Lord of the Rings Movies Information | TheOneRing.net™

This story still isn't over, apparently: I've received a lot of emails telling me that the explanation the Japanese distributors offered about their subtitling process is not as good or new as they implied. The Japanese LOTR fan base may not be large [yet!] but they are discerning. What they've seen so far in the TTT trailer has alarmed them, as already it appears no better than the weirdly-subtitled FOTR. [More]

Jeremy sent us links to some sites that tell us more about the beautiful instrument that plays the main Rohan theme. Various people have corrected my correction of the spelling: according to Norwegians and folk music specialists, it IS called 'Hardanger fiddle,' but is mis-spelled on the TTT soundtrack CD. [More]

Tom Shippey, one of the foremost Tolkien scholars in the world today, wrote a thoughtful article which appears in the National Post. [More] He makes some observations on how the films compare to the books.

Tickets are on sale now! Jump to our 'Two Towers - One Party' website to reserve your attendance at the most glamorous Tolkien event of the year! [More]

Some folks have been emailing asking for an update on ticket sales. In the first half hour, 200 tickets were sold. This night is going to be something special!

The South African birthplace of Lord Of The Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is to be turned into a site of pilgrimage for fans. Hot on the heels of the blockbusting success of the second Rings movie, The Two Towers, the town of Bloemfontein looks set to become a Tolkein tourist trap, despite the writer and academic having left for Britain when still a young boy. [More]

NEW YORK - Take a close look at Eomer's helmet in "The Two Towers" and you can get an idea of the attention to detail the costume designer paid to the uniforms. "On my helmet it says engraved around the rim, 'This helmet belongs to Eomer, son of Eomund, may he ride forth in valor,' written in Rohiric," Urban said. [More]

Many MANY people have written in asking us to post this 'news' article, so here it is, Jar-Jaromir...please stop sending emails about it! I now have an all NEW hatred for this fetid CGI creation! Fans Outraged at New Character in The Return of the King. A recently leaked trailer for The Return of the King has Tolkien fans outraged over the apparent addition of a new character - Jar-Jaromir [More]

Elijah Wood (Frodo) is scheduled to be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien next Friday the 17th. Conan is on NBC at 12:35AM, check your local listings.

Master sends along this amazing scans from the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, both featuring scenes from TTT. The inside cover features a split image of Andy Serkis and Gollum both before and after the special effects were added.

Lady Luke Skywalker sends us this little bit of coolness from stylechecks.com, you can now order some Hildebrandt checks from their "Collectors Editions" section. Spend money in style!. [More]

Check out our new 'Two Towers - One Party' website! Hopefully it will answer most of your questions and give you a heads up when tickets go on sale tomorrow. [More]

These pictures were posted online yesterday, they were small, grainy and not very detailed. We've gotten our hands on these high resolution pics for you to oogle over! Get a load of these! !!!Heavy Spoilers!!!

Aragorn - Gollum - Gandalf - Arwen - Sam & Frodo

Hey guys, leo here. Over the past two days I have been getting a lot of emails from people who want to know where they can buy the ROTK calendar that features these pictures. Instead of replying to everyone who emailed I will just say here: these calendars are not meant for sale. They are promotional items only which means they are meant for people in the movie business only. To the best of our knowledge there is no place online where you could buy them and we don't have them either (though if someone wants to give me theirs I won't mind, heheh...) Just to clear that up...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has sold more tickets through online vendor Fandango than any film in the service's three-year history. Fandango, which is partnered with six big exhibition chains, sold nearly $6 million worth of tickets to "The Two Towers" screenings in the movie's first five days. [More]

Many people have written in to tell us that Howard Shore and Enya were just nominated for 2 Grammys this morning! Take a look! [More]

Every year we get a TON of people making Oscar preditions. People from a to z people have something to say in regards to who will win, and most of them are wrong most of the time (hey, I was going for 'Town and Country' last year!). But the Dallas Fort-Worth Critics have correctly predicted Best Director award since 1999, and this year they chose Peter Jackson for Two Towers! [More]

