Lord of the Rings Movies Information | TheOneRing.net™

Brandon Gray writes: 'Return of the King' enjoyed a modest post-Oscar bump, increasing 40% over the weekend to $3.0 million after adding 791 theaters. Generally speaking, movies that everyone already saw and that were expected to win Best Picture don't get much of a boost after the Oscars ('Titanic,' for instance, went down). [More]

Charlie writes: The London Film And Comic Con was a FANTASTIC weekend! The main highlight being Andy Serkis doing the auction as Gollum/Smegol, to see him sing 'Your the one that I want' as Gollum is something I am never gonna forget. [More]

Accoring to Elanor1013: Movie Magic magazine has a section called "Saying So Long to the Lord of the Rings" featuring quotes and some pictures, including Elijah, Billy, Dom, and others. Later in the mag, they also have a book recommendation and quote from Elijah where he recommends "The Giver" by Lois Lowry in a section called "If you like Harry [Potter] You'll Also Like" or something to that effect. Scans anyone? Send them along!

Lord Of The Rings star Billy Boyd put off hunting for a flat in Glasgow last night to help promote the city's new slogan. Along with STV newsreader Sarah Heaney, who has been helping him find a new home, Billy was one of the celebrities who launched the Glasgow: Scotland With Style campaign at a party in the Clyde Auditorium. [More]

Kudos to everyone who sent in this link!

Ringer Spy Ataahua writes: The sight of Peter Jackson accepting his Academy Awards while looking scruffy was a particularly warming one for Helen Brown, a New Zealand columnist in Australia. (Translation help: �jandals� are the same casual footwear that some inhabitants of some country somewhere on the globe seem to call �flip flops�, and it aint the Australians, as a lot op people have pointed out today - leo) [More]

Elijah Wood Has Hard Time Saying Good-bye to 'Rings' Cast, Yet Again. "We became so close making the three movies, we're like a family. I just don't know how I'll handle saying good-bye," an extremely weepy Elijah Wood told a gaggle of reporters at a recent Oscar party. [More]

(Please do not take this article serious!)

This has got to be a record, Dominic Monaghan will be on 'The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn' on CBS at 12:35AM.

Viggo Mortensen will be on 'Last Call with Carson Daily' late tonight/early tomorrow on NBC.

Elijah Wood will be on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' tonight on NBC at 11:35PM.

Justin writes: Lord of the Rings is up for Best Book at this years 2004 Kids Choice Awards. The Awards show will be on Nickelodeon April 3rd. [More]

Hidalgo and "The Lord of the Rings" star Viggo Mortensen is in talks to topline the Spanish period adventure film Alatriste (Thanks to Maria for that link!), in the eponymous role of Captain Alatriste, a Spanish soldier-cum-mercenary embroiled in the country's 17th century imperial wars. [More]

Thanks to Shana for the heads up!

Ringer Spy Vardia sent in this link to an interesting article about Cate Blanchett in The Daily Telegraph (the Australian version) about her upcoming projects. [More]

Artwork courtesy of New Line Cinema and information from DVDAnswers.com. This Lord of the Rings Trilogy boxset will be arriving in shops on May 25th alongside the Return of the King. Apparently, it will retail at around $89.98. This isn't the all-singing, all-dancing on-again, off-again boxset that has been rumoured to arrive sometime in the future (but equally may never eventuate). Instead, it's a simple repackaging of the existing two-disc theatrical editions. No new extra material will be included. [More]

Frodo-esque writes: At the Mythic Journeys 2004 conference in Atlanta, GA (June 5-6th, 2004) Alan Lee is scheduled to be a conference guest and will on hand exhibiting his art! You know what makes this even cooler? It's the same weekend of the Howard Shore concert in Atlanta -- two birds, one stone! [More]

Sasskya writes: Viggo Mortensen was on a tv show called Lo + plus here in Spain. I have two pics from the show; one at the beginning of the programm. Viggo wore a t-shirt of Real Madrid (a football team) with the name of a football palyer of the 80's called Juanito with the number 7 (this t-shirt was a present from the director of Gimlet and la pistola de mi hermano). The second one is with "gollum". [More]

