The hairy monster hit cinemas in black and white in 1933 but has managed to remain the most fearful of celluloid creations despite colourful rivals.

The poll comes right up to the present day with in sixth position the spider queen Shelob, who entangled actor Elijah Wood in last year's Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Peter Jackson, the film's Oscar winning director and the man behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is remaking King Kong on a £70 million budget in his native New Zealand......more

In one weeks time, April 10th, The New York Tolkien Society commences the time honored tradition of Ringbearers-Day. Our event schedule has been finalized and posted...here

For all of our Cummunity Forum members,

After what seems like forever, and 4 release candidates (which has allowed them to shake out most of the bugs) for VB 3.0, they have finally released the "Gold" version, which means it's a stable release. We're running version 2.2.7 and have been resisting the urge to upgrade to 2.3, 2.4, etc, etc etc...hehe, but now we are going to make the big jump to 3.0!!!

I was originally thinking is that this would probably take me two weeks from this weekend to get it installed and configured proper, as I was planning on a full install and then I would have transferred the existing database over to the new forum. However... after further review, we're thinking now that I can get away with an upgrade instead!

This will still be a wee bit of task, but well worth it. Not only will our happy home here have quite a few new features for you to enjoy, it will also resolved some server security issues that were inherent to the 2.* versions.

Unfortunately, in order to pull this off, the forums have to be closed for the duration of the process. We have decided that since Fridays is our lightest day in terms of usage, and that we'd like to have the weekend to be able to respond to issues, so..... I will be closing the boards tonight. Friday at 5pm Pacific, 2am GMT.

I attempted to send a mailing to all of our Community Forum members, but due to a server issue that our host is looking into, I was unable to send it,  so I wanted to post this here and will also post this as an announcement is each forum. Once the process is completed and Quality Assurance testing is completed, I will reopen the boards and make another anouncement to invite everyone back!

As part of the process, we may be dropping the "vbulleting225/upload" stuff from the address, and changing the site navigation so that www.warofthering.net/forums would be all you'd need. If we decide to go that route then I will include that when we invite everyone back, so that everyone knows that they will need to change their bookmarks, etc.

Please note that this only impacts the Community Forum and that the rest of the site will still be online and available for use.

I thank you in advance for your patience during this transition, and look forward to bringing you all the goodies once the upgrade is completed.

In Fellowship,
Illu

PS. If the withdrawals turn out to be too much to bear, just hang in there, and feel free to share your story in the WotR Anonymous thread when we returneth!

Tolkien scholar, Professor Michael Drout has announced that he first
volume of the journal "Tolkien Studies" will be available this month. It
He's been working on this for some time and it promises to be an
excellent edition. Here's his site with a link to the brochure for the
journal...here (thanks to lara)

If your garden is not suitable for a treehouse then why not give a corner of your garden to a touch of 'Tolkien' Magic, with these beautifully crafted, original 'Hobbit Holes'.  These little homes are perfect for children and big kids alike - introducing a new concept for the traditional wendy house and the garden den.....more (thanks to yelsel)

J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Middle Earth- a place filled with elves, hobbits, evil spirits, and talkimg trees- might seem like a form of escapism from the world we live in today, but a according to Dr. Ralph Wood, that fairy-tale world actually allowes readers to face reality. Wood, progessor of Christian theology and literature at Baylor University in Waco, TX, explained some of his views on Tolkiens works at Campbell University's 2004 Annual Lecture Symposium n Tuesday, March 30. Wood in the author of the book The Gospe; According to Tolkien.......more

Science fiction and fantasy fans from far and wide will gather on the Coast this Friday through Sunday for the 27th annual CoastCon, held at the convention center at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum......more

LORD OF THE RINGS star VIGGO MORTENSEN is begging fans to help him recover poems and short stories he wrote while shooting HIDALGO in the Sahara Desert - after they were stolen from his car.

The actor feels sure that whoever took the 12 short stories and 75 poems knew what they were looking for, because money and a computer were left on his backseat but his prose was gone.

