The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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October 28 : 2008

Ian McKellen’s King Lear available–at least to some

A while back I mentioned that the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recent production of King Lear, starring Ian McKellen, would eventually be out on DVD. It was released on October 6, though only in the UK. Amazon.uk has it here. Be aware that the DVD has a Region 2 (UK/Europe) coding, so it will only play in other regions if you have a multi-standard player or a special program on your PC.

As for TV showings, King Lear is still listed as being on Channel Four in the UK on December 26. No news yet on when the PBS screening will be.

Since I’m pretty much off-topic anyway, I’ll point out that Ian has been updating his blog about his experiences playing Two in the remake of the classic 1960s TV series The Prisoner. He has done four entries now, the latest posted on October 21. Ian is an excellent writer as well as a superb actor, and the entries make for a good read. The filming is being done in Namibia, so there’s a travelogue quality to the reporting. I hope someday we’ll get yet another blog, this time from New Zealand. The Grey Book II, perhaps?

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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.”