After co-starring opposite Johnny Depp as the dreamy romantic lead in last summer�s surprise hit, and as the go-to elf in the rousing finale to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Orlando Bloom already has four projects lined up through the end of 2005. [More]

Viggo Mortensen has a hand in so many art forms that there's almost no room on his r�sum� for acting. A poet, painter, musician, and photographer, Mortensen has founded his own publishing company, released experimental-music CDs, and exhibited his artwork around the world. Mortensen recently spoke to The Onion A.V. Club about Hidalgo, his version of "method" acting, and how painting, writing, and fishing can take the place of resting between takes. [More]

The organizers of 'Best of Both Worlds' Convention, to be held in Canberra, Australia next weekend, regret to announce that Dominic Monaghan will NOT appear as scheduled, due to the filming schedule for Dominic's newly landed television pilot, "Lost." [Complete details]

Somewhat off-topic from ITV: "Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman is all set to star in a movie remake of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe..." [More] However, IMDB says that she only "might" play the White Queen. [More]

The lovely folks from West-of-the-Moon.net were present at our Oscarparty last week and wrote the following report about their adventures! The report features some nice audiofiles of interviews with John Rhys-Davies and Dominic Monaghan, so be sure to read it here!

From many Ringer Spies, including LB, Allisyn, Carolyn and Carolina.

Elijah Wood will be on The Tonight Show on Wed. March 10 [More]; on Conan O'Brien Thu. March 11 [More]; on Good Morning America Fri. March 12th; and MTV's Total Request Live on Fri. March 12 [More]

Dominic Mongahan will be on Craig Kilborn on Wed. March 10 (a repeat). [More]

Viggo Mortensen will be on Last Call with Carson Daly on Wed. March 10 [More]; And on Sweden's Late night with Luuk on Fri. March 12. [More]

...I *might* be able to outfit my house in some of the amazing home decor from Middle Earth Furniture. Wowza. The "Ancient Ent Round Table" paired with the "9 Darkness & Light Dining Chairs" will alone set you back about $63,000.00 plus change. *Gulp* If that's beyond your pocketbook, the pictures are pretty nice, too. [More] (Thanks to Amatire for sparking a search for the link.)

Tonight, Liv Tyler is scheduled to be on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. [More]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Tolkien, except maybe for being some of the best serial 'Fantasy' written since the dear professor put down his pen. The New York Review of Books has posted a quite lengthy review of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series that is well-worth a read (and a postcard for reading the books themselves). Check it out! [More]

Over the objections of neighbors, city Plan Commission members voted 5-0 Monday to recommend approval of a subdivision next to a landfill. The commission recommended that the Common Council rezone the land to allow the project, which will feature streets named after characters and places in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." [More]

From The Scotsman: Imagine a world in which The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia didn�t exist; where children had never encountered the Snow Queen of Narnia or read the adventures of Gandalf, Frodo and Sam; where Peter Jackson was just another jobbing director looking for his big break and the film industry was significantly poorer. [More]

From HowardShore.com: Howard Shore has signed a copy of his Academy Award-winning score to Return of the King to be auctioned on Ebay with all profits being donated to the Tree People charity. Tree People helps fund the planting of trees as part of a restoration project for lands damaged by wildfires in the state of California. You only have a few days left to own a piece of film music history! [More]

Ringer Spy arthur writes: I was looking for maya, a digital software tool for 3d animation, and on their website www.alias.com they have a link to play behind the scenes footage of the making of ROTK. Here's the link to the part of the site with the clip in it. [More]

The official site has updated with a list of what we can expect on the Return of the King DVD arriving near you from May 25th. Unfortunately no Extended Edition-preview this time around. Preorders for the DVD will commence on March 12th. [More]

Things are coming together for Peter Jackson's King Kong. Soopi sends along this image of a large ship currently docked in Wellington. The ship is rumored to be used in a 'spectacular explosion' during the film. Anyone with closer access and a nice digital camera, send me some more images!. [More]

The New Hollywood?

