BonMothma writes:
I have enjoyed offering fans the chance to see what it’s like to experience “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” from the point of view of a singer in the Mendelssohn Choir (read PART I & PART II). I had planned to talk about this past week’s rehearsals and performances in this final chapter. Last night, however, Dr. Page, the director of the choir, made it clear to me that he does not like details of the rehearsals being made public.
Honestly, it never occurred to me that this might be the case. I liken it to watching all the behind-the-scenes stuff on the extended DVD’s. It gives me a greater appreciation for the finished product when I see the hard work and care that went into it. Obviously, not everyone feels this way, and I will abide by Dr. Page’s wishes.
However, I do not wish to leave this story unfinished, so I’ll skip the rehearsals and talk about what it was like to experience these performances from the stage.
First of all, a bit more about the piece itself. Listeners will hear music other that what’s listed in the program.
The first movement lists “The Prophecy – Concerning Hobbits – The Shadow of the Past – A Short Cut to Mushrooms – The Old Forest – A Knife in the Dark.” It concludes with the music from “The Treason of Isengard” – the wizard fight.
The second movement lists “Many Meetings – The Ring Goes South [this includes some music from FOTR EE when Arwen and Aragorn look at each other as the Fellowship is leaving] – A Journey in the Dark – The Bridge of Khazad-dum – Lothlorien – Gandalf’s Lament – Farewell to Lorien [FOTR EE, Galadriel’s gifts] – The Great River [There is some music from Amon Hen in here next, including some from the score but not on the soundtrack album] – The Breaking of the Fellowship.”
The third movement lists “Foundations of Stone – The Taming of Smeagol – The Riders of Rohan – The Black Gate is Closed – Evenstar – The White Rider – Treebeard – The Forbidden Pool.” I didn’t notice anything additional in this movement.
The fourth movement lists “The Hornburg – Forth Eorlingas – Isengard Unleashed – Gollum’s Song.” Again, nothing additional to what was listed.
The fifth movement lists “Hope and Memory [Pretty much all of “Minas Tirith” is added here] – The White Tree – The Steward of Gondor – Cirith Ungol – Anduril.”
The sixth movement lists “The End of All Things [it actually begins with “The Fields of the Pelennor” – the whole thing, then plays part of “Hope Fails” before going into “The End of All Things.”] – The Return of the King – The Grey Havens – Into the West.”
The setup for these performances differs according to the venue, I’m sure, but for us, the choir was set up behind the orchestra. The screen was above our heads and just in front of the choir. Howard Shore was not extremely pleased with this set up, because the pictures are not supposed to be the focus, but it was the only way to do it at Heinz Hall. It was hard for me to not look up at the pictures when I had down time in the performance, but I glanced at them during the last rehearsal when I could.
Howard Shore’s conducting style was a pleasure to experience. He was very animated and expressive. For me, it really helped set the mood for whatever was happening musically. Offstage, he is quiet and reserved, but very gracious with his fans.
The sound of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was balanced very differently for me because the percussion section was directly in front of us, and the French horns were in front of them. The strings sounded very far away sometimes (they were), but it gave me an opportunity to hear things in a totally new way. The percussion section was a sight to behold. There were some interesting things used to get the right sounds for the Isengard and Treebeard music. My favorite percussion moments were the drums at the beginning of “The Fields of the Pelennor,” and an occasional deep bass drum, that softly punctuated some of the quieter moments.
One of my favorite instrumental moments was “The Forbidden Pool.” I loved the combination of instruments that creates the sound of water in that sequence. I also loved the music for the lighting of the beacons. The horns all sounded so majestic.
It’s hard to pick one section that I liked singing best. Actually, one of my favorites was a part I did not sing – the Moria part when the Fellowship see the city of Dwarrowdelf. I loved hearing the men’s voices swell at that climax. We moved from Khazad Dum to Lothlorien, which was a big change. I loved singing that part – very ethereal. I think my other favorites were pretty much everything in the fifth and sixth movements, especially “The Steward of Gondor” – a very haunting sound.
I got to talk a bit with Sissel after Wednesday’s rehearsal. She is a very gracious and beautiful lady. I enjoyed listening to her renditions of “Gollum’s Song” and “Into the West,” but where she really shined was on the high parts. “Evenstar” was beautiful, but my favorite was in “The Return of the King,” where Arwen and Aragorn are reunited. Everything gets quiet, and all you hear is her voice. It was stunning.