Fraser sends along the translation to the Maori words at the end of the TTT credits, take a look! [More]

Garfeimao writes: I was able to reduce and scan in the full page ad from the Los Angeles Times New Year's Day newspaper. The style of the ad is similar to the post FOTR poster release of the Gandalf and Frodo poster last year. Even the theme of what they are saying is similar to the them of Gandalf and Frodo's dialogue, which is really nice. I hope they turn this into a poster like last year's poster. [More]

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- In its search for a new series frontier, HBO is betting on a Western from David Milch. The cable network has picked up Milch's drama pilot "Deadwood" as a series with an order for 13 episodes, including the pilot. The series' ensemble cast also features Brad Dourif and John Hawkes. Gregg Fienberg is co-executive producing. [More]

This Months Issue of Wizard features never before seen images from X-Men 2, including some of Rings star Ian McKellan mastering all things magnetic as Magneto. The article also features info on newcomers to the series Kelly Hu [Lady Deathstrike], Aaron Standford [Pyro], and Alan Cumming [Nightcrawler]. Wizard #137 is on News Stands now and goes for $4.99 US.

You can catch our very own Sean Astin (Sam) on 'The Caroline Rhea Show' tomorrow. Check your local listings.

Shanoncia writes: Sympatico today released a list of the Canadian top ten pics for movies, and can you guess what the people chose? [More]

Narya writes: Readers of TheOneRing.Net may be interested to know that Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, has been voted the top DVD of 2002 by readers of the BBC�s teletext service, CEEFAX. [More]

John Cook writes: I've drawn a new Lord of the Rings cartoon parody featuring a caricature of Gollum with Sam and Frodo wondering how an ex-hobbit could end up looking like him! The reader gets to write the answer with the funniest entry voted on by readers in a week's time. [More]

Tanja reports on the first part of Red Carpet's Premiere Tour of New Zealand, which took a group of happy fans to film locations and treated them to a great view of Peter Jackson and the stars as they walked in to the Wellington Premiere. [More]

Anyone notice how much Gamling the Old appears in TTT? Apparently Bruce was called in for what was originally a small role, but they liked his work so much that he kept getting asked back. Now there's an Official Bruce Hopkins Website so you can learn more about him.

The Online Critics Society has awarded TTT with best picture, best director, best editing, best sound, best ensemble, and best visual effects! [More] Official results will be up on their site soon.

Ringer Spy wizardlex sent in a link to pictures from a 2003 calendar of The Return of the King that were originally found at HollywoodDreamsOnline.com. The calendar features some awesomely new pictures from (amongst others) Denethor, Gollum, Frodo in Shelobs Lair, Gandalf and others. The quality of the scans are a bit poor but don't let that stop you! Since we posted the story, HollywoodDreamsOnline.com took down the images. We have now posted them in our spy reports area for your viewing pleasure. !!Spoilers!! [More]

Join TheOneRing.net and hundreds of your closest Tolkien fans as we celebrate The Two Towers on Oscar Night 2003. Tickets for this year's party, appropriately named Two Towers - One Party, will go on sale this coming Wednesday, January 8th. Stay tuned for details and the opening of the party website.

Rumours about Sir Ian McKellen's death are greatly exaggerated � and probably spread by people who don't surf the Internet. If they did, they could go to McKellen's official Web site (http://www.mckellen.com) and get the word about his alleged demise directly from Sir Ian, a.k.a. the wizard Gandalf from The Lord Of The Rings, posted on a page called Rumours False And True. [More]

When the �Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring� premi�red on 19 December, 2001, sword fans around the world were thrilled to see the amount of work that had gone into the design and making of the swords and other weapons. In this exclusive interview, we�ll hear some behind-the-scenes comments from two of the men responsible for the way the swords turned out: fantasy artist and conceptual designer John Howe and sword-smith Peter Lyon. [More]

Tim writes: The Line Party itself was a grand success with contest prizes totalling over $1000 from local and national sponsors and the party lured over 75 people into its clutches. The Tolkien Trivia contest triumphed in that not a single person was able to get a perfect score, the caption contest left us all in stitches and the costume contest drew over twice the entries as last year. [More]

NEW YORK - Brad Dourif wasn't Director Peter Jackson's first choice to play the villainous Grima Wormtongue in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." [More]

The New Line Auctioning site started a very, very, very cool new auction today; the chance to own your own Hobbit hole! For more information on this item or the other items going that are being auctioned as of today (including a 9-foot statue of Gandalf riding Shadowfax, a Two Towers production slate and an Orc Helmet) check out their site: LordoftheRingsAuction.com and follow the little green Lord of the Rings-banner!

