J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his beloved children's classic tale, The Hobbit, for the delight of his children. But when a family friend loaned the story to another friend, Tolkien was set upon a long and prosperous path which led to the publication of The Hobbit in 1937. Fourteen years later, The Lord of the Rings launched the modern heroic fantasy genre which revolves around quests to defeat powerful dark lords in worlds where ancient Elves and Dwarves struggle for survival.
In December 2001, New Line Cinema brought Tolkien's epic to the silver screen with Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring". The first three movies based on The Lord of the Rings, "The Fellowship of the Ring" follows the adventures of Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, and his companions as they seek the means of destroying the One Ring and ending the reign of the cruel Dark Lord Sauron forever. Sir Ian McKellen stars as Gandalf the Grey. Viggo Mortensen is Aragorn. Liv Tyler is Arwen. Elijah Wood is Frodo Baggins. Sean Astin is Sam Gamgee. Christopher Lee is Saruman. Karl Urban is Eomer. Orlando Bloom is Legolas. John Rhys-Davies is Gimli. Billy Boyd is Pippin. Dominic Monaghan is Merry. And Sean Bean is Boromir.
No other cinematic story, not even George Lucas' record-breaking Star Wars, has generated so much advance publicity and interest as the Lord of the Rings movies. "The Two Towers" was released in December 2002, and "The Return of the King" was released in December 2003. Several DvD releases have since followed the worldwide cinematic releases of the movies.
First among all the Tolkien movie news sites, Xenite.Org's Hobbit movie news has been keeping fans informed about the progress of the movies since February 1998. Xenite.Org was founded in 1997 by Michael Martinez, one of the Internet's most renowned Tolkien scholars and researchers. Martinez wrote a weekly column on J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth for Suite101, and in 2000 he published Visualizing Middle-earth, a collection of essays representing some of his best work from 1999 and early 2000. Michael has since moved on to publishing essays for MERP.Com's essay section.
Xenite.Org is a leader on the Web in providing and indexing Tolkien and Middle-earth content. The first Tolkien forum on the Web was established at Xenite.Org in October 1997, and it has established a reputation for attracting some of the finest Internet experts on Tolkien and Middle-earth. Xenite.Org's guide to Tolkien resources is unparalleled in its selectivity and high standards. And Xenite.Org's Lord of the Rings channel provides a special focus for XML channel subscribers to the best commercial and non-commercial Tolkien and Middle-earth Web sites.