The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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January 10 : 2008

A Rings-themed Tour of England

Larry Ivy has written to let me know that this year his company, Magical Tours, is for the first time offering a Rings-based tour of England. It’s “The Ring Quest – Origins of Lord of the Rings,” and it will take place from June 14 to 23. You can read about it, including the price and a day by day itinerary, on the company’s website. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you might want to check out Magical Tours other offerings.

The “Ring Quest” tour is based on the idea that although the films were made in New Zealand—and we all know that travel to the shooting locations there has been popular among fans—the books were inspired by places in England that Tolkien knew. From the looks of the itinerary, there will be a balance between major tourist sites like Stonehenge and places like the Eagle and Child (aka “Bird and Baby”) pub in Oxford, gathering place of the Inklings.

Booking is open now and will end on March 15. The tour size is limited to 20 people, and the price does not include transportation to London.

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

    Canadian flagbuy at best price

    UK flagbuy at best price

    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”