Thain Brandybuck sends in this report from the Oscar celebrations in Wellington: The Oscar festivities saw people celebrating all over the world. And the real party begun even earlier with a gathering of good friends in Wellington, New Zealand. Unaware that movie history would be made on Monday, our group Cormacolindor met for the weekend. [More]

Decipher announced today that Weta Workshop, the Academy Award-winning special effects studio responsible for creating many props and special effects used in New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings films, will create unique photographic images that will be featured on cards in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. Under the terms of their agreement, Weta Workshop will cast, costume and create character images that did not appear in the films for Decipher�s use in The Lord of the Rings TCG. [More]

Jonee sends in the 60 chapters to be used in the ROTK Theatrical DVD. [More]

JHLKY writes: I scanned the April 2004 issue of Screen, a Japanese movie magazine with articles about when some of the cast went to Japan and questions and answers about the movie. [More]

The folks from tolkiensociety.org write: 25th March is "Tolkien Reading Day", this event launched last year is aimed at encouraging the use of Tolkien�s works in education, by getting schoolteachers and library staff to participate in reading Tolkien to their classes and in their libraries. [More]

Minnie writes: I received this email this morning referring to scheduling conflicts with Dominic Monaghan's appearance in Australia's Best of Both Worlds convention: It is with huge regret that I must inform you that Dominic Monaghan has booked a pilot for Disney, titled �LOST� which conflicts with his appearance at BOBW. [More]

Ataahua writes: The New Zealand news magazine TV show, Sunday, had an interview with Weta's Richard Taylor just two days after the academy awards. Among the revelations were why Richard mentioned onstage at the Oscars the present he gave to his wife of the two live rats, who his favourite LOTR creature is, and why it is such a good thing to be a left-handed person in New Zealand. [More]

It was bound to happen eventually...Baggins' Pockets writes: Saturday Night Live spoofs PJ twice on weekend update. First showing a phot of him holding his oscar and saying "a homeless man repeatedly stormed the stage at the Oscars..." and second having Horatio Sans and Rachel Dratsch show up as PJ and Elijah Wood to pick up an award.

Teen Hollywood is reporting that Nicole Kidman has signed to star in the new movie version of CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Even some of Uncle Rupert's publications have picked up the story. Is it true? I guess we'll have to wait for confirmation ... or denial. [More]

For the last couple of hours frantic LOTR fans have been reading the false rumor that Viggo Mortensen had recently perished in a car accident. TheOneRing.net can now confirm that the article in question is in fact a copy and paste job from an original article about a Wisconsin woman located here. Some people have the sickest sense of humor.

From SciFi.com: Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood (Frodo) told SCI FI Wire that he talked with Rings writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens after last week's Oscar ceremony about returning to New Zealand to snag a small part in director Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake. [More]

Thanks to Frodo-esque for the link!

This little goody surfaced by way of a nameless TORn staffer who found it most amusing: A full-length LOTR parody album by The Moist Biscuits called "Fear of a Black Rider." There are strong language warnings here, but if you are brave, you can listen to the song "My Ring" featured on their site. [More] Strong Language

Here are One Party photos from Heather Stanfield, one of the official photographers from the event. [More]

Well, here we go. Just as one huge New Zealand-based production seems to be winding down another one is just gearing up. Various newssources indicate today that none other then Nicole Kidman may be on her way to a part in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia to be turned into a full feature film by Kiwi-director Andrew Adamson. Read all about it here! In other related news; production company Walden Media and distributor Walt Disney Pictures recently ran this ad right here to announce start of production on the project.

