I haven't heard yet about the games! - I will keep my eye out. Not sure which of them I will get yet!
Welcome to the Hobbit Hole!
It is Two Towers Day!
I haven't heard yet about the games! - I will keep my eye out. Not sure which of them I will get yet!
Welcome to the Hobbit Hole!
It is Two Towers Day!
I saw a making of the TTT game for Playstation 2 on MTV the other night (don't worry, I don't normally frequent MTV!) Amazing. It was like a mini-Weta. Since PS2 is DVD-based technology, they incorporating things like actually film clips of, say, Aragorn. And then the face morphs into the face of the character you can actually play. Intense stuff. There are even scenes that PJ filmed just for the games.
By Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILM WRITER
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
It's not just grizzled wizards and mighty battles drawing people to "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," which screens in several Austin theaters at midnight tonight and opens nationwide Wednesday. There's now the swoon factor.
"My sister goes crazy for Elijah Wood and Sean Astin," says Eric Burke, senior manager of Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy in Austin.
In "The Two Towers," Wood and Astin play hobbits -- Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, respectively. This means they are stumpy in stature and luxuriant in foot hair. Still, they inspire unrepressed mooning among young women. The franchise isn't just for unreformed geeks anymore.
"The Two Towers" is the year's most anticipated movie, arriving one year after "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," which grossed $860 million worldwide at the box office.
Advance ticket sales in Austin are brisk, with theaters such as the Alamo Drafthouse North and Gateway 16 reporting numerous sold-out screenings. By Monday evening, shows at the Alamo were sold out until Saturday, and that day's 7 p.m. show was already gone.
On Monday, Gateway still had a few tickets for one of three screenings of "Two Towers" at midnight tonight. All seats on Wednesday and about 70 percent of seats on Thursday have been taken. At Lakeline 9, no shows were sold out Monday, though 70 percent of seats for the 8 p.m. Wednesday show had been claimed. The movie will also open at the Metropolitan 14, Westgate 11, Barton Creek Cinema, Tinseltown 17 and Tinseltown 20 in Pflugerville.
At Fandango.com, the biggest online movie box office, "Two Towers" constituted 73 percent of sales last week, says spokesperson Karin Olsen. (Fandango is selling tickets for all Austin theaters showing "Two Towers," except the Alamo, which does its own online ticket sales at drafthouse.com.)
The mass attraction of the "Lord of the Rings" series stretches beyond bang-for-your-buck dazzle. The films appear to satisfy a craving for the fantastic that the "Star Wars" franchise and other science fiction movies aren't delivering.
"We want deeper mystery that's generated more by humans, not technology," says Susan Napier, professor of Japanese studies at the University of Texas, where she teaches a class on fantasy and global culture. The "Ring" trilogy "offers this organic world of horses and fire and things like that. It's back to basics in a way that's very appealing to people."
Credit is going to series director Peter Jackson, whose diligently faithful treatment of the unwieldy tales has earned unanimous hosannas -- from critics, audiences and the Oscars. In March, the first "Rings" film took four Academy Awards out of 13 nominations.
"Jackson nailed it," says online movie scoopster Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.com. "And the fantasy film hasn't been nailed for 40 years."
Don't tell that to the millions of grade-schoolers who pledge allegiance to the "Harry Potter" pictures, which like last year will go head-to-head with "Lord of the Rings" for holiday movie dollars.
"It may just be the right time after so many bad fantasy movies," muses Burke at Dragon's Lair. "Maybe people are hungry for something that actually has substance with good acting, good directing and good cinematography."
And, of course, a hobbit or two.