Could the Disney theme parks be the next potential location for a Lord of the Rings-themed attraction? We reported back in January and also in February that tongues were wagging about a possible Middle-earth theme park partnership between Warner Brothers and Universal. There was even documentation that the Saul Zaentz Company had registered “several uses for Middle-earth properties that includes theme parks.” But those rumors seemed to have fizzled.
Now it seems that, “Disney and Warner Brothers have either signed or are very close to singing an agreement that will bring “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” movie-inspired areas to the Disney Parks.” WDW News Today is reporting that the partnership has been in the works since late last year and is now practically a fait accompli. The story claims that Disney may incorporate a Middle-earth attraction as part of an overhaul at the California Adventure park in Anaheim, CA. It also suggests that Disney may be looking for Hobbits to give them an edge over Hogwarts in order to compete with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area at Universal Studio’s theme park.
WDW News today says, “As with any rumor, you should take this with a grain of salt until it is actually announced.” Is it likely that Disney would be able to overcome the hurdles that have hung up similar ventures? That they could overcome the long-held anti-Disney prejudice from within the Tolkien Estate itself? TORn staffer Demosthenes points out Tolkien’s Letter #13, where he famously insisted that he would “veto anything from or influenced by the Disney Studios (for all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing).”
Additionally, should the supposed negotiations be happening on the studio level, making an end-run around the Tolkien Estate, it seems unlikely that Warner Brothers would be keen to work together after Disney stole Oz out from under them when they released Oz the Great and Powerful earlier this year. “The Walt Disney Company did not own rights to the original 1939 The Wizard of Oz movie but moved stealthily to mount an audacious raid on the story and leave a rival studio flat-footed.”
But perhaps TheOneRing.net’s April Fools’ story this year was actually prescient and we will enter an era where Hobbit feet and Mouse ears can coexist in one big glorious theme park universe. Or maybe we’ll all just have to aspire to visit the real Hobbiton for a while longer.
[Read the original story here.]
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Time for our live webcast
TORnTUESDAY!
This week on our live show we invite you into our living room to enjoy an interactive 3-movie Extended Edition LOTR marathon! Currently underway actually in Van Nuys at Matt & Chris’ place (our talented actors who appeared onstage with me during our Long Expected Oscar Party) — we invite you to watch and chat with us during the entire playback. Yes, it will be going live continuously until about 1:00 or 2:00am Pacific Time so drop on by anytime! You can even synch up your DVD at home, we will tell you when we switch discs (we are just finished with FOTR Disc 2 and are about to begin TTT Disc 1). We are already live: so come say hello to your host Clifford
“Quickbeam” Broadway and Matt Musgrove (@Musgrovia on Twitter) and Chris Carwithen — Our innovative live show
includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page
with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat
room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week!
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Follow Cliff Broadway: @quickbeam2000
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When Fili and Kili are forced to miss the county fair, they decide to bring the fair to them with some mischief in Farmer Maggot’s garden and pumpkin bread! In other words, we really did have to miss the fair after orcs attacked our truck tires, so we made the best of it by filming an episode! Recipe below.
Continue reading “Happy Hobbit: Pumpkin Bread – Episode 24”
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Attention Legolas fans!
Actor Orlando Bloom is currently making his Broadway debut (sans blonde wig, we assume) in a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
This is the first time Romeo and Juliet has been staged on Broadway in 36 years — and we have THREE pairs of tickets to giveaway to lucky TORn readers!
Bloom’s co-star is two-time Tony Award® nominee Condola Rashad, and the production is directed by five-time Tony Award® nominee David Leveaux. The play will open on Broadway on Thursday, September 19, 2013 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre; preview performances have been running since Saturday, August 24, 2013.
How do you enter?
Continue reading “WIN TICKETS – Orlando Bloom in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway”
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In the first week of filming for Blue Jasmine, her first movie with director Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett feared she might be fired. It was just a simple scene but Allen wasn’t happy. ”He said, ‘It’s awful, it’s not working’.”
Blanchett is sitting in a Sydney hotel room recalling the eight takes required to nail the scene in mid-2012. ”I thought, ‘I’m really not going to last the week’.”
She had watched Robert B. Weide’s Woody Allen: A Documentary during the flight to the US for filming. She knew there would be little small talk on set; that Allen is unforthcoming with direction and likes to do scenes in one take. Perhaps, she thought, he was unhappy with her work. Continue reading “Blanchett steps back into Hollywood’s spotlight”
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Continuing the speculation of what Smaug will look like in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 13 year old Ringer Manuel sent us his vision of what Smaug will be, based on the glimpses we’ve had so far.
Continue reading “What Smaug might look like – a concept”
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But perhaps TheOneRing.net’s April Fools’ story this year was actually prescient and we will enter an era where Hobbit feet and Mouse ears can coexist in one big glorious theme park universe. Or maybe we’ll all just have to aspire to visit the real Hobbiton for a while longer.