Tag: Lord of the Rings (1-10 of 32)

Mar 13 2013 04:08 PM ET

'Big Bang Theory' star Kunal Nayyar takes the EW Pop Culture Personality Test at Paleyfest 2013

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Image Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Big Bang Theory will hit the stage at PaleyFest tonight, but tonight’s event is also a special one.

It marks the first time a Paley panel will be streamed live from select theaters across the country. (See participating theaters close to you here.) To celebrate the occasion, EW asked Kunal Nayyar to participate in our Pop Culture Personality Test.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Before we start, how are you feeling about being on the big screen?
Kunal Nayyar: At this point I can only speak for myself. It doesn’t make me nervous. If it was just me, and it was all this big stuff, it would probably make me nervous. But having the cast and producers there, [it will] feel like we’re just hanging on set. There’s a kinship and a friendship [among us]. We’re a family, so when we’re all on stage together, it’s just fun and a chance for people to see how we are off-screen.

Well, appropriately, I’ll start off your quiz with a movie-themed question: What was the last movie you saw on the big screen?
Argo. I loved it. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who doesn’t love it. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 5 2012 12:00 PM ET

This week's cover: Go inside 'The Hobbit'

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If you think all of the amped-up anticipation and feverish speculation surrounding Peter Jackson’s long-awaited return to Middle-earth with The Hobbit has been intense — well, just imagine being Martin Freeman. From the moment he was cast as the reluctant hobbit hero Bilbo Baggins in Jackson’s epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved children’s book, the British actor has been doing his best to shut out all of the noise for his sanity’s sake. Going on-line to eavesdrop on the fans’ expectations and armchair-quarterbacking of The Hobbit is “a suicide mission,” he tells EW. “If I read one bad thing about me — it can be one person’s opinion in Idaho — I’m like, ‘Jesus, why does everyone hate me?’ ” he says. “If you read four of those, you think, ‘Everyone in the solar system hates me!’ Then even if you read 80 people saying, ‘I think he’s wonderful and I really want to f— him,’ you’re still thinking, ‘But that person in Idaho…’ ” He pauses and adds drily, “In short, I don’t really seek out the Hobbit stuff.”

With the Dec. 14 release of the first installment, An Unexpected Journey, finally almost here, this week’s issue of EW goes deep into “the Hobbit stuff,” exploring the film’s long, difficult road to the big screen and the critical, sometimes controversial creative decisions Jackson has made along the way — most notably, his surprising decision to turn the planned two-film adaptation into a full trilogy. That decision took even Freeman aback at first. “At first, I must say, I was like, ‘Why?’ ” the actor says, adding that he quickly came around. “You kind of think, ‘I’ve already put this much of my life into two movies. What am I going to do now – not put it into three?’ In for a penny, in for a pound.” READ FULL STORY »

Dec 4 2012 09:51 AM ET

Colbert's Hobbit Week kicks off with Sir Ian McKellen, a.k.a. 'Gandalf the Gay' -- VIDEO

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Can every week be Hobbit Week on The Colbert Report?

Last night, Stephen Colbert launched a full week of episodes dedicated to dissecting Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — complete with a set elaborately decorated to look like The Shire, where Middle-earth’s most fuzzy-footed creatures make their home. The fake pundit — and real Tolkien superfan — welcomed as his first guest Sir Ian McKellen, a celebrated actor who’s best known in geek circles for playing Magneto in the X-Men movies and Gandalf in Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations.

Though he never broke character, Colbert was obviously psyched to share his second breakfast table with McKellen. After showing a clip from the new movie, the actor and the host chatted about everything from why Gandalf the Grey is more fun than Gandalf the White, whether Colbert or McKellen knows more about the character’s mythology, and McKellen’s work as a gay rights advocate. The highlight: McKellen quipped that a new Jackson sequel will star “Gandalf the Gay”: “And you get to find out who is his favorite dwarf.”

For all this, plus McKellen’s assessment of who would win in a fight between Magneto and the White Wizard, click below. READ FULL STORY »

Nov 30 2012 07:10 PM ET

Go medieval in Middle-earth! 'Guardians of Middle-earth' game trailer -- EXCLUSIVE

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With The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey landing on the big screen in less than two weeks, it’s little surprise a new Lord of the Rings videogame is also hitting the market. Rather than serving up the usual movie-tied mediocrity though, Guardians of Middle-earth is a complementary experience more focused on sword-swinging, spell-spitting action than frolicking through the Shire in short-pants.

A multiplayer online battle arena—or MOBA, as us game geeks call it—Guardians pits two teams of five against each other in epic melees that allow players to litter the cobblestones with corpses from behind class-specific weapons and powers. Those who found Lego Lord of the Rings too tame for their tastes should appreciate the opportunity to tear Gandalf a new one with Gollum’s “My Precious” power—something I’m pretty certain you won’t see in the forthcoming film. Check out the exclusive launch trailer below.
READ FULL STORY »

Nov 13 2012 01:43 PM ET

'Lord of the Rings' vs. 'Game of Thrones': George R. R. Martin says who'd win in a fight

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Who’s a finer swordsman: Aragorn, son of Arathorn, or Kingslayer Jaime Lannister? Could red priestess Melisandre take on wicked wizard Saruman the White? Are creepy ringwraiths better suited for battle than creepy White Walkers? And which honor-bound nobleman would prevail in a duel to the death — brooding Boromir or brooding Eddard Stark?