The-Trades.com has compiled the top 100 trailers of 2002, and the trailer for The Two Towers has been placed 15th for the year. You can find the complete list here!

Thanks to Alex for that!

Charisa writes: Er, Gollum *lived* in Alaska. Here's yet another reason to consider Alaska as Middle Earth. This article, "Smeagol's Ghost," is in the current issue of Alaska Magazine. [More]

CNN.com wrote up a story about The Two Towers' succes at the boxoffice lately, the article doesn't really contain any new information but it always nice to read about how well the movie is doing.. [More]

Each week I scour Ebay looking for the hot Tolkien items up for sale. I post the most interesting here for you to bid on. [More]

Take a look at all the goodies you can catch on the small screen! [More]

Ringer Spy Glaurung sends along these scans from the latest issue of the NZ In-Fligh Magazine (perhaps from the Sam and Frodo plane we posted about a while ago?). Take a look! [More]

dvdanswers.com writes: We've managed to get hold of the official region 2 releasedate of Two Towers. I know you had a news article mentioning a July release but the region 2 disc will be available from the 30th June. Virgin Megastore are already taking pre-orders as are a couple of other leading retailers. All state the same date.

According to the latest issue of Blade magazine, the LOTR swords are a smash hit. Blade's latest issue, March 2003, features weaponry from the film trilogy. The article features exclusive comments from United Cutlery's Kit Rae. When the collection is complete, Kit said, "it will be the largest movie-sword collection in history" [More]

I thought y'all might like to hear about the District of Dark Whispers Tolkien Birthday Gathering which happend last night (a lot of people from the Uptown Theatre Line Party came to party with the DODW). [More]

Sarumann sends in this scan from the latest issue of Variety Magazine, take a look! [More]

Nurindel writes: I thought you would be interested in seeing this- my local paper (The Albuquerque Journal) printed a review of Two Towers, but directly below that was an article on our beloved Figwit! Hope you enjoy! [More]

nationalreview.com writes: I wanted to write about the latest Lord of the Rings movie today. But as I scoured the web reading what other people had to say, I realized I had nothing new to offer. I love Tolkien. It's a good movie. A bit too long, I thought, but I will see it again, regardless. [More]

Designing Games has its perks. As The Two Towers - the second feature in The Lord of the Rings trilogy - hits the theaters, the game makers at Electronic Arts are already reviewing footage from The Return of the King. [More] [Gaming Havens]

The good folks at IGN have compiled a nifty list of observations they (and random fans) have made about The Two Towers. Thanks to Barlimaniac Scorpio for the tip! [More]

Erica writes: In Pittsburgh, PA, USA the state highway department has one of the big electronic LED signs above one of the major throughways into Pittsburgh reading: "Cleaveland Browns: Welcome to Mordor" In relation to the football playoff game on Sunday.

While Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers breaks box-office records in America and Australia, it has generated the first Big Question of 2003: should Gollum get an Oscar? There's no doubt he's the most intriguing little freak since ET, and a nearly perfect representation of the character described by J.R.R. Tolkien in the book of The Two Towers. But is he a human performance or just a pattern of pixels? [More]

The Lord of the Rings movies are fast becoming smash-hit classics, with The Two Towers having surpassed $200 million in its first 12 days of release. "To say it's this generation's Star Wars is almost an understatement," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., which tracks box-office totals. And it's not the only movie based on serious theology to come out of Hollywood this season. [More]