Howard Shore, if you’re reading this, thank you for your beautiful work on these movies and for putting together such a brilliant symphony. I’m looking forward to the release of the boxed set. I apologize for anything I’ve said in these posts that may have revealed more than you would have wished. I’m just an enthusiastic fan who is very grateful to have experienced this, and wished to share it with those who can’t.
I am also grateful to Dr. Page for allowing me to sing with the Mendelssohn Choir. And I wish to thank Fred-O, whose letter to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra prompted them to book these concerts. The final performance for this was on my birthday. To sing my favorite music on my birthday is the best present I could receive. I had to keep my composure and focus for these performances, but once I had finished last night, I began to cry. It was so wonderful and beautiful to participate in this, and I am sorry that it’s over. I will never forget it.
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Phillip writes: You don’t seem to have a report of ‘the documentary ‘Frodo Is Great Who is That?’ I saw it yesterday at the Wellington Film Festival and provide this review.
‘Frodo Is Great Who Is That’ was shown at the Wellington International Film Festival on July 31st to a full house that included the filmmakers, Jamie Selkirk, and a good number of the people who appear in it. The movie itself helped to general a cheerful, uproarious and celebratory event.
The film itself was well made and well constructed by three young Wellington filmmakers who made the best of a great opportunity. We get the full story of Figwit from his first appearance in FOTR (the clip from the movie with helpful red arrows added) to the filming of his speaking appearance in ROTK (17 takes were required to get the line right), the final footage used in the film and Flight of the Conchords’ performance at the Wellington world premiere of ROTK.
In between we get loads of laid-back Kiwi irony from Bret’s father (who played Elendil in the prologue), friends, fellow band members, assorted web site organizers from around the world (including, of course, Tehanu), members of The Scottish Fellowship and random members of the public in the streets of Edinburgh during the festival. The big coup is a substantial range of contributions from cast and crew of LOTR, including major contributions from PJ, Barry Osborne, Mark Ordesky and most of the major stars. The whole mood is a mixture of in joking, self-mockery and genuine delight at the whole Figwit phenomenon. We get an hour of good entertainment and lots of laughter, but we also get an insight into the whole FOTR story as a cultural phenomenon that takes us beyond what we have seen in the documentaries on the DVDs or in Costa Botes’ ‘making of..’ film. And beyond that again we get a quite serious implicit case study in the power of the Internet, the relationship between TORN, New Line and PJ, and the global reach of popular cultural phenomena.
The production values in this film are very high, stretching from New Zealand to Israel to Scotland, and including powerful references to the movies themselves. Add to that the significant participation of a lot of well known faces who are not just going through the motions but energetically performing and clearly having a lot of fun (‘letting their hair down’ seems to be especially appropriate given the frequent send ups of elves and their hair). The film makes the very best of the opportunity they got (all three themselves worked on LOTR). It moves fast, is well structured, has been tightly edited, and has narrative coherence. It deserves a global audience, and at 60 minutes has clearly been aimed at television.
If you get a chance to see it don’t leave before the. The climactic joke builds through the credits and reaches its finale after the credits have finished. For those of us who were fortunate enough to attend the Wellington screening this joke continued into the Q and A session afterwards.
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Tigger-ette writes: We have just come back from the Exhibition in Boston. From walking through stone dwarvish doors at the entrance to seeing Sauron towering over human adults and halflings, there is something for any fan of the movie. The layout is spaced so that if one display is crowded one can move around very easily, and visit it again when less crowded.
There are interactive displays which makes the exhibition more engaging for little ones that like to move. You can take home a picture souvenir of your (hobbit)self for $5.00 Do not expect every costume, but there are several of different points of the movies, armour of all middle-earthlings is displayed especially well. There are some great prints on the walls from different stages of the movie making.
On your way out you can pay homage to the Captain of Gondor in final repose. The gift shop is decorated nicely, but doesn’t have much in the way of special merchandise for the exhibition. There are some opportunities for special visits (and visitors) coming up at the exhibit. You can find out more information at www.mos.org.
Hope everyone has a great time tonight for the special midnight to dawn showing!