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 8, 2004) � The King makes his return in filmmaker Peter Jackson�s stunning conclusion to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, arriving on DVD and VHS on May 25, 2004. The home video debut of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will follow the groundbreaking success of the multi-tiered platform releases of both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, and will be available on a two-disc DVD and VHS for $29.95 and $24.97, respectively. A special extended edition of The Return of the King will follow as planned in time for the holidays. [More]

Ringer Spy Meriadoc writes: The March 2004 issue of Mad Magazine is dedicated to the Oscars and the nominated films and people. In the middle of the magazine they had the ROTK Official Poster, only it says The Lords of the Bling and everyone is replaced with rappers. Slight Adult Content [More]

Ringer Spy Time Warrior sends along the Feb/March 2004 issue of People Magazine which has these scans covering the Oscars. [More]

Athena writes: If you guys missed Billy Crystal's opening number (he sang about Each of the 5 nom'd pics for best Pic) I have compiled a transcript of his Song, based upon the the Sound of Music Song "Favorite Things". [More]

wildezc writes: On the musicnotes.com ROTK sheet music page there is a son called "Use Well The Days," it says music by Howard Shore, written by JRR Tokien, and performed by Annie Lennox! This song is obviously not in the movie, nor is it on the soundtrack. So where is it from? Maybe the EE? Could this simply be a mistake? [More]

urbanite clears it up for us: This song is on the internet edition of the ROTK soundtrack. It is the title of the documentary on the included DVD.

Ringer Spy oqwarrior sends along these very secret Return of the King DVD menu images. This, along with some DVD specs, is what we will most likely see released as the 'major announcement' on the Official Site tomorrow. Take a look! [More]

Four Rings to Rule them All

I write this almost a full week after the events of the Oscar Party and Post-Oscar party have taken place. Most of the TORN staff have returned home and are exhausted, we worked our tails off making sure this party would go off without a hitch. And for the most part it did. Even though we spent most of our time in LA doing backbreaking jobs or working late into the night, we are all incredibly in a post-Oscar depression, the entire staff wants to go back! [More]

Slowly but surely I'm getting to everyone's pictures. Note: the Scrapbook likes BIG pictures, the bigger the better.

One Party Photos from Ringer Spy Freya [More]

One Party Photos from Ringer Spy Elfchild [More]

We're gonna need a bigger shelf

I've finaly been able to create a fairly comprehensive list of all the awards LOTR has won since 2001. The list is up to date including last weeks amazing sweep of the Academy Awards, where ROTK won all 11 awards it was nominated for. Take a look!

[FOTR Awards]
[TTT Awards]
[ROTK Awards]

Lisa writes: I recently acquired a scanner and was able to scan pictures of Elijah Wood in the April edition of Flix magazine, which is a Japanese movie magazine. [More]

Rainkitty4 writes: Joseph Pearce, Professor of Literature, has authored numerous internationally acclaimed biographies on English literary giants, including J.R.R. Tolkien. Originally from Norfolk, England, Mr. Pearce travels the country and world offering insights about the man who created Middle Earth and why LOTR, voted the greatest book of the century, continues to inspire humanity. [ndsu.edu]

jparral writes: I came across an article in the Toronto Star. It mentions that The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is planning to do a perfomance of The Lord of the Rings for its 2005/2006 season. [More]

Becky writes: The current issue of Twist Magazine has pictures of Orlando alone and a group picture with Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen and Billy Boyd and others if I remember correctly.

Anyone with scans, send them along!

As accolades continue to roll in for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the Nelson company which created the ring for it is receiving accolades of its own. Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith has just been nominated for an Imperial Mark, an international recognition of excellence. Only a limited number of organisations can hold the prestigious mark at any one time. [More]

Many, many Ringer Spies have written in to say that they have seen in various locations signs announcing 'Return of the King' in stores on May 25th! Ninquelosse writes: "My husband works for a music & video retailer and tonight brought home a beautiful (to the right eyes) box from Warner Home Video including the deluxe RotK soundtrack, a digital assets kit, and a "complete trilogy guide" in which the sale date for RotK is given as May 25th." Stay tuned!