He says, "It just made me feel like, 'You're not paying attention to the things that matter to you.'"......source

Kevin Wallace wants to change that. . .  more

[Boy, you really know it's April 1st on the internet today. . . ]

 For those who can't get enough of the Lord of the Rings saga, the fantasy series will next come out with a storyline merging it with the popular The Ring horror movie.

In the new series, it's the Lord of the Rings video that is watched eagerly by innocent viewers. When the viewer has sat through 8+ hours of Tolkein-esque fantasy, complete with a six-layered ending sequence, the phone rings. . .  more

[Just remember today's date, folks. . . .]

Astronomers have decided to rename the planets of the Solar System after characters from Lord of the Rings.

From 1 April next year, Earth will be known as the planet Gandalf, while Mars will be renamed Frodo. . .  more

That concept is now, in my judgement, pretty much out the window and in the trash can. But before we get to the dreaded specifics... . .  more

Speakers from Weta Digital include:

Randall William Cook, Director of Animation, Greg Butler, CG Supervisor, Shawn Dunn, Animation Technical Lead....more

[Warning:  this has all the makings of a fine April Fool's joke. . . .]

http://www.thehobbitfilm.com/

"THE HOBBIT" TO BEGIN PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN NEW ZEALAND in 2005 New Line Acquires Distribution Rights; Paul Andersson to Direct; McKellan, Serkis to Return

(Los Angeles - April 1st 2004) - The Hobbit will begin principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2005, under the direction sci-fi/fantasy director Paul Andersson, it was jointly announced today by Robert Shay, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Line Cinema; Michael Lyne, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema; Mark Ordesky, President of Fine Line Features; and Andersson, who is also a writer and producer of the production.

Following the unprecedented world-wide success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, capped by 11 Academy Award(R), acquiring the rights to distribute The Hobbit was of paramount importance to New Line, a division of Time-Warner Inc.

President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Productions Mark Ordesky said: "What Lord of the Rings has proved is that [fantasy] can be synonymous with quality drama and storytelling."....more

ROTK is drawing its last breath on the USA Box Office. The daily grossing is now way under $100.000. After a slow weekend, ROTK started Monday with a -50% drop since last weeks monday. The same thing happened Tuesday.

My guess is, that ROTK will gross a few more million in the USA and then it is over.

On the international front, ROTK is also winding down, but nothing near the drop on the USA Box Office. The weekend gross was an estimated 5 million, that is a -34% drop since last weekend.

The Worlwide total of ROTK is now an impressive $1,092,528,164 This is the second greatest grossing of all time.

Murali, on the verge of becoming Test cricket's leading wicket-taker, will arrive in Perth this week to have his new delivery assessed by an advanced camera system responsible for the animation in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.....more

Rare volumes of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, including two copies signed by the author, fetched twice their estimated value at auction today.

The lot, which included signed second editions of the first two books and an unsigned first edition of the third part, was initially valued at up to £1,000.

But today they were sold to an anonymous buyer for a hammer price of £2,100. full article

Viggo Mortensen is going to be on Richard and Judy on channel 4 UK tomorrow at 5.00pm (thanks to yelsel)

THURSDAY'S SHOW source
)With a feature film career spanning almost 20 years, it has taken a performance fit for a king to finally thrust enigmatic Viggo Mortensen, indisputably, into the Hollywood A-list. With his standout turn as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mortensen achieved heart-throb status, but the big question everyone's asking about Viggo now is whether or not he can carry a movie on his own. The answer is a resounding yes. He is back in the saddle yet again in a new Disney movie, Hidalgo, the story of an epic 3,000 horse race set in the middle east. A story of one man and his horse against all the odds. He joins Richard & Judy to tell them all about the film and his amazing experience playing Aragorn.

A mountain safety group has warned a growing number of foreign climbers could die on New Zealand's mountains after being lured by the Lord of the Rings films.

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council's warning comes after an Australian climber died on Aoraki/Mt Cook yesterday.....more

Brio Magazine interviewed cast members and posted these quotes.

Dec 2003 - life lessons from cast members

Apr 2004 - More life lessons (from cast members who weren't included in their first interview)

Fans are petitioning New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and United Artists to work out the film rights to The Hobbit, so Peter can make the movie.

