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News Archive

Happy birthday Peter Jackson

Today, October 31st, is Peter Jackson’s birthday. He was born in Pukerua Bay, North Island, New Zealand in 1961 and is 46 years old today. You can read his crew bio here.

In the CoE Gallery there are pictures of Peter in his own section and photos throughout the general cast and crew section.

Happy Birthday, Peter. Here’s hoping you will produce The Hobbit!

Cross Realm poetry contest no. 7

Here it is, the 7th Cross Realm poetry contest. This time it is about certain words. Entries will be accepted from today until November 16th. You can see more details in this thread here .

Happy Birthday, Viggo Mortensen

Today, October 20th, is Viggo Mortensen’s birthday. He was born in Manhattan, New York in 1958 and is 49 years old today. In the CoE Gallery there are pictures of Viggo here and of Viggo in the role of Aragorn here.

Happy Birthday, Viggo!

Restaurant asked to cease use of “Hobbit” in their name

Attorneys representing the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) have written to the owners of a small restaurant in Bonita Springs, Florida, named the Hobbit Grille. They claim that the unlicensed use of the word Hobbit, “is clearly injurious to SZC and its existing restaurant, food beverage, and other licensees…”..

The attorneys have requested that the restaurant cease their unauthorized use of the name and have given the owners until 1st December to come up with a new name. The owners say the name stays. You can read the full story here .

Raimi will step aside for Jackson

In this interview at MTV Sam Raimi discusses The Hobbit. He says that although he would love to direct the movie, “If Peter Jackson wanted to direct it, I think that makes the most sense”.

For copyright reasons you can only watch the videos if you are in the US

Lord of the Rings Symphony

On 25th November the Kungliga Filharmonikerna will be performing Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings symphony in Stockholm. Howard Shore will be conducting the performance. You can find further details at Howard Shore’s official website.

Ian McKellen is keen to play Gandalf again

Ian McKellen has said that he’ll be disappointed if he’s not asked to play Gandalf in The Hobbit. He revealed that, “When Peter announced he had withdrawn from The Hobbit, he sent me an e-mail saying ‘Because I am not going to do it, it doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Of course, you must play Gandalf, whether I direct or not’. You can read the full story here .

The Hobbit movie

This article at Stuff summarizes the current situation with The Hobbit movie While Peter Jackson’s representatives have been in talks with New Line about the movie, PJ is continuing with his legal action against the studio with a trial date having been set for January.

Tolkien’s Nephew pleased legal battle is almost over

JRR Tolkien’s nephew is reportedly pleased that the legal woes between New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson may soon be over. Read more here.

Hope for The Hobbit movie

At the MTV movies blog there’s a a video featuring New Line’s co-chairmen and co-CEO’s Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne which gives us “more than Hope” for the making of the movie. At the blog you can also check out the comments about The Hobbit movie by LotR movie stars such as Orlando Bloom and Sean Astin.

For copyright reasons you can only watch the video if you are in the US