Unfortunately, J.R.R. Tolkein isn’t around to answer these burning questions. (Also, he’d have no idea who half of the characters listed above are.) But George R. R. Martin — author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the series on which HBO’s Game of Thrones is based — is. Watch below to see who Martin would bet on in ten matches that pit his characters against Tolkien’s –  though if you’ve only seen the TV show or read just the first two Song of Ice and Fire books, you might want to skip to 00:36 in order to avoid a major spoiler.

READ FULL STORY »

Oct 29 2012 06:38 PM ET

One brick to rule them all: Watch the 'Lego Lord of the Rings' game trailer -- EXCLUSIVE

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For seven-plus years the Lego videogame franchise has provided reliably fun opportunities for fans of all ages to platform, puzzle-solve, and collect prizes aplenty. But let’s face it, the brick-busting gameplay isn’t the reason we keep returning to these titles — the real draw is the series’ ability to smartly skewer our favorite films’ stars and scenes by giving them block-y makeovers. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is the latest movie license to get Lego-fied and, if this exclusive trailer is any indication, it appears no one—not even an army of ugly Orcs—is safe from being turned into cute, plastic playthings. Check it out below. READ FULL STORY »

Oct 29 2012 03:31 PM ET

Creepy Gollum sculpture welcomes you to New Zealand -- Love it or hate it?

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Image Credit: Xinhua/Huang Xingwei/Landov

The first of Peter Jackson’s 75,000 Hobbit movies is nearly upon us and what better way to celebrate than to build a 43-foot sculpture of Gollum in your airport?

Wellington International Airport in New Zealand (where The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy were filmed), unveiled the awesome/nightmarish creation from Japanese artist Masayuki Ohashi on Friday. Made out of polystyrene and epoxy resin, the sculpture features three 13-foot fish suspended in front of Gollum’s head and single arm, along with some bubbles for good measure. It was designed by Weta Workshop, the special-effects company behind Jackson’s two trilogies. All in all, it took crews four months to assemble the entire piece.

Why the airport placement, you ask? Weta co-founder Richard Taylor explains: “Wellington Airport feels like the home of Gollum after spending so many months here during the last three films.” He went on to add that he hopes the sculpture will encourage more New Zealand filmmaking in the future. “We spend months out in the world championing what our industry can offer and this is a flagship of that to the world.” Watch a video of the installation below:

You have to admit, it is pretty amazing. And yet, there’s something undeniably creepy about a giant hand reaching out over your head while you wait at baggage claim. Couldn’t they have built an ent or something? In any case, if you want to check it out, be sure to visit New Zealand in the next few months.

Is this more or less over-the-top than Denny’s Hobbit tie-in menu?

Read more:
Peter Jackson on a possible Stephen Colbert ‘Hobbit’ cameo: ‘I’ve never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life’
‘The Hobbit’ poster: You like dwarves? We got dwarves!
‘The Hobbit’ trailer: A deep dive into the new clip

Oct 15 2012 06:29 PM ET

Is 'Taken 2' better than the first? 15 sequels that topped the originals

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Image Credit: Magali Bragard

Taken 2 certainly had a great second weekend, but is it good enough to join the ranks of sequels that prove that sometimes, the second time truly is the charm? From Frankenstein’s betrothed to the Caped Crusader of Gotham City, here are 15 motion pictures that definitely make the cut:  READ FULL STORY »

Jul 2 2012 06:00 PM ET

This Week's Cover: 'The Hobbit' -- plus our annual Comic-Con preview

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Nearly a decade after the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy hit theaters, it’s time to go back to Middle-earth. The Hobbit doesn’t come out until December, but in preparation for Comic-Con (July 12-15 in San Diego) we’ve got exclusive images and on-set scoops from the first of the two movies— An Unexpected Journey — including interviews with Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and director Peter Jackson.

To expand the classic J.R.R. Tolkien book so that it could support two feature films, Jackson drew from a range of Tolkien’s writings, adding characters not present in the Hobbit book, including Orlando Bloom’s elf Legolas and Cate Blachett’s elven ruler Galadriel. “In the movie we want these characters to have story lines and a little more substance than they do in the book,” Jackson explains. “Almost everything we’re doing is from Tolkien somewhere, whether it’s in the book or the subsequent development that wasn’t published in The Hobbit itself.”

Adds McKellen: “A lot of people weren’t even born when we were filming Lord of the Rings and only know the movies from watching them on DVD…. They’ll see Middle-earth on the big screen in The Hobbit, and I guarantee there will be a lot of minds blown wide apart.”

For even more on The Hobbit, as well as EW’s jam-packed guide to Comic-Con—including sneak peeks of Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, The Walking Dead, and Arrow—pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Tuesday, July 3.

Jun 6 2012 12:35 PM ET

E3 Snap Judgment: 'LEGO Batman 2' and 'LEGO Lord of the Rings'

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The Games: In LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, Nintendo DS, 3DS, and PS Vita), you can play as most of the major DC characters — Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, etc. — as well as the famed Dark Knight and his trusty Boy Wonder, Robin. The reason all hands are on deck: The Joker has teamed up with Lex Luther for a diabolical plan that involves both Batman and Superman. LEGO Lord of the Rings (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS) is much more straightforward: It’s Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but in LEGO. (Batman 2 is out summer 2012; LOTR’s release date is TBA.) READ FULL STORY »

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