—–
Hobbitfan
I have just returned from the LOTR Exhibit. Today was the Members Viewing Day, and, as I’ve been a member for a while, I decided to go. I got there early, though it turned out my tickets were for noon. I’m thanking whoever may be up there that I did because, in an enclosed area of the gift shop, a certain New Zealand prosthetics supervisor we all know and love was setting up to turn someone into an orc. On further inquiry the someone turned out to be Lawrence Makoare!!!!! Got his autograph and watched his transformation, which took four hours (there was, of course, the brief interruption of the actual exhibit, which is bloody good fun). Truly amazing. After he was fully dressed, he went upstairs to the exhibit room to mingle. Luckily, I had tickets to the 3:00 pm showing as well, so was able to follow him. He made a few small friends (no one actually cried, which was good) and goofed around with other viewers. This was quite sweet, as he was obviously dying of heat.
P.S. Apparently, in addition to member nights, editing lectures, and the such, Sean Astin is going to be at the exhibit Oct. 15-16!
—–
Red
At the Museum of Science’s Members-only Event for the Boston LotR Exhibit (July 31st, 2004):
I’d been looking forward to this exhibit for more than a year; indeed, ever since I first heard news of its first stop, in Te Papa. Since I’m local this summer, I decided to make it a point to go. Firstly, do be sure to get to the Museum at least fifteen to thirty minutes early. This is so that one may buy and/or pick up tickets and still have time to get to the exhibit proper. Buy tickets ahead of time from the exhibit’s official site; lines will be horrendous once the season picks up. Don’t bother to bring a camera or a cell phone; one will be asked to leave it outside or leave oneself. The security guards are being very fair about this. Also try to avoid bringing in large bags. Sketchbooks are perfectly acceptable, of course. Once in the exhibit, one will not be allowed to leave and then come back, so do whatever else is necessary ahead of time.
Before one enters the Museum, one can see the New Zealand flag is flying between the U.S. flag and the one for the Museum itself. There are several large posters on the outside walls. There is a huge window netting with the FotR theatrical poster on, on the window bank over the entrance, of the sort that is only visible from the outside. Inside the main lobby, there are long, paired banners hanging from the ceiling: Aragorn and Arwen; Frodo and Gandalf; Saruman and A Random Orc/Uruk-hai; and Gimli and…Elrond? Not that I don’t wholly appreciate Elrond, certainly, but still. Hm. Ah, well. Moving on.
Before the entrance to the ‘Red Wing’ are the Argonath, as described by various other reports from earlier stops. One must walk down the wide corridor to reach the hall where the exhibit is being housed. Just previous to the stairs, however, was a curtained-off area where a staff member was applying Orc facial prosthetics to some poor soul or other (presumably also a staff member). Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay to examine the work being done, as the time-slot printed on my ticket was coming up. When in queue, a very nice staff member was giving out mallorn-leaf temporary tattoos: one to each ticket-holder. I believe that this was only for the members-only event, but I could well be wrong. I’ll find out tomorrow when I go again.
But back to the exhibit itself! The anteroom was a partial mock-up of Dwarrowdelf Hall, complete with pillar bases. There weren’t any Cirth to be found, unfortunately. At the entrance to the roped-off lines was a panelled blurb on the filmmakers. There were lots of said panels in a similar vein scattered about the exhibit, each pertaining to whatever props and/or costumes there displayed. Also all around the hall were framed paintings and pencil drawings by Alan Lee, John Howe, and other concept artists–simply beautiful. Just after entering through the doors was an absolutely huge sculpture of the Cave Troll and a Moria Orc. It had a rather startling effect, to say the least. Music from the multiple video features around the hall was played almost constantly; Howard Shore’s gorgeous score was an excellent complement to the physical features displayed (as it was to the film), and made the exhibit even more wonderful. Bravo!
To the left of the entrance was a whole wall of glass cases featuring various and sundry Elven items, including a sceptre with a lovely milk-white stone held by four leaf-shaped prongs, Elrond’s circlet, Vilya, and an ‘Elven telescope’ with a few characters of Tengwar worked into the design (first case). The second case held Haldir’s complete weapons kit from Helm’s Deep, including a gorgeous double-recurve bow, a quiver full of swan-fletched (of course) arrows, and his sword and scabbard. The last cases contained Gil-galad’s shield, as well as a regular Prologue Elven shield, with sword. The latter had no visible insignia on it, but was covered in organic designs somewhat remeniscent of the La Tene Celtic style. On top of these cases was Aiglos in all its (un-bloodied) glory. Both of these shields were of the same size and shape, but Gil-galad’s shield was emblazoned with his eponymous star, as befits a king. The design on the central boss was very closely based on the Professor’s sigil for the character.