This is Oscarwatch's 4th year monitoring the Oscars from the beginning of the year through year's end. Usually, a frontrunner has clearly emerged as we head into the Guild Awards (DGA, WGA, PGA, SAG) in January and February. They either confirm or deny what the critics have hailed as the best of the year. This year, a few clear frontrunners have emerged, if you go by critics (see below) but Best Picture seems still up in the air, with many critics groups divided on which film should emerge in March. [More]

Argentinian Strider writes: Just wanted to tell you that LotR:TTT has beaten all historic records of movies in Argentina. The movie was premiered last Wednesday in only a few theaters with 66.130 spectators (Fellowship got 84.454 people in its offcial release), while on Thursday reached 73.607 viewers. With a total of 139.737, TTT has beaten the heck out of Titanic, Star Wars, and any movie released in the country.

Well, better late than never... ShowBiz Ireland managed to snap some great pictures of Bernard Hill whilst attending the premiere of The Two Towers at the Savoy Cinema in Dublin two weeks ago. Check them out! [More]

Peter Jackson has received a nomination for Best Director by the London Film Critic's Circle. Jackson faces some tough opponents in the form of Perdro Almodovar, director of Talk To Her, and Phillip Noyce, director of The Quiet American and Rabbit Proof Fence. The LFCC Awards will take place on February 12th. [More]

Few award ceremonies determine their winners based on who the public want to see win.. however the Empire Awards are not like any other awards ceremony. One of the premiere functions in the UK film year, last year saw Elijah pick up Best Actor, Orlando Best Newcomer and FotR Best Movie - and this year you can ensure that LotR's success continues! Go to Empire's website and vote for your choice; TTT for Best Movie; Peter Jackson for Best Director; Andy Serkis for Best Newcomer! [More]

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has received eight nominations for the International Press Academy Awards, better known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The nominations, which include Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Drama) come one short of the nine nominations received by The Fellowship of the Ring last year, however this year The Two Towers has already received a special award for Oustanding Motion Picture Ensemble Cast - meaning the possibility of coming away from the awards with nine Golden Satellites is still a possibility. [More]

The Fellowship of the Ring DVD (no distinction made between Extended or Theatrical edition - though I assume the former) has been nominated for 2 awards at the International Press Academy's Golden Satellite Awards. FotR has been nominated for Best Extra for a DVD and Best Overall DVD, two of this year's new Interactive Media awards, and comes up against stiff opposition from Minority Report in both categories. [More]

Just like we did two weeks ago, IGN have compiled a list of missing scenes (with pictures) which could feature in The Two Towers Extended Edition later on this year. [More]

Thanks to mscbuck for the link!

G sent in a scan of a recent article from the UK's The Sun tabloid newspaper detailing a recent pheasant shoot that Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan embarked on in the Lake District on New Year's Day. [More]

For all fans of Howard Shore's soundtrack, Camillu has compiled a fantastically detailed cue-by-cue analysis of the score for The Two Towers, accounting how the music ties in with the movie from the opening shot of the Misty Mountains to Gollum's song playing over the closing credits. [More]

Once Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings project was announced in 1999, any fan with a keyboard and the energy could chip in their two cents on who they thought should be cast in the movies. Soon the Internet became host to a frenzy of casting rumours, as every day a new actor was linked to one of the most exciting film projects in production. Three years on, it's clear now what stories were lies and what were truth, but as we enter the home stretch and less than 12 months until the release of The Return of the King, it seems appropriate to reflect on what could have been... [More]

Come One Come all and join in Toasting the Professor, yes thats right today being Tolkien's 111th Birthday, the members of TolkienForever, some familiar faces here at TORn, to raise their glasses in a Toast. Tonight at 9pm at the Cat & Fiddle here in Hollywood California! Come and toast a great man, with a great crowd!

