LOTR Movie news archives from June 10, 2000 through June 26

All the media now seem to be catching on to the concerns of Tolkien fans over Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" production in New Zealand. The Guardian Unlimited posted a fairly standard review of the film and the history behind it on June 19.
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Imladris has posted an article from The Sunday Times which reports that the Tolkien Society is concerned about Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" production.
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Joram Manka of Ringbearer has posted a more detailed story about the breaking scandal involving theft of film footage and money laundering in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" production in New Zealand.
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TheOneRing.Net picked up a story on The New Zealand Herald Online about a man charged with theft and money laundering (among other crimes) in connection with an apparent attempt to steal and sell over the Internet copies of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" film footage.
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One of the most-often asked questions in online Tolkien fandom is, "Did Balrogs have wings". Most people believe they did. A sizeable minority believe they did not.
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We've been informed that the "new" image shown in the scan on Ringzone is not so new after all.
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In their most recent spy report, TheRealmOfTheRing has revealed that the Uruks have a hero: Greg. [more]

Rodrigo Costa at Ringzone has announced that the so-called Ent graphics were lifted from TheOneRing.Net's LOTR movies special effects site.
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The Mines of Moria was the first site to post these very fuzzy scans. Then Tolkien-Movies.Com. Now Ringzone.Net is carrying the same image. [more]

Well, we have never seen the picture before. Rodrigo Costa over at Ringzone has published a scan of the Games Informer article which discusses the competition for the film-derived rights to produce an online game.
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In what is bound to set the tongues a wagging and keyboards a-clicking over the next few days, Joram Manka of Ringbearer has scooped the Internet community with a Dominion article about the LOTR horses that reveals perhaps a few more tidbits than Peter Jackson may have wanted known.
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Professor Tom Shippey, probably best known among Tolkien fans for The Road to Middle-earth, has written a new book titled J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century.
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Mithrigil Galtirglin, the gifted young writer who created "Peter's Rings", has been writing a parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. She has now released chapter five, "Caesar Salad".
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Elemental Films has announced a significant content update on the Web site for the upcoming "Ancanar" film.
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In our desperate search for new LOTR movie-related news we have uncovered a secret image retouching project published by The Realm of the Ring. They are brightening the picture of the Nazgul charging across a road on horseback.
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Joram Manka at Ringbearer tells us that you can now listen to the BBC radio adaptation of The Hobbit on your PC.
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With Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies prodution going on winter hiatus, one would think there should be a dearth of new news and all the Tolkien movie Webmasters could go on a well-earned vacation. But in what appears to be a decision of good timing or the provident arrangement of fate, New Line Cinema has taken a more direct hand in creating movie-related news.
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Several Tolkien movie news sites have reported that New Line Cinema is sponsoring the Wellington Film Festival in July while the movie production is on winter hiatus. The Otago Daily Times is reporting that the four actors and one producer from Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" production who are expected at the festival will also attend the Hollywood Ball, part of the Queenstown Winterland Festival, on July 21. [more]

Ringzone.Net has learned that Coming Soon! is running a poll on their site asking fans which movie franchise they believe will be the most successful.
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One would expect better from a well-known British author like Pratchett than the debauchery of cliches and misinformation which he has published in the Washington Post for their Sunday, June 18, 2000 edition. One must ask what book Practhett was referring to, since it clearly wasn't J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
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Although the image is from last November, Scoop New Zealand has just announced an image of a model of a "Hobbit Summer House" on their Web site. Scoop occasionally publishes photos from the sets of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" production in New Zealand. [more]

