A few people pointed out that just because it doesn’t cross my mind to go to the movies the day after Christmas, that doesn’t mean everyone else is the same. Apparently Boxing Day is traditionally the big day for releasing summer movies in NZ and Australia. Funny I must be at the beach so I never noticed.
A contact in the film industry said had good information about the premieres coming indirectly from New Line people:
“but they are planning several premieres – one in London, LA, and I guess based on your fan site information, “other funny places with foreign names.” I don’t think it will be simultaneous but fairly close together……When Amercian companies elect to debut in London it usually means they are unsure of how it is going to open in the States and whether it will stand up to be a hit, so it is kind of a test run-often they make this assumption upon seeing the editing cuts- I don’t know if that is true or not in this case.”
The Wellington Reporter sent this in off today’s Evening Post:
“Wellington will be the first place in NZ to see hobbits and orcs on the big screen – but whether it will be the first in the world still has to be decided.
The Embassy Theatre Trust has confirmed that the first of Peter Jackson’s three films in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series will have its NZ premiere at the Embassy in December next year.
Trust chairman Bill Sheat said it had known for some time Mr Jackson, a trust member, wanted to premiere the first film at the Embassy.
“We (the Trust) are absolutely delighted about that. We are in the process of refurbishing the [Embassy’s} interior, after completing the exterior last year. Our target is to have at least the main auditorium refurbished in time for the premiere of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ he said.
The Embassy’s screen is 18m wide by 9m high, one of the largest in Australia and New Zealand. The theatre seats 880.
It has premiered at least two of Mr Jackson’s other films – ‘Brain Dead’ and ‘The Frighteners.’
Mr Sheat said he didn’t know if it would also be the world premiere of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ film. The day in December 2001 still had to be decided, he said.”
Hey, but at least it’s still worldwide. I guess when New Line announced the simultaneous release of the ‘Fellowship’ on December 14 2001 next year, we were overjoyed to imagine we’d share a celebratory Tolkien experience that spanned the globe, a bit like the Millenium did. But we’ve heard rumours that it won’t be quite like that. The most recent ‘Herald’ article talks about the ‘probable first release on Boxing Day’ in NZ – that’s Dec. 26th, a day which traditionally looks like aliens have kidnapped the entire population of the country. Still, REAL Tolkien fans will stick around for the first screening – but will they spend Christmas day camped out in line in front of the cinemas?
New Zealand’s not the only place that’ll have to wait (and hey, if the release HAD been on the 14th worldwide, nyah nyah, we would have been ahead of everyone else!) We got this thanks to Jonas:
“I just talked with SF(Swedish Film distrubition) in Sweden where I live, they said that they were showing the films in Sweden and the date of the first film was, world wide, 19/Dec 2001.”
New Line’s original idea of having a simultaneous worldwidre release may have proved impractical for all sorts of reasons. It’s just the cynic in me that thinks they SAID “Worldwide” and MEANT “Worldwide except for funny foreign places with names we can’t remember.”
Ian Holm (Bilbo) Beautiful Joe MAX & Hamlet KMWB Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) An Ideal Husband STARZ Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Gods and Monsters SHOW3 & I’ll Do Anything HBOF & Six Degrees of Separation BRAVO John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) Au Pair FAM Sean Astin (Sam) Encino Man WLNE Christopher Lee (Saruman) Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow FLIX & Five Golden Dragons XUPN2 & Horror Hotel KOCO & Private’s Progress FLIX Bernard Hill (Theoden) Gandhi HBOSIG Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) Mississippi Burning WJZY & Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones TRUE
Monday November 20
Viggo Mortensenhttp://theonering.net/movie/cast/mortensen.html (Aragorn) The Passion of Darkly Noon SHOWX & Fresh Horses STARZ Elijah Wood (Frodo) Avalon ENCORE Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Windmills of the Gods RCN John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) Sphinx THMAX Christopher Lee (Saruman) Double Vision TMN Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) Pushing Tin MAX
Tuesday November 21
Liv Tyler (Arwen) Stealing Beauty RCN Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) Pushing Tin MOMAX Craig Parker (Haldir) The Tommyknockers SCIFI Christopher Lee (Saruman) Airport ’77 ENCACT Bernard Hill (Theoden) True Crime MAX
Wednesday November 22
