W writes: I visited your site the other day, that visit made me think about how much I enjoyed the scores from the LOTR trilogy. Which, in turn, made me think about how I tried for three years in a row to get Howard Shore onto Canada’s Walk of Fame. Obviously, I was not successful. I just nominated him (again) tonight and wondered if you would like to post something on your website encouraging others to do the same. More..

avatarPromotional campaigns for films are designed to do one thing: Sell tickets. Unfortunately, they sometimes mislead viewers into expecting something a film doesn’t deliver which can taint the viewing experience.

This might be the case with James Cameron’s “Avatar” which was released Friday with an incredible amount of hype – both grass-roots and manufactured through an advertising campaign that might lead viewers to expect the greatest movie known to the history of humankind. Continue reading “Movie review: Avatar’s visuals dazzle”

Peter Jackson is planning to set up a film museum in Wellington, sources say. It is understood the development, with a working name of New Zealand Movie World, is planned for opposite his Park Road Post Production facility in Miramar. Props from Jackson’s movies – including his Lord of the Rings trilogy and as far back as Bad Taste in 1987 – would be on public display. A film school could also be included in the development.

A spokesman for Jackson said yesterday that there had been “nothing new and nothing active” in planning for a Wellington-based movie museum and film school since a similar proposal for Shelly Bay fell over about a year ago. More..

The Lovely BonesThe folks from WIFI write: It’s your friends from WIFI again with another Video you might be interested in! We recently attended The Lovely Bones Wellington Premiere and we were able to snag a few quick interviews with some familiar faces including: Gino Acevedo, Philippa Boyens, Jamie Selkirk, Joe Letteri and a few more. More..

“The best movie of the decade” Entertainment Weekly
“…the Rings trilogy is more than movies. It’s a colossus on the march into screen legend.”...Rolling Stone, Peter Travers
“The #1 film of the decade” Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert

LOTR Trilogy: TE Blu Ray

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY
The Multi-Billion Dollar Franchise Reigns Triumphant on Blu-ray™ Disc For the First Time! The Original Theatrical Versions of all Three Films with More than Seven Hours of Special Features and Digital Copies of Each Film Available April 6, 2010 from Warner Home Video

Burbank, Calif, December 14, 2009 – Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, one of the most magical, intensely spectacular epic adventures in motion picture history, can now be seen as never before when all three of Peter Jackson’s visual masterpieces explode onto Blu-ray Disc April 6th as The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy. The nine-disc set will reawaken the powerful connection that fans have to these films through rich, robust colors and crisp sound that home audiences can only experience on Blu-ray Disc. The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy will include digital copies of each film on three separate discs and will also be BD-Live enabled, offering exciting new interactive possibilities. The highly anticipated release will precede Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest videogame launch. Continue reading “LOTR Trilogy TE Blu-ray: Street Date April 6”

Weta Digital’s Richard Taylor and other New Zealand businessmen are seeking to raise up to US$400 million (NZ$550m) to buy intellectual property with box office potential. If the explosive popularity of Twilight or Harry Potter is anything to go by, good intellectual property can clinch the success of a film, and spin-offs like computer games, action figures and branded beach towels.

Mr Taylor (often associated with Peter Jackson and the Lord of The Rings films) is teaming up with Christchurch-based Infiniti Capital chairman Kenji Steven, Nick Gerritsen, of Picton, and China-based Gavin Crombie to create film fund Panda Screen Productions. More..