VICE News has published a feature-length documentary on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, including new interviews with cast and crew of the epic film series. Rare new interviews with LOTR Executive Producer Barrie Osborne, Peter “Swords” King, the Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen, Variety’s Tim Gray, and fan favorite actors like Jed Brophy, all tell the story of the history of Rings adaptations from Bakshi to Jackson.
Watch the full documentary here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvymWfqmVuE
VICE has earned a reputation for unblemished deep dives in interesting cultural moments such as the series Dark Side of the Ring about professional wrestling. The parent company VICE Media has been in the news lately shutting down its operations, and the quality of this documentary implies this was originally meant for the VICE channel on cable TV. Possibly because of changes in the marketplace, fans can also access to the full doc for free on YouTube.
Shout out to staffer Thorongil for first spotting this doc, and our friend Varking for sharing the viewing link. Be the first to know what’s going on in Tolkien by joining our Discord.
TheOneRing.net will kick off the 2024 Convention season at Wondercon in Anaheim, running from March 29-31, 2024. Our panel, ‘Dispatches from Middle-earth: The War of the Rohirrim’ will be on Easter Sunday at 12:15 pm in room North 200A. You can find our panel description at: https://sched.co/1aznT or if you don’t have tickets yet, you can find those at https://www.comic-con.org/wc/
We have much to talk about with the recent announcement of a new book of Tolkien’s poems and the interviews with the creators of The War of the Rohirrim. We will miss the actual ‘Tolkien Reading Day’ on March 25, but all is not lost, March is officially dubbed National Reading Month to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. All that is to say ‘expect a little bit of Tolkien’s literature to make an appearance’.
We also would like to invite any Middle-earth-themed cosplayers to attend our panel and the subsequent photo shoot out by the fountain in front of the convention center. If you are unable to attend the panel but think you can make the photo shoot afterwards, it will take place 45 minutes after the end of the panel, or approximately at 2pm.
A couple of weeks ago saw those wonderful performances at Radio City Music Hall, of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with live orchestral accompaniment. Various TORn staffers and friends were there; our friend Constance G. J. Wagner shares her thoughts about the event:
The Two Towers at Radio City Music Hall
February in New York can be wind-whipped and cold — much like the gusts one experiences when standing before the doors of Meduseld in Rohan. This is all an artsy way of describing the walk TO Radio City Music Hall In New York City on February 17th to immerse myself in the “score to screen” live music performance of Howard Shore’s powerful score for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. However, as cold as it was outside on the streets of Manhattan, the fellowship felt among the audience waiting for the performance to start created warmth and energy that crackled with electric anticipation. When conductor Ludwig Wicki came onstage to begin the show, the walls of Radio City vibrated with a fan-fueled roar of expectation and excitement. It would, they felt, be a night to remember.
Hearing the score played live, seeing a choir and soloists bring both intimate and epic musical moments to life in real time, is an experience not to be missed. It deepens the depiction of character and the emotional context of the saga as a whole, particularly since this is a shared experience with all of Middle-earth spread across a 60-foot screen.
The audience cheered the arrival of each hero’s first appearance on the screen, but also gave rousing applause to soloist Kaitlyn Lusk, who dazzled with lyric, numinous vocals and a glittering golden gown to match. Equally impressive was the boy soprano soloist who captured the intensity of the battle cry of the Rohirrim with soaring, impossible notes.
At night’s end, cheers and more cheers for the soloists, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the adult choir — MasterVoices, and the conductor rolled through the audience like a great wave with a standing ovation that lasted several minutes.
The experience was immersive and impressive and amazing – particularly for those fans whose viewing of the film may have only been on small screens. For this part of Tolkien’s tale to be presented as literally larger than life with sound to rock the soul … well, it is something for the ages.
Finally, the audience left the theatre filled with anticipation for another round in another year when Return of the King comes to the screen with its own sights, and sounds … and wonder. And so to all the musicians who brought Howard Shore’s score to an audience in such brilliant fashion, one can only offer thanks and say: Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo — A star shines on the hour of our meeting.
The Return of the King in 2025?
The Return of the King is the one movie of the trilogy which was not part of the original performances with orchestra at Radio City Music Hall; so, we’re very much hoping we’ll see that movie presented in 2025! Of course, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear!
The awesome folks at Diamond Select Toys have even more awesome Middle-earth collectibles for those of us who collect their sweet pieces.
If you’re like me, and are collecting the Deluxe Action Figure line, you can now pre-order Merry and Pippin. Both of these figures are priced at $29.99 for a single figure or you can grab both in a set for $59.98 with the figures due to ship in quarter 3 of this year.
If you’re a fan of their Gallery Diorama series you can now add the Cave Troll to that collection. The Cave Troll comes in with a price tag of $125 and will be shipping in quarter 2 of this year.
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.
Twenty years on from the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, fans continue to celebrate the monumental achievements of Peter Jackson and the team who brought Middle-earth to life. New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) have shared with us a twelve-minute look at the making of LOTR: ROTK pulled from the archives featuring new 4K remastered footage.
Back when midnight openings were a thing, fans around the world lined up to be the first to watch Return of the King in cinemas with heralded hype. The runtime of 3 hours and 21 minutes did not dissuade anyone as book fans knew there was a lot of story to cover, and the DVD releases of the longer Extended Editions had primed audiences for a longer, well-told story. The finale exceeded anyone’s expectations. The Return of the King made $1.1 Billion at the box office, making it the second-highest grossing movie of all time at release. It was still #1 at the box office in its 4th week!
Above, Peter Jackson attends TheOneRing.net’s Fellowship of the Ring Oscar Party in 2002. Below, Peter Jackson returns to the 2004 fan party for Return of the King with all the Oscar trophies in hand. Return of the King matched the record for most Oscars ever won by any movie, and is the most-awarded film worldwide of all time.
In addition to the video above from WBHE recognizing Peter Jackson’s achievement, fans are celebrating together with a global watch-along on Sunday December 17 to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Return of the King. Also look out for a new Art of Costume podcast with the award winning costume designer Ngila Dickson.
In the 20 years since its record setting award winning run, The Lord of the Rings films have become the benchmark of filmmaking with just the right balance of practical and digital effects, location and digital shooting, innovation and classical performance, and maintaining a fidelity to the source material while at the same time introducing changes benefiting the medium of film. Fans have made watching these films an annual event, and the wide use of LOTR memes are unsurpassed in quantity and relevance.
Peter Jackson is adored worldwide and fans still enjoy diving into the BTS Appendices on 4K, Bluray and DVD. Now that New Line Cinema has a fresh long-term deal to make new LOTR spinoff movies, could Jackson return to Middle-earth? His producing partner Philippa Boyens is already bringing WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM to cinemas in December 2024, telling the story of Helm Hammerhand and the history of the Rohan Shieldmaidens. Jackson doesn’t need to get back to LOTR after winning Emmy Awards with The Beatles (and directing his first ever music video for them) but, based on the daily conversations happening on our forums and discord, LOTR fans are ready for a trustworthy hand to manage the future of Tolkien’s expanding legendarium.
Before Rotten Tomatoes, TORn had RINGER REVIEWS for fans to share right after watching the film
Happy 20th anniversary to Return of the King, a film that made us all cry (multiple times) by channeling the best of J.R.R. Tolkien and the humanity of his stories. It remains the high water mark of fantasy filmmaking even today.