Elijah in TORn's VIP tent

Beautiful shots of the One Party from our own actually-has-a-degree-in-art Staffer Mia. Note the gorgeous black and white shot of Elijah! [More] And here are a few from Staffer Arathorn. There are so few because we kept him chained to the video feed in a small, dank room during the actual party. [More]

The offical site has posted an announcement about an announcement on March 8th concerning the 'Return of the King' DVD/VHS. Bookmark now! [More]

The amazing novel by Peter S. Beagle was turned into an animated film by Rankin/Bass a few years ago, and it will finally be released on DVD on March 16th! Featuring the talents of Alan Arkin, Mia Farrow, and our own Christopher Lee as King Haggard! So if you've been waiting like I have, preorder today! More

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) today announced winners of 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Among the winners were Elijah Wood, for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance -- Male in the 'Lord Of The Rings(TM): The Return Of The King(TM),' published by Electronic Arts. [More]

Ringer Spy Ophie writes: Liv Tyler will be on MTV's TRL on Monday, March 8th; Elijah Wood will be on to promote 'Eternal Sunshine' on Friday, March 12th. (5 pm EST) [More]

From DeseretNews.com: The happy-as-hobbits-in-the-Shire staff from Badali Jewelry Specialties Inc. proved you didn't have to be a Hollywood filmmaker or haute-couture slinky gown designer to have your artwork displayed to the world. [More]

First, thank you to all the fans for your support and interest in our tshirts. We never guessed how popular they would be and sold out ALL of our on-hand stock the very first day they were available. Follow this link to get a full update on the state of TORn shirts and our plans for the future! [More]

The folks from comicbookscifi.com write: Sean Astin will appear on stage at the March 14, 2004 Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. Sean will appear at 12:00 P.M. to discuss his work on The Lord of the Rings films, as well as take questions from the audience. [More]

Turgon writes: St. Martin's Press has just announced that their forthcoming book, PETER JACKSON--FROM PRINCE OF SPLATTER TO LORD OF THE RINGS: AN UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY by Ian Pryor, has been moved up from a May publication date, and that books will begin shipping from their warehouse tomorrow. I've seen an early copy, and it looks very detailed and fascinating. So look for it soon! $24.95 hardcover.

Pre-Order this book on Amazon.com now!

Always writes: Viggo is going to be a guest on the Mark & Brian radio show today. Mark and Brian are based on Los Angeles' 95.5 KLOS but syndicate to other areas as well. They always post pictures on their web sites of guest visits, so over the weekend there will probably be pictures of Viggo in the studio. [markandbrian.com]

NEW YORK - Peter Jackson won't be returning to the Shire any time soon. The Oscar-winning director is planning to film "The Hobbit," the prequel to "The Lord of the Rings," trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, but two studios must first duke out the legal rights to the film. Jackson said New Line has the rights to make the movie, but MGM has the rights to distribute it. [More]

SW writes: I recently bought Starburst Magazine (issue 62) in London because it was a special edition on LOTR. There were loads of great interviews, but whilst I was reading an interview with Andrew Leslie, this question appeared about Saruman, and the answer that followed: Q: You shot two versions of Saruman's death scene? Highlight to read! A: Yes. Saruman gets pushed off the top of Isengard by Grima Wormtongue, and we did film a scene where Christopher Lee is impaled, but I don't know what Peter is going to do [for the Extended DVD version], because there's another option, to have him vaporize on the way down.