Jon Huston of Toy Vault is not yet ready to make a public statement concerning the recent announcement of the awarding of the master license for toy development to Marvel Enterprises' Toy Biz division. However, he did confirm for us that Toy Vault's license is in no way legally affected by the Toy Biz contract.
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Suggesting the photographs may be touch-up jobs, Scoop is asking, "Are these for real?", referring to the two licensing show pictures recently released by Dark Horizons (while attributing the photos to TheOneRing.Net).
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In his latest collection of responses to fan inquiries, Sir Ian McKellen discloses a great deal of information about the current status of the productions and he disputes one widely mentioned spy report.
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With the release of the trailer for "Ancanar", Elemental Films has thrown its hat into the ring where production companies are hoping to make film history.
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The Realm of the Ring has published new spy photos of the entrance to the "Lorien" set and of the descontruction of the "Moria" site.
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This is a preliminary report as we await the completion of our downloads, but Elemental Films have released the Internet trailer for their movie, "Ancanar". Fans of Tolkien will be very interested in this movie, and they can find more information at http://www.ancanar.com/.
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Beren over at Tol Galen has learned that Robyn Malcolm's character is named "Morwen" and she is a Rohirric refugee. Here is what we can tell you about "Morwen".
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Earlier this year we reported that rumors have been circulating concerning trouble with Havas' license to produce a massive multiplayer online Middle-earth game (through the Sierra Online studios). Now word comes from Gamespot that New Line Cinema should be announcing a new interactive game publisher within a month.
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TheOneRing.Net has reported that Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Craig Parker (Haldir, the march-Warden of Lorien) have been seen on the set in Featherston in Wairarapa. Filming is expected to conclude on Friday.
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Online Tolkien fandom has something new to talk about: Anke Eismann. She is a 21-year-old artist who has unleashed a 69-image portfolio through Tolkien Online. The collection of colored drawings sweeps across Middle-earth's history and legends with a breathtaking depth and honesty.
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Elemental Films has just notified us that we were a bit confused about the "Ancanar" project. This is not the "Elessar" film previously discussed. The "Elessar" project is still on hold. "Ancanar" is a fantasy movie about a young man's search for a hidden Elven city. No further details are available at this time. [more]

Regular members of the Middle-earth Toys Message Board, an independent forum operated for collectors of Toy Vault's Middle-earth Toys action figures, are openly asking whether the recent Toy Biz master license voids Toy Vault's license to produce Tolkien-related merchandise. [more]

TheOneRing.Net has announced the URL for a Web site purporting to have scans from the John Howe 2001 Tolkien calendar. [more]

Elemental Films has just announced their official Web site. The company is producing the "Elessar" motion picture, based on the love story of Aragorn and Arwen.
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Tolkien Online has picked up (and apparently translated) an article from a Greek online magazine about the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" movies by Peter Jackson.
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TheOneRing.Net is reporting that WETA learned of an auction on eBay where props from the "Lord of the Rings" production were allegedly be offered for sale to the highest bidder. In accordance with their policy, eBay stopped the auction immediately. TheOneRing.Net credits The Dominion with breaking the story.
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Cirdan of herr-der-ringe-film.de has added more screen captures to the page which reports on a recent news broadcast about the New Zealand production.
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Imladris is reporting that New Zealand television has shown a brief clip of the auditions process for horses and riders. In order to determine if the animals can handle the highly volatile battle scenes, a crewmember flaps his coat at the horses as they rush by to see how easily they spook.
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Joram Manka at Ringbearer has announced that Sir Ian McKellen's official Web site has several sound clips of the actor performing various characters, including Gandalf. [more]

They have not released any details yet, but Elemental Films is apparently going ahead with its "Elessar" movie project. They are contacting fan sites in a prelude to setting up their own news distribution network. [more]

Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News has announced that Christopher Lee has been cast for an unspecified role in George Lucas' second Star Wars chapter, which is currently being filmed in Australia. [more]

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published a nice roundup article about Tolkien, the upcoming films, and local fandom in Milwaukee itself, which is home to Marquette University, the repository of many of Tolkien's papers, including many unpublished notes. [more]

Deal With New Line Provides Toy Biz Extensive Product Rights to movies Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien`s Legendary Saga
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Published in February of 2000, Seamus Heaney's modern English translation of "Beowulf" has taken the literary world by surprise. The book won Britain's prestigious Whitbread book award and made the best seller lists in America. [more]

TheOneRing.Net and Tolkien Online are reporting that Robyn Malcolm, best known as Nurse Ellen Crozier on New Zealand's "Shortland Street", has been cast in a small role in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings". Here is what we know about her and the role she's playing in the films.
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The official Lord of the Rings Web site has updated its "Live on the Set" audio download file. [more]

Information Week is reporting that 1800 customers of Cisco Systems (the people who make Internet routers, the things which help computers connect to each other and so become the Internet) got to see a digitally broadcast sneak preview of "Titan A.E." in Atlanta, GA.

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CBS News (among other organizations) is reporting on widespread British complaints about the misrepresentation of history in the popular action/adventure film, "U-571".

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As Xenite.Org continuually expands its content we are always looking for new ways to make our task easier. We are now implementing a news article tool which will enable us to provide faster updates in a format which will be easier to read.[more]