A Gondorian saddle, -cloth, and -horse was on display near these cases. The leather was beautifully tooled, worn and scratched with real wear. The wooden seat had on seven studs for the Seven Stars, the White Tree on the sides, and the seabird’s wings on the opposite end. The cloth was a royal blue velvet, with white piping about the edges and the Tree on two of the corners. This, too, was worn, but stained instead with dried mud. The saddle-horse’s crosspieces were carved into an interlocking design.
Next was the forced-perspective interactive exhibit, as previously reported by others. Try not to be wearing green if you plan on trying this one out, as you’ll have to wear a smock so that the green screen won’t project the Shire onto your chest. An interesting experience, I’m sure, but it would be best to avoid it.
There were many ‘islands’ in the centre of the hall, displaying character costumes and related props. Aragorn and Arwen were on one, with his Ranger outfit, the shards of Narsil, and the reforged Andzril, and her riding and Requiem dresses with fabric swatches of the same, as well as her blood-red mourning dress. Also on this island was Thioden, replete with his battle armour and weaponry, as well as an assortment of Rohirric drinking and decorative horns, a ‘Royal Rohan Shield,’ Thioden’s royal seal with carved box and red wax sticks, and a plentiful amount of Rohirric belt buckles and aglets. All were heavily detailed and very beautiful.
As for the Hobbits, there was only Frodo’s costume shown. Props for that island included Thorin’s map, the mithril vest, Sting and its scabbard, the Red Book, the Phial, and a mallorn-leaf brooch–all Hobbit-sized.
Legolas and Gimli had their own island, with the former’s Mirkwood and Lsrien weapons, as well as his regular, travelling outfit, and the latter’s full armour and all five axes. The tooling and braidwork was incredible. There were also other Dwarven axes on display, as well as a curiously shaped Dwarven shield.
As an aside, the Museum of Science had little volunteer-run display of their own: two that I noted were on chainmail and Shelob’s ability to sense heat. However, the woman running the chainmail table had the unfortunate tendency to pronounce ‘mithril’ with two short ‘i’s. Ah, well. Non c’est la geek (or something like that).
Gandalf shared an island with Saruman (opposites attract) and Galadriel. Gandalf the Grey’s robes were magnificent–aged, worn, and definitely used. The Hat was, of course, the Hat. Quite a few scrolls from the Gondorian archives were shown: several were in Tengwar, and one notable page had an excerpt from the Appendices, on the Rohirrim: ‘They loved best the plains,…’ Narya was there, too, as was Gandalf’s pipe, a bottle (?), a shoulder satchel, and the now-infamous toffee bag. How very curious. Glamdring was present, with its scabbard and belt.
Saruman’s robes were a much darker white than had been expected. The many different textures used were evident, and told even further of Ngila Dickson and Co.’s talents. And his staff! The Orthanc palantmr was there as well, and looked as if it were made of a sort of piebald crystal agate; in reality, it was glass. Many sundries were cased here, among them bits and bobs of skeletons and preserved specimens, bones, teeth, a mortar and pestle, quills and ink, eggs: the lot. His book was opened to the page on the Balrog.
***(It was around about here that I met, quite by accident, a lovely woman who told me that she reads TOR.n regularly, as do I. If you happen to be reading this right now, please imagine that I’m giving you a great big geeky wave: Hullo! It was wonderful to meet you. I hope to run into you again sometime. You can talk; I will babble.)***
Galadriel’s beaded Mirror dress was next, and oh, my goodness, was it beautiful. Her mother-of-pearl brooch was in place, which just topped it all off. The beading and sequined designs are especially exquisite here, with a sort of snowflake-flower blossom design all over the cloth. My goodness. Celeborn’s neckpiece and belt were in a nearby case, as were Galadriel’s circlet and Nenya. Also in the case was a ‘Lothlsrien heraldic horn’: a beautiful piece of work, with gold and silver chasing, and a small banner hanging from the botton end. I didn’t recognise the insignia on it; I presume that it was one invented for the film. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Not on an island, but against the wall, was a gigantic bust of Treebeard, accompanied by a miniature maquette. I was in awe. It was more amazing than words may say. Again, my goodness. Next to it was the ‘Ring Room’–a not-that-impressive display of the One Ring in a suspended liquid column. Ah, well. I prefer costumes, weaponry, and armour; what can I say?
