From AICN: Spy Johnny Bartlett tells us that Orlando Bloom has finished up his reshoots on RETURN OF THE KING. This would probably wrap him up for the entire production (ADR not withstanding, although he won’t need to don the ears again). At the moment, Andy Serkis is in New Zealand filling in the Gollum/Smeagol gaps currently in the ROTK rough cut. During his stay, Serkis recorded a reportedly hilarious in-character acceptance speech for the MTV Movie Awards… so everyone responsible for voting, VOTE FOR SERKIS! Screw the Oscars! MTV has the REAL integrity! Also, we want to see the speech.
Category: Old Special Reports
erather writes: I finally got around to going to the exhibit of 2002 movie costumes at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) gallery in LA.
I had been looking forward to seeing the Two Towers costumes. But, although the exhibit was otherwise extremely interesting, the section marked for Lord of the Rings was completely vacant.
I asked an attendant where they were, and he said they were being used! A person came from New Zealand a few weeks ago, packed them tenderly, and took them back for the reshoots. They’ll return next year, he assures us!
EA RETURNS TO MIDDLE-EARTH WITH THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE RETURN OF THE KING ON MULTIPLE GAME PLATFORMS
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 25, 2003 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) officially announced today the development of The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Return of the King(TM) for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance, and the PC. All versions of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King game will be released worldwide in fall 2003 under the EA GAMES(TM) brand.
Based on New Line Cinema’s upcoming film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King video game will let players journey through multiple gameplay paths, taking control of the motion picture trilogy’s heroes including Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Sam, and Frodo. Set in all of the breathtaking locations from the upcoming movie, The Return of the King’s third person gameplay will include immersive action and epic adventure elements based in rich, interactive levels. An all-new multiplayer co-op mode will let players form their own Fellowship before embarking on their journey through Middle-earth(TM).
Under an exclusive licensing agreement with New Line Cinema, EA has the rights to create and publish interactive entertainment games based on the movie trilogy. Currently under development, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King game is the second installment in a series of licensed The Lord of the Rings games from EA. The console and PC versions are currently being developed by EA’s Redwood Shores Studio. The Game Boy Advance version is being developed by Griptonite Games, an Amaze Entertainment Studio. For more information on EA’s The Lord of the Rings games, visit the official product website at http://lordoftherings.eagames.com.
The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King film from New Line Cinema will be released in theaters nationwide on December 17, 2003. For more information about The Lord of the Rings movies, please go to www.lordoftherings.net.
Hey folks, fresh in from the Vivendi Universal Pre-E3 Press Event today here in Hollywood, CA. What was special about today was our first chance to get some hands on time with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring. Let me tell you that my expectations for this game were very high, and to come out of an event like this so overjoyed that I couldn’t quite form my sentences, really leaves me feeling that this will be the end all Tolkien Game this year. Also among the viewing was Black Label Games’ The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard which takes materials directly from the book and brings it to you in its entirety.
Over the coming weeks leading into E3 we’re going to be bringing you some very exclusive content, including interviews from the Vivendi Universal team, and hopefully have a chance to answer all of your questions and discuss all of your hopes and dreams on what would make the ultimate Tolkien Gaming Experience. On behalf of myself and Gaming Havens Staffer Vapors, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring hands down stole the show. We’ll have more details on this as it is released, and more from the show floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this May.
Such a rewarding experience to see so many enthusiasts of Video Games simply entranced by the content shown from War of the Ring. I can’t describe to you how beautiful it was to watch Legolas and a cadre of Mirkwood Elves chasing Gollum through the woods, or to watch a Balrog spring to life and begin to lay waste on the fields of battle. All of this considering that the game we were shown was only 60% completed. So send in your questions and comments as always to Havens@TheOneRing.net and stay tuned as we continue to be your ONE Resource for Tolkien Gaming Online!
The Chicago Fellowship visited the Tolkien Archives at Marquette last month. This is a report from Ringer Spy Jocelyn.
Sing hey! for the bath at the close of day
That washes the weary mud away!
The original draft of The Bath Song is on display at the Tolkien Archives, housed at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fourteen members of The Chicago Fellowship saw this and other treasures during our second visit on Sunday, March 30.
You can read more about the Marquette Archives here and here.