Viggo Mortensenhttp://theonering.net/movie/cast/mortensen.html (Aragorn) Albino Alligator STARZ Ian Holm (Biblo) Shout at the Devil SHOWX & Beautiful Joe MAX Sean Bean (Boromir) Patriot Games USA Miranda Otto (Eowyn) Dead Letter Office IFRC1 Sean Astin (Sam) Kimberly TMC Nathaniel Lees (Ugluk) Bonjour Timothy STARZ4 Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) Child’s Play 2 WTBSLOC & Hidden Agenda FilmFour UK Body Parts MAX Bernard Hill (Theoden) Titanic Sky Premier UK Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) An Ideal Husband Sky Premier UK Andy Serkis (Gollum) Stella Does Tricks MAX
Thursday November 23
Sean Bean (Boromir) Ronin SHOWX Hugo Weaving (Elrond) Babe: Pig in the City STARZ4 & The Matrix MAX Miranda Otto (Eowyn) The Jack Bull HBO John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade USA & Raiders of the Lost Ark USA Paul Sutera (Lotho) A Very Brady Sequel WAPA Bernard Hill (Theoden) The Bounty HBOPL Ian Holm (Bilbo) eXistenZ FilmFour UK Liv Tyler (Arwen) Plunkett and Macleane Sky Premier UK Sean Astin (Sam) Where the Day Takes You Sky Cinema UK
Friday November 24
Viggo Mortensenhttp://theonering.net/movie/cast/mortensen.html (Aragorn) Deception STARZ4 Ian Holm (Bilbo) Alice Through the Looking Glass STARZ Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) Elizabeth SUNDAE Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Last Action Hero TNT Sean Astin (Sam) Toy Soldiers ENCORE Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) Trauma SHOWB & Body Parts TMN Liv Tyler (Arwen) Cookies Fortune TMN
Saturday November 25
Ian Holm (Biblo) Naked Lunch Sky Cinema UK Sean Astin (Sam) Toy Soldiers MAX
Alert correspondent Ezekiel thought a bit about this tantalising image and here’s the result:
“I know this may be older news, but I thought this “analysis” of the Oliphant Photo might be useful to you, in light of recent revelations. Based on eyewitness accounts, we know that the photo depicts an oliphaunt and that the tattered bits are the remains of a “platform” . Studying the photo, I believe that the dead oliphaunt is lying–buttocks towards the viewer–with its two hind-legs pointing to the left.
If you look at the left end of the lower leg you can make out the pachyderm-like toes that I presume an Oliphant would posess. They are the two nubby looking projections pointing left. Also, I believe that the bristle-like protrusions on the upper leg could be spear shafts but are most likely arrow shafts. The scale is not too hard to judge: If you presume that the smaller, scattered bodies are either dead horses or men, then you can begin to get an idea of the oliphant’s relative size. Looking at the lower left corner of the photo, you see what appears to be a crew member bending over. He’s wearing dark coloured pants and a blue and white jacket. If his height is under 6 ft. then the oliphant’s foot is probably between 3-4 ft. across. This is about three time the width of an elephant’s foot.
Also, you’ll notice the ladder to the right of the oliphant. This does not look like a prop, but rather a piece of equipment like the “safety”-orange-colored equipment beside it. Most ladders of this type are between 12 and 16 ft. tall. Considering that the average African elephant is aroung 13 ft. tall, this oliphaunt is huge. I estimate it to be around 40 ft. tall—approximately 3 times larger than an African eliphant!
Compare this with Howe’s “Mumak”, which appears to have about the same scale. Also, look at his depiction of the platform, which is more tower than platform. It has four jutting spike-like structures on top, that if “crumpled”, might account for the spikey protrusions form the wreckage on the oliphaunt’s back. If you look at Lee’s “Oliphaunt”, you’ll see roughly the same scale, considering the man in the background close to the oliphaunt’s foot, who appears to be no more than 1/6th the oliphants height. Again, the two-storied platform scales the oliphant to around 40ft. tall, if you assume that the storey with the “arrow-slits” is around 6ft. tall. Jackson’s oliphant is right on with these two.
I hope this analysis adds some clarity to the photo. If this image depicts what I think it does, then be prepared for some awesome and terrifying spectacles on Jackson’s battlefields.”
Here’s the link to the picture that started this debate: Oliphaunt
Ian Holm (Bilbo) Beautiful Joe MAX & Hamlet KMWB 
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) An Ideal Husband STARZ
Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Gods and Monsters SHOW3 & I’ll Do Anything HBOF & Six Degrees of Separation BRAVO
Sean Astin (Sam) Encino Man WLNE 
Christopher Lee (Saruman) Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow FLIX & Five Golden Dragons XUPN2 & Horror Hotel KOCO & Private’s Progress FLIX
Bernard Hill (Theoden) Gandhi HBOSIG
Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) Mississippi Burning WJZY & Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones TRUE 
Elijah Wood (Frodo) Avalon ENCORE 
Liv Tyler (Arwen) Stealing Beauty RCN 
Craig Parker (Haldir) The Tommyknockers SCIFI 
Sean Bean (Boromir) Patriot Games USA 
Miranda Otto (Eowyn) Dead Letter Office IFRC1
Nathaniel Lees (Ugluk) Bonjour Timothy STARZ4 
Body Parts MAX
Andy Serkis (
Hugo Weaving (Elrond) Babe: Pig in the City STARZ4 & The Matrix MAX
Paul Sutera (Lotho) A Very Brady Sequel WAPA