Hanging from the ceiling above all of these islands were a multitude of banners: Gondorian, Rohirric, and Elven. The Gondorian banners included Boromir’s from Osgiliath, the sable and silver, and a beautiful multi-coloured, tasseled sateen wall hanging, with the White Tree in the centre. The Rohirric banners were multitudinous, with motifs of swords, snakes, and, of course, horses. Several looked as if they had been inspired by the White Horse of Uffington in Oxfordshire. The Elven banners were also varied, from Gil-galad’s heraldic gonfalon (which would have been bourne by Elrond)
to a pair of rather obscure ones with another, probably also invented, insignia.
Near the exit to the exhibit was the full-body dummy of Boromir in his Elven boat: truly realised were ‘”His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;/ And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.”‘
To greet us in the second room of the exhibit was a full set of Sauron’s armour and a bigature of Barad-d{r. Incredible detail. On yet another island was displayed a full set of Helm’s Deep Elven armour, with weapons. Similar to the fashion in which the Gondorian saddle had been shown, a maquette of a painted M{mak with war pavilion was cased.
Now here was another interactive exhibit, where one could put on a special smock, take up some foam ‘weapons,’ and be motion-captured into the body of (alternately) a Third-Age Gondorian soldier, a Helm’s Deep Elf, or a Helm’s Deep Uruk-hai. I tried none of these interactive exhibits today; perhaps on another visit. Near this were ‘touchable’ displays of PVC chainmail and (blunted) swords. Also here was an actual Rohirric chainmail corselet; fantastic. There was also an interactive facial-scan ‘Be an Argonath’ feature. Next to this was a truly fantastic Orthanc bigature.
There was a very large island devoted to the ‘monsters’ of the film: sundry Orcs and Uruk-hai were featured, as well as Lurtz’s and a Moria Orc’s complete kits. Many different macquettes were here as well, including two pairs of Orc contact lenses (!) in red and yellow. A model of Shelob’s head was present, next to a (thankfully) dead tunnel web spider specimen, and a huge maquette of the Cave Troll, ‘in the “Leonardo” pose’ (this time without the loincloth). On the opposite side of the island were many Nazg{l props, including a full set of black robes, crowns and rings for the Men and Ringwraiths (the regular Men had silver rings, while the Witch-king had his with gold as well), and a mock-up Wraith horsehead with reins and tack. Several swords were present, too, the only one not having a matching sheath being the Morgul blade.
I had saved the Armour Wall for last. From the left to right: a case of six Uruk-hai helmets, a different one for every purpose; an Uruk-hai swordsman with a nasty bladed bow and feather-duster arrows (also a curiously ‘T’-ended brutish-looking weapon); a Moria Orc; a regular Orc (as if any Orc were ever regular) with an odd hooked blade; a Warg rider which was, alas, minus its Warg; a Prologue Elven foot-soldier with gorgeous, gorgeous kit (especially the glaive!) and no visible insignia; a Prologue Gondorian with full White Tree and a long spear with the seven-ringed Minas Tirith design split by the wedge Mindolluin; a Rohirric spearsman (with bow and brown-red -fletched arrows); a Rohirric swordsman; a Gondorian Ranger (Faramir?), again with the ringed design all over his weapons and leatherwork; a Rohirric royal guard, with a larger round shield than the other Rohirric soldiers, and with the regal sun motif everywhere; a Third Age Gondorian with brilliant chasing and embossing; and, at last, a Haradric warrior with ragged clothing and small skulls worked into his belts. Nasty looking things, those were. The final item in the row was a case with more heroic helms: those of Elendil, Isildur, Iomer (two for him; the one with the horse’s tail is ‘regular’; his ‘guard’s helmet’ is much less ornate); a citadel guard, and two everyday Rohan soldiers. I would like to declare my undying love for Richard Taylor and the rest of Weta Workshop just now. My goodness me.
Well. So that was done…for the day. I drifted for a few minutes, then exited soon afterwards. It was a really amazing experience, on the whole. I’m so glad that I went, and I’m definitely going again tomorrow. Hope see you there!
—–
Daniel G
I was at the opening of the Boston Museum of Science LOTR Exhibit at Midnight on August 1st and I send you this short review along with a few pictures:
Find any reason to see this exhibit, it’s absolutely amazing. There is so much more detail on these props, costumes, armour, weapons than is possible to photograph except in studio conditions with a high quality camera. There is an original R2-D2 costume that Kenny Baker wore from Return of the Jedi in the same museum (in the computer exhibit) and it looks positively crude next to the LOTR stuff. It really looks more like an archeological exhibit than a movie exhibit. The exhibit items have been described elsewhere numerous times so I’ll skip that. I was particularly impressed with the cosutumes and the huge models. Orthanc which had been removed from the London exhibit for pick-ups is back as is a small (compared to the one used for filming!) version of Barad-Dur.