We go all the way back to July 2001 to show you how our Ringer Spies found their way to the Edoras set to bring you these exclusive images! Step back in time and enjoy the ride! [More]

CJAD 800 will be talking Tolkien today at 5:45PM (ET) on CJAD 800 Montreal. You can listen in online at the following link. Just head on over and click on 'Listen Live!' at the top left. [More]

Here's the latest from the desk of our hard-working Green Books staffer Quickbeam: 'Greetings - Quickbeam here. One man from Germany writes in to argue with me about TTT. Here is a full-fledged Pro and Con debate about whether the film can stand as a successful translation of Tolkien.' [More]

Though The Two Towers has been in the most part a greater success commercially for Peter Jackson et al. than The Fellowship of the Ring, there is no doubt that the second film in the trilogy has attracted greater criticism from Tolkien fans and purists, particularly on the Internet. This weekend, the Hall of Fire crew invite you to join your fellow purists in arms as we rant and rave about the changes made to The Two Towers in what we call The Second Annual Tolkien Purists Whine and Cheese Party�. [More]

One of TORn's helpers, Josh Rubinstein, talked about TheOneRing.net Oscar Party (Two Towers - One Party) in a recent CNN and Variety article on Tolkien's 111th Birthday. [Toast Event] Since then all morning we've been getting emails and phone calls from interested folks about the party. As of right now all the details are being kept under wraps. We can tell you a few details however. [More]

Melissa writes: Sean Astin was interviewed on LA radio this morning (Friday, January 3). He talked via phone with the Kevin & Bean morning program on KROQ-FM. [More]

SooozleQ writes: Here is a set report and pics of Liv Tyler's next project "Jersey Girl." (wach out for poopy language on this site -Xo) [More]

Take a look at this LOTR themed motorcycle (we've posted about this in the past) up for sale on eBay! Come on folks! My birthday is only 197 days away! [More]

Ringer Spy odile sends in these images from Jane Magazine, Liv's own pictures are credited as: Photography: Liv Tyler for "Free Arts for Abused Children of NYC.". "Even Bebe [Liv's mother] didn't recognize her in the beard." That's Liv as Saruman?!?!? Whoah. [More]

TheBlueKat writes: Video Pipeline is reporting the release date The Two Towers to be in July!

If it is accurate then you can certainly expect a TTT: Special Edition out in November/December 2003! - Xo

LONDON, England (Variety) -- It's a clear sign that a movie has passed from mere entertainment into the realm of cultural phenomenon when it starts spawning theme parties. Such is the case with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. [More]

It's a special one because he would have been the same age as his original little, hairy-footed character Bilbo Baggins. [More]

The new year is ringing in much the same way as the old one -- with a "Lord of the Rings" movie atop the box office and showing no signs of budging. New Line's second installment in the action-fantasy trilogy is likely to three-peat this weekend, with no other wide releases set to unspool. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" towered over competition last weekend with $48.9 million in ticket sales compared with $30.1 million for runner-up "Catch Me if You Can" from DreamWorks. [More]

He sounds like a creep. He moves like a ghoul. So even though Andy Serkis doesn't actually appear in the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy, the 38-year-old British actor is still generating buzz as the human model for the CG-eye-popping character Gollum. Here's how Serkis and director Peter Jackson created the loathsome creature by mixing real-life acting and digital wizardry. [More]

Australia's Lord Of The Rings star Miranda Otto married actor boyfriend Peter O'Brien as celebrity wedding bells marked the new year. The pair's wedding had been planned under a veil of secrecy and went mostly unnoticed by the local showbiz industry preoccupied with the New Year's Eve marriage of Australian Golden Globes contender Rachel Griffiths. [More]

Take a listen to Dr Lavinia Byrne: JRR Tolkein born on this day in 1892 (RealPlayer needed) [More]

Just a quick reminder to catch Sean Astin (Sam) on Conan O'Brien tonight, Conan airs right after Jay Leno at 12:35AM (ET). Check your local listings! (and Sean..mention TORN!!!)

Olivia Tennet will not be driving her new Mercedes around town. After all, she's only 11 years old and can't even see over the steering wheel. [More]

Yes indeed it would have been Tolkien's 111th birthday today, January 3rd, 2003. Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3rd, 1892.

