News Archive

After a short break we are back with the 8th Poetry Contest in the General Realms Discussion. This round the theme is the Valar.
Go here to find out more, and see how you can submit your poem.

On his official website Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he is very likely to play Gandalf in the Hobbit. He says, “Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor.” It is believed that a contract has not yet been signed, but it looks like we will be seeing the original Gandalf again. You can read the full story here.

From the 5th of April until the 7th there will be held a wonderful art exhibition in Moreton-In-Marsch in England. The exhibition will feature the works of Ted Nasmith and Ruth Lacon and there will also be trading stands for a variety of Tolkien and fantasy items. You can find further details here.

As seen on CBCnews.ca, a signed first edition copy of the Hobbit has been sold at auction to an anonymous buyer who reportedly paid the whopping sum of about $120,000 U.S. dollars. Also sold was the last known photo of Tolkien, and fetched about £864 pounds, roughly $1800 U.S. dollars.

According to MusicFromtheMovies.com, some German concert-goers have been tricked by false advertising for Lord of the Rings concerts where the music played has no link to Howard Shore or the real work. However, Howard Shore assures fans that there are two actual concerts coming up, performed by the Tucson Symphony and the symphony at the Singapore Arts Festival, as well as a North American performance by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Ready to laugh it up? Check out Yahoo!.com’s featured video, The Friends List of the Ring and get a “behind the scenes” look at how Frodo and Gandalf chatted via web messenger before and after the quest.

The London production of the Lord of the Rings is to close on 19th July 2008. However, there are plans to stage the show in Germany in 2009 and for a tour of Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. You can read the full story here.

First retail expansion for The Lord Of the Rings-Online has been announced today. The Volume II of The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM Mines of MoriaTM will bring newly introduced in game features and is expected in fall 2008.

Anne Buchmann has made a study of film tourism in New Zealand and her research shows that it’s a thriving industry. 30,000 visitors a year go to see the hobbit village and a number report being “touched” when visiting sites such as Edoras. You can read the full article at stuff.co.nz

According to PR-Inside.com, Ian McKellen is desperate to play Gandalf again, hopefully saying about his possible role as the wizard, “I certainly hope it’s true – have you got anybody else who you think should be doing it?” Elijah Wood has proved to be just as eager to slip back into his role as Frodo Baggins again, and both optimistically await any news from the makers of the upcoming Hobbit films.