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - February sweeps have barely ended, but The WB is already looking ahead to a future ratings derby. Several of them, in fact. The network has locked in the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy for each of the next three Novembers. The first film in the saga, "The Fellowship of the Ring," will have its network premiere this year. [More]

Arwen writes: There is a MAJOR mention of Return Of The One Party in Entertainment Weekly's coverage of the Oscars (March 12 issue). [More]

Sasskya writes: Viggo Mortensen will be in Spain to present his last film "hidalgo". He will appear on a tv programm called "Lo + plus" on the channel plus next Tuesday, March 9th. [More]

For the past three years, Badali Jewelry (http://www.badalijewelry.com) has made 'Good Luck' pins for all of the Oscar Nominees on behalf of TheOneRing.net. In the latest edition of PEOPLE magazine, the Return of the King pin is featured on page 120 on the lapel of Peter Jackson! Check it out! [More]

The London ComicCon is set to go this weekend with some amazing guests including John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Billy Boyd, John Noble, Bruce Hopkins, Sala Baker, Thomas Robins (Deagol) and swordmaster extraodrinaire Bob Anderson. [More]

Artist Guilherme Silveira Dias tries to guess what PJ will be doing with all those Oscars, perhaps a new addition to the games room? [More]

Wandering Mage Chichiri writes: The following article appeared in the University of Texas at Arlington's student newspaper, The Shorthorn, on Thursday, March 4, 2004 on page 3. [More]

Go to just about any movie and you'll see them � those almost-anonymous, hardworking actors whose name nobody remembers but who always play the hero's pal or the heroine's second-string boyfriend. Sometimes, they just might get a lead role in a small movie that almost nobody sees, going from obscurity to "you know, that guy who was in that movie" and then fading again. [More]

At Sunday night's Academy Awards, when the opened envelop revealed that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" had just won adapted screenplay -- its ninth award of the evening -- New Line Cinema's Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of worldwide marketing and distribution, and Russell Schwartz, president of domestic theatrical marketing, knew that was the defining moment. "We just looked at each other incredulously," Schwartz says. [More]

TORN-Staff Stalker Lawrence Makoare and Jed Brophy are slated to be guests at RingCon 2004 this weekend in Seattle. Unfortunately Bernard Hill who was set to appear had to back out of the con. [More]

Patrick Lloyd writes: Andy Serkis was the extraordinary acting talent behind Gollum in the Oscar sweeping Lord of the Rings trilogy. Andy will be signing copies of his book 'Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic', Wednesday 24th March at 4pm at Waterstone's Broad Street, Oxford.

Forget 'Into The West', 'Gothic Power', or even 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins', THIS my friends is the greatest song ever made! Prepare to have your eardrums massaged with happiness and your brain will melt with delight! I present to you...TATERS! [More]

Our ever so excellent scrapbook has now been updated with some of my own pictures from last week. Very few pictures from the party itself but a lot more from the general good time the entire TheOneRing.net Staff seemed to have had bowling, setting up, drinking, more setting up and (of course) eating! [More]

Jumping the gun only slightly a bit Yahoo! Movies has now updated with a preview for Peter Jackson's adaptation of 'The Hobbit'. It is an interesting read although none of it is confirmed information so we will all just have to wait and see. In the meantime, thanks to Starmaid for digging up this link! [More]

In his most recent newsletter Tolkien-artist extraordinaire John Howe chats about his trip to LA for the Oscars, the trouble of getting out of the country and our very own Return of the One Party! [More]

The Lord of the Rings can be seen as a powerful metaphor for the workplace, RICK LASH writes. Here's his guide to figuring out which characters your colleagues may mirror. [More]

Thanks to Jennifer for the heads up!

First batch of One Party pictures from Ringers are in the scrapbook. These photos were taken by Breeyore, Elfriend, Wonder Cool Guy, and Julie. I'm plugging away at the rest, I swears. [More]

Thorin & Company set off on their adventure. Bilbo Baggins comes along wandering down the Road not knowing how greatly doing so will change his future and what an impact his journey will make on all of Middle-Earth.[More]

Knight of Gondor writes that his sister Galadriel of Lorien was cool enough to bake this Treebeard birthday cake for Stephen. Happy birthday, Stephen. Can I have a piece of that? [More]

Zaakistan the Fan writes: I was at the Howard Shore LOTR Symphony last week and after a rotten day at work, I was transported to emotional bliss. What a trip. I managed to snap a few NON FLASH pictures from my corner on the Mezzanine. [More]