I was there with a group of fans dressed in costume (mine was Frodo). The museum staff was very friendly and allowed us to stay for however long we wished. The no photography rule was strickly enforced but we were at liberty to take notes and sketches. This ws the first time in its history the museum was open overnight and some fans took the opportunity to spend the whole night there. I left at 3:30am to crash out for a few hours but returned at 8:15am. The people visting during the opening – especially those in costume were extremely friendly and there was a feeling of true fellowship during the night. People were extremely polite and respectful of each other compared to other events I’ve been to.
I’m not sure how many people showed up but all night from midnight on there were lots of people that showed up in costume from the simple and cheesy to the awesome and jaw dropping (several Arwens and a Theoden among others). The actor who played Lurtz, the Witch-King, and Gothmog – Lawrence Makoare was there in full orc makeup and costume for more than two hours and later sat down for autographes and photos.
As it was the opening day the media were out in force. I was interviewed by 2 local TV stations and by 3 newspapers, one of which took 30 picture of me in front of the real Frodo costume! We weren’t allowed to take pictures but of course the media had free reign of the entire exhibit.
All in all a wonderful experience which I will repeat several times before it moves on to Australia.
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Beautiful beyond description, mighty, mysterious, secret, enchanting, surreal. Places of power. These terms and others could be used to describe the greatest cities that existed throughout the history of Middle Earth.
Beautiful, but hidden and secretive were the city/kingdoms of the Noldor. Grand and magnificent was the Dwarf kingdom/city of Khazad-dum and other Dwarf cities. Mighty was Minas Tirith, tower-city of Gondor for the descendents of Numenor. Terrifying was the Orc/Nazgul tower-city of Minas Morgul.
What defines their greatness? Is it their beauty and secretiveness, might and long-lasting strength, or was it in those who ruled them? Which ones flourished and why, and which ones fell the quickest?
Come join us this weekend in #thehalloffire as we discuss Middle Earth’s Greatest Cities.
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Important notice for next weekend:
Attention all seekers of wisdom, learned debaters and all around obsessed Ringers (in other words, Hall of Fire participants) – Hall of Fire will not meet on the weekend of August 7 and 8, due to the fact that almost all of the moderators will be at BarliBash!
We will be right back the following week with the usually array of insightful comments, witty suppositions and just plain fun.
However, starting that week (August 15) the Sunday Hall of Fire session will meet at a new time, 2:00 PM EST. (One hour later than current time) The HoF staff is looking forward to a great new season of interesting discussions and lots of laughs, so make sure to be there!
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Upcoming topics:
August 7-8 — Hall of Fire takes a break!
August 14-15 — The Hobbit: Chapter 11: On the Doorstep
===
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/instructions.html
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Chat Times:
Saturday Chat:
5:30pm ET (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 9:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat:
7:00 pm (19:00) CET
[also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 5:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AET = Australian East Coast
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Time Warner rode the small shoulders of a teen magician and a hobbit to double-digit revenue growth in a quarter marked by the strong performance of its film unit.
The theatrical release of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and homevideo release of Oscar winner “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”helped Time Warner to a 10% increase in revenue and 17% increase in operating income in the second quarter.
Because of the convergence of “Azkaban,” “King” and “Troy” and the fact that “King” had its theatrical release in the third quarter of last year, comparisons will be difficult in the second half of the year. “Nevertheless, our growth will meaningfully exceed last year,” chairman Richard Parsons said.
“Azkaban” and “Troy” have returned $1.2 billion in box office receipts so far, with two-thirds coming from outside the U.S.
Time Warner recorded operating income of $2.6 billion in the quarter on revenue of $10.9 billion. Earnings dipped 27% to $777 million from a year ago, when profits were boosted by a $760 million settlement with Microsoft and a gain from the sale of its stake in Comedy CentralComedy Central.
Company expects full-year operating income to increase in the low-teen range from $8.7 billion in 2003.
The quarter marks the continuation of a turnaround for the world’s largest media conglom, which saw contributions from every business unit. AOL is still hemorrhaging subscribers but recorded its first quarter of year-over-year advertising growth since late 2001.