Many MANY people have written in wishing to mention his would-be birthday. Why not post something up in our message boards about it! [More]

The future of one of Tolkien's Two Towers, which inspired the famous book, is hanging in the balence (Read more about the tower here -Xo). While thousands of Brummies flock to see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at the cinema, conservationists and trustees are battling to save its inspiration - Perrotts Folly. [More]

Narawen Finally after weeks of waiting, The Two Towers will open on the 4th of January, here in the Philippines. E! Philippines' "Eksena" have interviewed people from the premiere night last December 18th. One of the ladies interviewed said that if one watches The Two Towers in any of the Ayala Cinemas, he or she will automatically get a raffle ticket and a chance to go to New Zealand with a friend for free.

The winners of the 6th annual Sierra Awards were announced December 31, 2002 LOTR wins 5! [More]

TORN Staffers Asfaloth & Quickbeam were on the red carpet for the Two Towers premiere in Los Angeles, they hooked up with Sala Baker (Sauron) and Billy Boyd (Pippin) in this first video segment from the event! Take a look! [More]

[Small] - [Med] - [Large]

CBC Radio show 'The Current' recently spoke to myself and Tolkien expert Kiyan Azarbar concerning all things rings! Listen to Kiyan sound a whole lot more 'with-it' than me! (RealPlayer needed) [More]

Lord of the Rings hobbits Frodo, Pippin, and Merry escaped Middle Earth to spend New Year in the Cumbrian countryside, the News & Star can reveal. [More]

Hannah writes: The London Film Critic's Circle have nominated PJ in their Director category! The awards have a very Brit-centric feel about them so it's very nice to see PJ in the list. He's only listed for 'Lord of the Rings', whether this is for FOTR or TTT is unclear. [More]

JRR Tolkien was not a professional author nor, for much of his life, even a much-published one. He had a certain success with The Hobbit in 1937, when he was 45 - enough for his publisher, Stanley Unwin, to ask for a sequel. But though Tolkien dutifully began to write one almost immediately, it was 17 years before the first volume of The Lord of the Rings was published, by which time Tolkien had almost reached retirement. [More]

Many of you may not have noticed, but the trio of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens had a little help from one man in writing the screenplays for The Two Towers and the upcoming The Return of the King; Stephen Sinclair. A long time friend and collaborator of Peter Jackson who worked on the screenplays for BrainDead and Meet the Feebles, expect to hear and see more of Stephen on The Two Towers DVD later on in the year. [IMDb Bio]

Attention Studios! One lesson to learn from 2002: Don't mess with The Lord of the Rings. No studio learned this lesson more than poor ole Paramount. In a blunder that could possibly mark the end of Star Trek films as we know them, they decided to release Star Trek: Nemesis a mere 5 days previous to TTT's release. As a result, Star Trek lost any buzz and to date has only made a disgraceful 36 million dollars. I saw it last night, and its actually my second favorite TNG Star Trek film (after First Contact), but I sure as heck had a hard time finding a theater that was playing it! Paramount, I hope you learned your lesson. (Please send responses to my rant to calisuri@theonering.net, as this is not necessarily a TORn sanctioned opinion..:))

Right now, if you live in Los Angeles, CA and happen to have a radio near, turn it to 640AM. The Bill Handel show will be talking about some of the technology used in LOTR in the 8 AM hour. You can listen through the internet if you are not in LA at the KFI website. [More]

Here's a chuckle for those of you who got all riled up about the anti-TTT protests a few months ago. (And before you start firing off those emails...yes, it is a joke!) Thanks to March. [More]

Paul sends in word that the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards will be announced on January 17th. TTT is nominated for Best Picture, Best Composer and Best Digital Acting Performance (along with Dobby and Yoda).

Galenfuinion writes: After the cinema's in Holland booked a record with FOTR last Christmas, last weekend also was a record. About 250.000 saw TTT, with 2,1 million Euro's.

Nadine writes: There is a Liv Tyler interview in Jane Magazine, there are about 10 shots she took herself from the set.

Anyone with scans, send them along!

Even New Zealand isn't far enough away to escape some of Nebraska's most zealous "Lord of the Rings" fans. Fifteen-year-old twins Hannah and Sarah Koslosky loved Peter Jackson's first "Rings" movie so deeply, they tracked down the director in his home country to thank him. [More]