Whitney W sends in these scans from 'American Cowboy Magazine'. They feature great images and an article about Mortensen's 'Hidalgo'. [More]

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com the screen count for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King will increase by nearly 800 this coming weekend! So if you haven't seen ROTK for a while, go again soon and celebrate the historic Oscar Sweep! [More]

The Official New Line Shop (LOTRshop.com) has posted an amazing 5-foot wide cast poster for pre-sale on their website. The poster features all of the major cast members from the films. Check it out! [More]

Xoanon & Kathy J

For all the hoopla, glitz and glamour of the Return of the One Party, my story is remarkable in the fact that it is completely UN-remarkable in the star department. You will hear some great stories in the coming days about star encounters at the party, but sadly for my part it was not my night to meet anyone famous. [More]

The companies that own the rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien �Lord of the Rings� books and related movies and merchandise have sued a New Jersey company for publishing a four-volume DVD set about the books. According to the suit filed by the Saul Zaentz Company, which has owned the trademarks and intellectual property rights since 1976, and New Line Cinema, Kultur International Films has infringed on the Tolkien trademarks and copyrights by importing, making and selling the set �Inside Tolkien�s The Lord of the Rings.� [More]

As if murderous orcs and magic spells weren't enough to contend with, there are two languages to learn - loosely based on Welsh and Finnish. Undeterred by the challenge, a group of schoolboys has volunteered for lessons in Sindarin, the "conversational" form of Elvish, invented by Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. [More]

New Zealand are holding off their celebrations in the wake of The Lord of the Rings Oscar triumph until director Peter Jackson returns home from the US. "Any decision about the form of the tribute should involve Peter," said Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast. "This is of huge importance to Wellington, so our emphasis will be on getting it right, not getting it quickly," she said. [More]

From creature-corner.com: Scottish actor Billy Boyd will be joining Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly, who're reprising their roles, as well as John Waters who'll have a small turn in the flick 'The Son of Chucky'. [More]

Perceval Press publishes edgy books for the sheer love of it. Viggo Mortensen's presence doesn't hurt its chances. On a January night at Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica, actor-artist-writer Viggo Mortensen reads the prose poem he wrote for an anthology about Iraq, "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation." It is one of the quieter pieces in the passionate volume and the author reads so softly that the entire audience leans in to hear him. [More]

LOS ANGELES � With the rain coming down � along with the Academy Awards scaffolding � Hollywood Boulevard on Monday night was but a pale reminder of the previous evening's Oscar glamour. Then out of the darkness, to the cheers of fans, the magic of The Lord of the Rings was reborn once more, as King Aragorn rode down the street atop his mighty steed. [More]

"It's a tough one," says Hugo Weaving. "If it came down to a fight, I'm not sure who'd win." He is debating the fighting prowess of his two best-known screen incarnations: Agent Smith, the indestructible, suit-and-sunglasses-wearing baddie from The Matrix films, and the noble Elrond, the elf king from The Lord of the Rings. He's not talking about the characters themselves, but the plastic action figures that have sold in their thousands all over the world. [More]

Susan Thea Posnock writes: Okay, I'll say it right up front. It was DULL. It was one of the most boring Oscar ceremonies I've ever watched, despite my being thrilled with the clean sweep. I had high expectations for some hobbity zaniness. In preparation I dressed in my �Frodo� best and decorated my home with �Leaves of Lorien� strewn about a spectacular �White Tree of Gondor� lamp. And believe me, that was quite the task in a small �one room to fit it all� studio apartment. [More]

Hobbits, elves and black-tied gentry erupted with joy Sunday night at the Hollywood American Legion Hall as Steven Spielberg presented filmmaker Peter Jackson the best picture Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, capping an evening in which the final Tolkien chapter won in all eleven of its nominated categories. [more]

Mr 'Oh Jean' himself, Billy Boyd will be on The Sharon Osbourne Show today, check your local listings. Viggo Mortensen will also be on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight at 11:35PM on CBS.