In addition to film, the cable networks were particularly strong as growing audiences drove advertising and affiliate fee increases.
In an example of intranetwork synergy, Parsons noted HBO creation “Sex and the City” (despite some recent ratings falloff) is driving audiences to sister net TBS.
Now that Time Warner’s businesses appear to be on track, Parsons said the company would focus on ways to expand, looking to acquire businesses in the “content arena.”
“We have an interest as a company in expanding our cable footprint,” Parsons said, calling cable a “superior” platform for delivering video, telephone and high-speed Internet that “extends the power and advantage of our content businesses.”
The two biggest targets in Time Warner’s sights have been bankrupt cabler Adelphia Communications and MGM, but Parsons signaled the asking price for both could be too high. “We’re not going to do just whatever comes along,” he said.
While overall results were good, analysts pointed out that the company suffers from comparisons with its biggest competitors in cable content, Viacom, and in distribution, Comcast.
Advertising at Time Warner’s cable networks was up 6%, a disappointing figure compared with an increase of more than 20% at Viacom’s MTV networks, noted Paul Kim, analyst at Tradition Asiel Securities.
Other analysts were concerned about continued subscriber losses at the cable unit, the company’s largest cash-flow generator. Unit lost 21,000 basic customers in the quarter as satellite operator DirecTV continued to target Time Warner markets.
“They were growing subscribers at 1%-2% until DirecTV targeted them last year,” said John Hill of Schwab SoundView Capital Markets.
Some questioned the wisdom of adding to cable when the business is under intense competition from both satellite and the Baby Bells. “The fear is that competition is going to get more intense over the next four quarters,” Kim said.
Time Warner media and communications group chairman Don Logan argued that telephone service, which should be available to all Time Warner cable customers at the end of the year, would be “a strong driver of growth over the next few years.”
Cable programming expenses jumped 15%, compared with 5% at Comcast, which renegotiated most of its agreements besides that with ESPN at the beginning of the year. Kim saw an upside in this comparison, as Time Warner also will renegotiate its programming deals in the coming year, making it a potential area of future savings.
The company said an investigation into accounting practices at AOL by the Securities and Exchange Commission is ongoing, with the company opening its own review of accounting recently at AOL Europe.
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Garfeimao writes: Project Monaghan just participated in their first Tree Care event with Tree People of Los Angeles. 9 Project Monaghan participants and 3 Tree People employees met up at Salvin Special Education Center in Downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 28. The small size was actually more than adequate for getting the job done. It was a rather smallish school, with only about 20-25 young trees needing our help.
We learned how to properly oxygenate the soil, remove competitive grasses, weeds and other interfering plants, and how to lay mulch so that it wouldn’t harm the tree (mulch too close to the trunk can cause fungus and tree rot). We spent about 2 hours working on the trees and giving many of them water, and even got one or two classes to agree to continue the care. I know I definitely learned a lot about how people have to help trees along when they are isolated in an urban setting. These trees do not have access to the Forest Eco-system and many can not survive the first 5-7 years without human assistance.
As you may know, Project Monaghan’s main theme is to follow Dominic Monaghan’s example in helping to plant and care for more trees. You can read about it on their website at http://www.project-monaghan.gratified.net/ and learn how to get involved. They are closely tied with BBloonsCharities, who also participated in this event. BBloonscharities is in support of charitable contributions in Billy Boyd’s name, with recent donations made to The Surfrider’s Foundation, Help the Aged, The John Muir Trust and most recently Operation Iraqi Children. More info can be found at http://www.bbloonscharities.net/index.php.
Tree People is a Los Angeles based organization that plants trees in urban areas, and continues to care for those trees until they reach a reasonable maturity level. They also work to teach the residents and students in the areas they plant how to take personal responsibility for these trees. You can learn more about this Los Angeles organization at http://www.treepeople.org/. For those interested in getting involved in programs like this outside of the LA area, here is a National group http://www.nationaltreetrust.org. For International groups, I haven’t done the research yet so just look around on these websites for any hints, or google it.
Many of us locals will probably end up working with Tree People again the rest of this summer, while I know there is going to be another big project planned for December, to coincide with Dom’s birthday. Feel free to visit either Project Monaghan or BBloonscharities for more information on upcoming events and fundraising efforts. And if you simply want to get involved in bringing the forest to the urban setting, visit Tree People or the National Tree Trust sites.
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