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News Archive

Five Second Movies

Den of Geek.com has a new twist that is somewhat out of the ordinary: five second movies of the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King. Don’t get settled in too comfortably with all your popcorn before you begin, but maybe they’ll be good enough for a five second laugh.

Warner Brothers to include New Line

According to an article on MarketWatch.com, New Line Cinema will be folded into its sister studio, Warner Bros. Entertainment. Though New Line’s name will not be destroyed, it will live on as a smaller unit.

BBC TV Documentary Tolkien’s World of Fantasy

On Wednesday Evening, 6th March GMT, BBC4 television (available internationally as a Satellite Channel) will screen a one hour documentary entitled ‘The Epic Imagination’ as part of its series looking at the Popularity and Creation of Fantasy Literature.

This programme looks at the work of writers working in the 1950s, and will feature JRR Tolkein and Mervyn Peake, looking at how they created their fantasy worlds and how their lives influenced their creations.

Creator of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Oxford academic JRR Tolkein created a new language, Elvish as well as detailed maps that charted his fantasy landscape of Middle Earth. The visionary surrealist artist Mervyn Peake, created the Gormenghast trilogy’s oppressive castle of Gormenghast, populated by grotesque characters.

The programme goes on to examine how the lives and experiences of these writers fed into the magical worlds they created, from Tolkien’s service in the First World War to Peake’s childhood in Manchurian China and his witnessing, at first hand, as a war artist, the devastation of the concentration camps in Belsen.

With contributions from, among others, writers Joanne Harris, Kate Mosse, Tracy Chevalier and AS Byatt. Details of BBC 4’s Schedule are available here

Lord of the Rings symphony

On 3rd March 2008 the Knoxville Wind Symphony will perform Johan deMeij’s Lord of the Rings Symphony. There are further details about the event here .

First edition Hobbit book and Tolkien photo at auction

According to an article on Times Online, a signed first edition of The Hobbit is up for auction, expecting to fetch a whopping 30,000 pounds. Also included in the auction will be the original photograph of Professor Tolkien standing next to his favorite tree.

Win tickets to The Lord of the Rings – stage version

Enter the contest at London Visions for a chance of winning two tickets to the stage version of The Lord of the Rings in London.

The closing date is 29th February.

Happy birthday Sean Astin

Today, February 25th, is Sean Astin’s birthday. He was born in 1971 in Santa Monica, California, and is 37 today. You can read his cast biography here. You can also see some pictures of Sean here and pictures of Sean in the role of Sam here.

Happy Birthday Sean!

The Lord of the Rings movie ranked in top 5 all-time

The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was ranked the fourth favorite movie of all-time. You can read the rest of the list here.

Award for Lord of the Rings – stage version

Rob Howell has won a UK Theatregoers’ Choice Award for best set designer for his set for the stage version of Lord of the Rings. You can read a list of all the results here.

Elijah Wood on Del Toro

At MTV Movies Blog Elijah Wood says that he thinks Del Toro is the “perfect choice” to direct The Hobbit movies.