Ben who volunteers to be their navigator and quickly becomes their friend. With an evil dragon hunter on their trail, their quest turns into a battle for survival. A true adventure, Dragon Rider is an exciting, heartwarming, and ultimately triumphant tale about the power of belief and the true meaning of home.
Cornelia Funke is published in America by Scholastic in partnership with The Chicken House-founded in the United Kingdom by Barry Cunningham, the original publisher of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Mr. Cunningham first learned of Cornelia Funke through a letter he received from an eleven- year-old girl wanting to know why her favorite children’s writer wasn’t published in English.
Scholastic Corporation (Nasdaq:SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, and school-based and direct- to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries, and television networks; and the Company’s Internet Site, http://www.scholastic.com.
Parn from go-to-sleep.net sent along her collection of images from the Fellowship Festival that took place last weekend in London. Take a look at some of the people who attended, Alan Lee, John Howe, Karl Urban, Lawrence Makoare, Bruce Hopkins, John Noble, Gino Acevedo and the always adorable Sarah McLeod! [More]
According to NZPA, the big three Hollywood stars of Peter Jackson’s $NZ200 million ($A185.47 million) King Kong are already in awe of the project (even) before the cameras roll next month. [More]
Elanor1013 writes: Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne have been awarded Variety’s top honor, Showmen of the Year, for 2004, and New Line’s production of LOTR features heavily–there is a whole special issue for the award, littered with LOTR references. Here are some scans from the issue, including an article about their websites which also mentions TORn. [More]
Two New Zealand projects are to benefit from an international fundraising project by fans of The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films.
The fundraising has helped kick off Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree scheme, and will also provide more than US$800 to the organ donation awareness group GiveLife.
Coordinator Stephanie Blevins, in the United States, says the fundraising was a way for LOTR fans on the website TheOneRing.net (TORN) to say thank you to Peter Jackson for creating such a successful film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.
“We just wanted to thank Peter Jackson so much for making these films. The fans are such wonderful and giving people and they saw this as a great opportunity to show their appreciation in a tangible way.
“The response has been incredible. Fans from around the world have contributed to the fundraising, which shows you just how widely the films have touched people,” says Stephanie.
Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree scheme was chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the fundraising as a salute to Professor Tolkien, who was an avowed environmentalist. Eleven kauri trees will be planted in Willowbank Park in Tawa, at 2pm on September 2 – the 11 trees comprise nine for the ‘Fellowship of the cast and crew’ of the films, and one each for Peter Jackson and Professor Tolkien (while also honouring the 11-Oscar sweep of The Return of the King).
The GiveLife foundation was chosen as Peter Jackson has publicly supported the issue of organ donation in New Zealand.
Erica Challis, the Kiwi co-founder of TORN, says the fundraising is an example of how the Internet can enable people who are widely separated by distance to collaborate on projects that are dear to their hearts, and she congratulates the fans for their initiative.
“As a Tolkien website, we’re aware of the Professor’s love of trees and his distress at the way urban development comes so often at the expense of many beautiful old trees. So there’s no question he would have approved of a tree-planting effort in his honour.
“As for organ donation, Peter Jackson has known a number of people to whom this is a life or death issue, and we applaud his efforts to help publicise the problem with low donor rates in New Zealand. It’s a problem that doesn’t need to exist, and wouldn’t exist if there were more awareness of the organ donation process.”
Says Andy Tookey of GiveLife: “I’m extremely grateful for the support and generosity that LOTR fans have contributed to the cause of helping save lives in New Zealand. With their support we have been able to advance the cause quite significantly in recent times.”
Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast says she is delighted that Wellington City Council’s commemorative tree programme was chosen as a beneficiary of the LOTR international fundraising project.
“This is a very generous gesture and we thank the fans for it. As this is the very first commemorative tree planting it is very special. It is honouring one of Wellington’s most loved sons, Peter Jackson, while at the same time commemorating Professor Tolkien. We, in Wellington, are very proud of our association with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The trees will be planted at Willowbank Park and I am sure this park will become another very popular LOTR site for tourists and residents to visit,” she says.
Since the release of the LOTR movies, fans have travelled to New Zealand to see for themselves the places where key scenes were filmed. Both Stephanie and Erica expect the kauri trees in Willowbank Park to attract fans from TORN who wish to see what their fundraising efforts have achieved.
Says Erica: “The way Tolkien wrote, the way Peter Jackson’s team made the movies, the way Lord of the Rings fandom developed, and the way TheOneRing.net was developed by enthusiasts: these are all things that were done out of a sense of fun and sheer delight in being creative. All things that people did from following their own inclinations – and yet they’ve given an enormous amount of benefit and pleasure to millions of people. One should never underestimate the power of creative joy.”
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Anyone wanting to support the commemorative tree scheme should contact WCC’s Visitor Services and Events Coordinator for Parks and Gardens, Amanda White, on +64 4 472 5684 or amanda.white@wcc.govt.nz. Donations to GiveLife can be made via the website www.givelife.org.nz