Here is an excerpt from the petition:

We, the undersigned, wish to make clear our strong desire to see a quality film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Having spent the last three years in Middle-earth, under the spell of magician Peter Jackson and the wizards of Weta Workshop, we find ourselves only wanting more. The Tale of the Ring is incomplete without the story of It’s finding by Bilbo, and the other aspects of his adventure make for a captivating cinematic journey as well.

Fans know that the film rights reside with New Line, while distribution is the legal domain of MGM/United Artists. It would be heartbreaking for the fans to be denied this film, simply because of this rift in rights......

So far the petition has 316 signatures. Get over there and sign it!!!!

Based on New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson's Academy Award winning film, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" video game will once again put the fate of Middle-earth(tm) in the hands of gamers as they become the hero in a cinematic action adventure of epic scale. Players must destroy the One Ring by casting it into the Crack of Doom, freeing Middle-earth from the clutches of the Dark Lord Sauron.....more

Jackson has beaten Hollywood's moguls at their own game, given hundreds of inventive New Zealanders worthwhile, lucrative work and enhanced tourism into the bargain. Bring back knighthoods, I say, and give him one.

So when I add that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is, as a work of cinematic art, ham-fisted, shallow, bombastic and laughably overrated, don't get me wrong. I'm not criticising Jackson but the degraded state of popular movies.

Jackson's epic represents the victory of special effects over dramatic art......more

The Lord of the Rings film-maker says Black, who made his name in the Nick Hornby adaptation High Fidelity, will play Carl Denham, an ambitious adventurer and movie man who accompanies an expedition team to the remote island home of the oversized simian......more

THE LORD OF THE RINGS star ELIJAH WOOD has become a real-life supporter of soccer team WEST HAM - in a case of life imitating art.

American-born Wood - currently filming THE YANK in which he plays a passionate West Ham fan - has succumbed to the charms of the east London team, and is now a keen supporter after going to see them play twice recently.

Wood says, "West Ham is my team - it has stolen my heart. They had a great game before, against Crewe, and it was brilliant. There were six goals and it ended 4-2 to West Ham."....more

LORD OF THE RINGS beauty LIV TYLER was so thrilled when she first bought classic STOOGES album RAW POWER, she ran around the house naked while playing it.

The stunning actress, daughter of AEROSMITH frontman STEVEN TYLER, admits she desperately wanted to emulate rocker IGGY POP when she first listened to the 1973 album.

She says, "I was totally obsessed by it. I was just a little kid, and I'd run around the house naked like he was on the cover.".....source

Hollywood actor Elijah Wood wants to appear in smaller films after his experiences in the Oscar-winning trilogy Lord of the Rings.

The actor, 23, is currently shooting a $6.3 million (GBP3.5 million) movie in London called The Yank - a world away in film terms from the $3 billion-grossing epic trilogy from director Peter Jackson......more

I listened to the Grey Album, read some of Lawrence Lessig's new book on creativity and the internet, and watched The Return of the King on DVD at a friend's house.....more

Rhythm & Hues has landed the role as lead special effects studio on Walt Disney Studios and Walden Media fantasy epic The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which Disney will distribute late next year.

Variety reports that R&H is expected to create more than 700 shots for the film, which will start lensing this summer in New Zealand, with "Shrek" series director Andrew Adamson from a script by Ann Peacock.

For "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," R&H will create matte paintings, as well as bring to life a cast of creatures from the C.S. Lewis children's classic as photo-realistic computer-generated characters, including Aslan, a talking lion......more

Just to mark that War of the Ring recently hit a total of over 500,000 files served  from our downloads section. Plus that does not include those served up in special pages or before we introduced the database.

Keep an eye out for more downloads and new functionality soon. We always do our best to find the files you want to see.

:-)

But when the first amateur celebrity took the stage, it was not to belt out his own heartfelt version of "Candle in the Wind." Instead he crouched like a lemur and began to croak out a scene from "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," as a movie screen behind him showed the monologue by the creature Gollum. . . more