TORn is excited to announce that Jerry Vanderstelt has once again created the must have of San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive collectibles.
Last year, lucky Con attendees were able to purchase one of Jerry’s amazing The Lord of the Rings Trilogy print set collectibles. This year he’s back with a beautiful trio of prints, as a set for Comic-Con 2024. The three prints consist of Aragorn, Arwen, and the beautiful symbol of Gondor. These 12×16 prints are limited to 300 pieces, and will come signed, as well as numbered. They’re a steal as well for only $40. You’ll need to get in early as these will not last the entire show!
Last Thursday our friends at Weta Workshop revealed one of their most beautiful environments, The Grey Havens is up for order. This piece captures the beauty and emotion of the Grey Havens perfectly.
Like all previous limited edition pieces, fans have a two-week window to place their order, with pre-orders closing on February 8th at 4 PM PST. The Grey Havens piece is available via pre-order for $799, and it is expected to ship at the end of this year.
Two further pieces Weta Workshop announced are for all fans of The Return of the King coronation sequence. From Weta Workshops classic series, representing that beautiful scene from the film, fans can now pre-order the awesome-looking King Aragorn and the stunning Coronation Arwen right now for $399 each.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2023 this year our friends at Diamond Select Toys had several new collectibles for fans to contemplate getting when they are available for order. Two of those pieces were the awesome Gandalf the White Gallery Diorama, and the Aragorn Gallery Diorama. This is a new line of collectibles for the DST The Lord of the Rings line, with them both being around 9″ tall. You can order both right now via the DST site, with Gandalf coming in at $75 and shipping in quarter one of next year, and Aragorn coming in at $59, with him shipping in the back half of this year.
Both CRIMES OF THE FUTURE and THIRTEEN LIVES featured the Aragorn actor in top fashion, yet there was no fan discussion nor viewership numbers worth reporting from any studio. Taking into consideration this was the year of the inescapable RINGS OF POWER, the most expensive TV season ever telling the story of Aragorn’s heritage, we have to ask: what happened?
source: THR
Crimes of the Movie Going
Viggo Mortensen re-teaming with Howard Shore should be enough to grab any LOTR fans attention, then add in that it’s David Cronenberg returning to his shock-scifi roots. There should be an ongoing buzz about this in 2022 right? But CRIMES OF THE FUTURE came and went with barely a whisper. According to Rotten Tomatoes it is a respectable 80% Fresh, and JustWatch says it is currently streaming on Hulu.
Not only does it have a new Howard Shore score (who has worked with Cronenberg on most of his films), CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is the fourth collaboration between the director and Mortensen – who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for their hit EASTERN PROMISES. Yet there’s been close to zero conversation on our message boards or twitter feed, as if nobody gave this film a try.
To be clear, Cronenberg films can an acquired taste and you the viewer should be prepared for full dark, body-shock genre storytelling. This movie was never going to be a blockbuster, but with a very fervent fanbase for both LOTR and Cronenberg and Shore, it’s surprising this film didn’t find its footing in cinemas or streaming.
THIRTEEN LIVES, NO THEATERS
The other Viggo Mortensen film that should have been a huge 2022 hit is THIRTEEN LIVES, directed by Ron Howard and co-starring Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton. Critics and audiences agree that this is a great movie! An all-star cast, story ripped from the headlines, with one of the top directors of all time. It also was the best test-scores in MGM studios history.
THIRTEEN LIVES tells the story of the cave-diving rescue of a team of kids stuck underground in a Thailand monsoon. There’s also a meta-cultural touchpoint since this is the rescue event where Elon Musk called rescuers horrible names and promised a technological solution that never materialized, and Elon is one of the most talked about persons on the internet in 2022 with his takeover of Twitter. So between cultural relevance, meme opportunities, a real human story of heroics, epic test scores, this had all the hallmarks of a huge box office hit. Plus, THIRTEEN LIVES is produced by Amazon Studios, home to RINGS OF POWER.
We can guess why this film was direct-to-streaming, as Amazon wants people to sign up for Prime Video. But this film is a perfect theatrical experience where every thrilling hold-your-breath moment would be shared with strangers in a dark cinema. Prime Video has stated it still believes in theatrical distribution with its recent acquisition of MGM studios, so why didn’t this get a summer release? Top Gun Maverick is Tom Cruise’s biggest film of his career, while WB released several blockbusters on both HBO Max and theaters simultaneously.
Why wasn’t THIRTEEN LIVES put in theaters?
Why didn’t Prime offer this movie after each episode of RINGS OF POWER?
Why did Amazon make a movie with Isildur’s heir, in a year with their show about Isildur, and not promote it?
Does this movie show up in your Prime dashboard after watching the entirety of Rings of Powers?
Viggo Mortensen is turning in some of the best performances in 2022. As the movie industry enters awards season, maybe these films will get renewed interest and some nominations. Fans of Viggo Mortensen should definitely give THIRTEEN LIVES a go on Amazon Prime, and if you can stomach a jaunt with CRIMES OF THE FUTURE on Hulu.
With many new Lord of the Rings projects on the horizon, maybe there’s room for Viggo Mortensen to direct, write, score or star in more Middle-earth. Amazon or Embracer, give him a call.
Our friends at Diamond Select Toys sent a copy of Aragorn, Frodo, and the Moria Orc for theonering.net to take a look at.
As I said in my last review I think for the price, as well as the detailing, these are definitely worth the $29.99 you can get them for. I especially like these for collectors who enjoyed the Toy Biz line, released during The Lord of the Rings Trilogy run in theaters. Also, like the other figures released so far, you get pieces to put together to build your own Sauron. You can get these figures now! So if you have any extra Christmas cash, these figures are well worth using it on.
We’ve teamed up with our new friends at Numskull Designs to show off a couple of their very cool cosplaying ducks from TheLord of the Rings Trilogy. The subjects of this review are going to be the awesome-looking Aragorn and Sauron Cosplaying Ducks, as well as their very cool The Lord of the Rings pin sets.
You can get these two ducks for $12.99 each, and the pin sets for $7.99, from various collectibles stores on the net. However, we’re pleased to announce that starting tomorrow Friday 9th April, through Friday 30th April, if you follow TheOneRing.net AND Numskull Designs on Twitter, and like TORn’s tweet announcing the contest, you will be in with a chance to win a set of what you see in this review. (One lucky winner will be chosen at random, and contacted by Numskull Designs.) Good luck!
TORn is excited to announce that Jerry Vanderstelt has once again created the must have of San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive collectibles.