We started with second breakfast at Miss Katie’s Diner (excellent omlets). We know Orcrist’s RW name! And True-Hearted Easterling, Lizzybit, and others. Getting acquainted was delightful. Our Red Book was passed around for everyone to write in. We are, of course, all obssessed. As a friend of mine says, “Step away from the Ring.” Why?
After breakfast we walked to the library – Smaug’s treasure is nothing compared to this.
The collection includes the complete manuscripts for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham and Mr. Bliss (and more). The archivist, Matt Blessing, explained items from six files (out of hundreds). We saw notes Tolkien wrote (on whatever paper was available) about the lunar phases and dates, so the text would be accurate. There were also notes on how fast hobbits can walk – four miles an hour (or maybe that was orcs carrying hobbits!). The latest acquisitions include a Tolkien letter purchased by MU, and a box of goodies associated with the movies donated by D. Anderson
during his visit last November (press kits, book jackets, candy and more).
The exhibit is divided into several sections: The Imagined World, with pages in Tolkien’s handwriting about the Speech of the Rohirrim and other topics; In the Mines of Moria, featuring Tolkien’s colored drawings of pages from the Book of Mazarbul; The Poetry and Songs of Middle-earth with The Bath Song, The Old Walking-Song, The SOng of the Mounds of Mundberg, and the Song of Beren and Luthien among others; The Family Trees of Hobbits (very detailed and delightfult o read); The Epilogue – with a letter wriiten by Aragorn to Samwise in Sindarian and the COmmon Speech (ha! we saw the King’s handwriting!), and finally, Illustrations for a Manuscript, with sketches. Sigh.
The archives close in mid-April, as they prepare to move to the new library next door. They expect to re-open in early July. There will be one major change, however – no pages from the original manuscripts or notes will be displayed (only photocopies). The new space has windows, and the precious records cannot be exposed to sunlight. If you live nearby, go soon!
IMPORTANT NEWS: For the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Lord of the Rings, Marquette is hosting a major conference. Dates: October 21-23, 2004. A website for pre-registration should be up by late summer.
On our first visit, we noted that they do collect written materials. This visit, Mirza presented the following books to the collection on behalf of the Chicago Fellowship: A Tolkien Compass; LoTR, volume 1 and 3 in Spanish; and the J.R.R. Tolkien Trvia Quiz Book.
IMPORTANT NEWS #2: We are adopting the Tolkien Archives as our project, but anyone can help. The supplementary collection includes versions of the LoTR and The Hobbit in various languages as well as earlier editions, calendars, other books published about Tolkien and his works, and a growing collection of letters written by Tolkien. There are also collections donated by Tolkien scholars, such as Blackwelder. Currently, the new publications are purchased as funds are available. Please check the holdings at www.mu.edu before donating — but complete sets of the Decipher and Topps trading cards would be nice! Funds are also needed to purchase more of the letters – or if you have one, please consider donating or loaning it.
We ended our journey with a visit to the Joan of Arc chapel (http://www.marquette.edu/places/joanarc.html), the spiritual heart of the campus (and very close to the library) – a medieval building transported from France (yes, it does look like it should be in the movies!).
Will we go back? Of course – to see the new archives room, and to the 2004 conference. See you there!
Jocelyn
HavensSpy Christian writes in with good news from this month’s Nintendo Power magazine:
I thought you might like some LotR news from the video gaming world. I am a subscriber to Nintendo Power and in this month’s issue (released to the general public in about a week or two) the Nintendo Power Awards were announced. Different categories with preselected games were voted on by readers via mail-in card and online response. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for GameCube and GameBoy Advance were able to take a few
awards and were runners-up:Best Cut Scenes: GameCube
Best Music Based on a Preexisting Source: GameCube
Best Voice Talent: GameCube
Best New Character: Aragorn – GameCube
and my favortie…
Best Use of a License: GameCubeTTT beat out the Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
AND Spider-Man games in this category (and all
others).TTT also recieved the first and second runner-up for
the following categories:
Best Graphics – GameCube: 1st Runner-Up
Best Graphics – GameBoy Advance: 2nd Runner-Up
Best Game – GameBoy Advance: 2nd Runner-Up
Best Sound: 2nd Runner-Up
Ugliest Character: The Uruk-Hai (GameCube) 2nd Runner-Up
Thanks for the report, Christian! Check out this month’s Nintendo Power to see for yourselves, and remember to keep sending all of your Lotr gaming news to havens@theonering.net.