The 416-page full-color volume features a Foreword by Howard Shore, an Introduction by The Lord of the Rings screenwriter/producer Fran Walsh, original sketches by John Howe and Alan Lee, and numerous images from the films. Also included in the book, courtesy of Howe Records, is “The Lord of the Rings: The Rarities Archive” a CD presenting 21 tracks of previously unreleased music created for the films, and an audio interview with Howard Shore.

Doug has been working on this book for years with full cooperation from Howard Shore, so it should be the definitive study of the subject. It’s not available for pre-order on Amazon, but I’ll try to alert you as soon as possible when it is.

The genre auteur says he has no regrets about departing the New Zealand production, but says that anyone who think that MGM’s financial mess was the main culprit for his departure is oversimplifying the issue.

“People kept misconstruing that it was MGM. It came from many factors,” Del Toro told 24 Frames in an interview at Comic-Con. “It wasn’t just MGM. These are very complicated movies, economically and politically. You have to get the blessing from three studios.”

Instead, he said, it was the cumulative effect of all of these problems that began to wear him down. “It was really the fact that every six months we thought we were beginning, and every six months we got pushed [back]. And before you could blink, it was a year, and then it was two years.”

So was there was a last straw in this bundle of woes? Some insiders have said that Del Toro and Jackson clashed over creative-control issues. The director said that in all their time working on the movie, he and the “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker were nothing but copacetic, though Del Toro didn’t entirely rule out that it one day could have become fraught. “We were at the stage where the collaboration was good. If there were going to be any issues, we never got to that stage [in development],” he said.

As far as I can tell, the main named person who said that MGM was holding up the greenlight on The Hobbit was Guillermo himself, who made a statement that seemed to imply such a thing on TheOneRing.net. That followed shortly upon an unnamed “absolutely reliable source” who told TORN that MGM was indeed the main factor behind the delay.

Well, not to say “I told you so,” but although I’ve been covering the MGM developments, I’ve also been opining that I didn’t think the studio’s financial mess could be the main factor in the delay. Warner Bros. would not walk into a deal with a studio known to be tottering on the brink of bankruptcy without multiple contingency plans. Still, it sounds like there is some sort of tangle among New Line, Warner, and MGM, “economically and politically.” I hope someday we find out what the real cause was.

Not all that many of the objects I bought ended up in the book, but I’ve posted photos of some of the most interesting and unusual ones.

Weta Workshop has been busy turning out swords, busts, models, and clothing. Now two new items are announced as premiering at Comic-Con: a model Bag End and a model Prancing Pony, as well as a necklace with the One Ring on a chain, housed in a wooden box. Check out the descriptions and images here.

I have a special fondness for Bill Amend–apart from the fact that he creates one of the best of the widely syndicated comic strips still functioning. For The Frodo Franchise, I wanted to reproduce one of his trilogy-related dailies as an illustration of the idea of early fan concern over whether Peter Jackson would remain true to Tolkien’s books. Not an easy concept to illustrate. I wrote to him asking if I could reproduce the piece. He sent me onward to a rep who could handle the rights question–but in a nice, friendly way. That strip was the only image in the book that I paid any rights fees for, and the amount was surprisingly reasonable. Using that strip wasn’t necessary to what I was talking about in that section, but he really captured a certain aspect of LOTR fandom in a laugh-out-loud funny way.

Not all the juxtapositions work well, but there are plenty of funny ones. So check out Harry Potter 32: The Reckoning: Lord of Fantasy Dimensions. (The video is unlisted, so you won’t be able to find it by searching, only by following the link.) It does make you wonder how many echoes could be found if the maker had been working with the whole HP film, not just the limited footage available in a trailer. Good job!

In case you haven’t seen the HP trailer itself, here’s a good HD copy on YouTube. Watch it first, and you’ll already be picking out the similarities.

At last, a second item funny enough to warrant being tagged “LOTR Humor.”

It’s an excellent article, but let me make a few small corrections and clarifications.

First, Campbell writes that MGM’s current choice is “to sell out to Time Warner who made the highest bid in an auction in March, or soldier on and try to run the studio themselves with re-financing and hired help …” As I understand it, the recent Lionsgate meeting with MGM was to put forward a proposal for a merger. That’s how the Los Angeles Times reported it. If that were to go through, Lionsgate would not be “hired help” but a partner within the same overall company.

Second, Campbell says that MGM’s assets include “the next James Bond film.” Actually MGM owns the Bond franchise, which is considerably more valuable.

Third, he points out that the Wall Street Journal sees Spyglass as the leading contender to take over the running of a restructured MGM. That may well be the case. The Lionsgate meeting, however, involved what I believe was the first formal proposal put forward since the bidding process was closed months ago. That might seem to make Lionsgate the leading contender du jour. Yet, as Campbell points out, the merger would require the approval of Lionsgate’s main shareholder, Carl Icahn, who seems dead set against the idea. So it’s definitely complicated.

Fourth, Campbell also points up the tangle of players who have or have had some share in the Hobbit rights. This is basically accurate, but it might give the impression that Saul Zaentz and Harvey Weinstein would have the same sorts of rights as other parties like Warner Bros. and MGM. There’s a notable difference. What Saul Zaentz bought back in 1976 was the production and distribution rights to The Lord of the Rings and the production rights to The Hobbit. Had he but paid that extra fee and bought the Hobbit distribution rights as well, we would not be in this current situation. What he then sold Harvey Weinstein (i.e., the Miramax company) in 1997 was the same thing: LOTR production and distribution, Hobbit production. MGM retained the Hobbit distribution rights and does to this day. [July 16: Clarification. As Voronwë the Faithful has pointed out to me over on the TORN Message Boards, what Zaentz sold Miramax and Miramax then sold New Line was a limited-term control over those rights, subject to various conditions. Zaentz is still the underlying owner of the rights. As I said, it's complicated.]

So Saul Zaentz and Harvey Weinstein will be owed some money, though less than the other players. Disney might well get some as well, since Disney owned Miramax at the time when Zaentz sold it the various rights described above. (Still does, though the company may change hands any moment.) Michael Eisner unwisely shared the 5% of gross minus costs that New Line had to pay to get the rights from Miramax: Disney got 2.5%, the Weinstein brothers 2.5%. I suspect that’s how the deal will work this time, too, but maybe not.

Finally, it’s Lionsgate, not Lion’s Gate.

Campbell gives some interesting speculations on how The Hobbit would fit into Peter’s career if he chooses to direct it. Whether or not he turns out to be right, it’s interesting to get a Kiwi perspective on the situation.

This year the festival will also present a marathon screening of all three parts of the LOTR trilogy. (No indication whether these are theatrical or extended versions.) The website promises “unseen videos and backstage action” along with the screening. It’s not mentioned on the website, but Variety has announced that Elijah Wood will be there in person to present the program. He was honored by the festival in 2006 and must have enjoyed the experience.

It’s a beautiful part of Italy, though no doubt packed with tourists at this time of year. At some point during his visit Elijah might see and even visit a real “Mount Doom,” Vesuvius itself, a short way to the northwest. (It looks terrific on Google Earth!)

(Vesuvius is hard to miss. It dominates the horizon in that region. Scroll down to the bottom of this entry on the other blog for a shot of it from Pompeii.)