Big franchises have a unique set of problems. Shepherds of large, established franchises have to worry about their brand and how it is exposed to the world.

One of the biggest global franchises is The Lord of the Rings, or more specifically the whole of Middle-Earth. It is such a huge franchise there is an entire division of The Saul Zaentz Company set up devoted to Middle-Earth. The division, Middle-Earth Enterprises, is in charge of the license, and it is up to them to maintain it’s integrity.

That’s all well and good, but some times the desire to protect the franchise ends up hurting it. One such instance is the recent attempt by Middle-Earth Enterprises to shut down a popular pub in Southampton, England called The Hobbit.

This Tolkien themed bar is a long established pub that was set up as an homage to the works of Tolkien. The intention was to bring positive new attention to the work in it’s own small way. The folks over at The Saul Zaentz Company have decided enough is enough and wants the bar to stop using the likenesses or pay up.

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There are a lot of big films coming out next year, but the granddaddy of them all has got to be The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The last time Peter Jackson rolled out a Tolkien-based film he brought in over a billion dollars and the largest Oscar sweep in the history of the award. Suffice it to say it’s big news when the first footage hits the web.

The Hobbit is a prequel story to The Lord of the Rings and will be split into two films, each releasing over the next two years. In case you are unaware of what happens in the story, here is a synopsis:

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.”

Check out the full teaser after the jump.

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2012 is a big year for Ringers, obviously the first part of The Hobbit hits screens, but now they have the arrival of Lord of the Rings LEGO sets and games to look forward to. LEGO has announced that starting the summer of 2012 they are going to be in the Lord of the Rings business.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT… These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

LEGO has been working with Warner Bros. properties for the last few years with the successful LEGO Harry potter and LEGO DC Universe lines, now one of the most respected film franchises of all time will get their LEGO due. The most exciting aspect of this news is the confirmation of LEGO Lord of the Rings video games. The first game announced is based on the upcoming Hobbit film due out next year.

Check out more details about what to expect from new partnership after the jump.

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There are few films upcoming as anticipated as The Hobbit. The predecessor of The Lord of the Rings represents a return to Middle Earth and everyones favorite race of furry feet halflings. Telling the tale of Frodo’s uncle Bilbo who… wait, does anyone really need a run down of what The Hobbit is? Didn’t think so.

So when co-star and 2nd unit director, Andy Serkis, lets loose that a teaser for this massive film is due out this Christmas, it is news.  Serkis told IGN in a recent interview that we should be seeing our first glimpse of the new film this holiday season. Best speculation points to either Tintin or the new Sherlock Holmes film.

Tintin would make a lot of sense because Peter Jackson is that film’s producer and the previously mentioned Serkis is also in the film. That said, Sherlock Holmes: A Gane of Shadows is a Warner Bros. production, and it might behoove WB to keep the excitement of this teaser in the family.

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There are a few quintessential film scores in every generation. Amongst the first of the new century is the music from The Fellowship of the Ring, Howard Shore’s epic, sweeping and moving first score in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the end of the day, all three scores work together to tell the single story of the Lord of the Rings, weaving in and out of complex themes and structures more like an opera than a traditional film score.

This epic master work has recently found new life with the release of The Lord of the Rings Symphony, a six movement piece that spans the entire trilogy. The music is structured into two movements per movie, emulating the two books in each volume of the trilogy. Each movie getting between twenty and forty minutes of their best musical moments, woven together like a single cohesive musical experience.

So the first question on my mind as I hear about this release is how it sounds. Many times when there is a re-recording of a release, it doesn’t have that certain spark of the original recording, the music is all there, but it is just not quite the same. Thankfully, for this release the music is almost perfection, and several cases I even prefer the new recorded cues to the originals I have listened to for years.

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That’s right folks. If you don’t currently own a Blu-ray player but have an iTunes account, an XBox Live account or have a PS3 but don’t want to buy physical media, you can still own The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy in HD.

Starting today, all three films are available via iTunes, XBox Live and on the Playstation Network. These are not the original versions of the films, however, these are the extended editions which contain lots more footage for you to enjoy.

As a huge fan of these films I was pretty impressed with the extended editions. Of course, I don’t mind having the Blu-ray versions because I like the way that 1080p picture looks plus all the extras are pretty cool too. However, if you just want the movies, a download may be the perfect way to go.

As an added bonus, we’ve got a scene from the extended edition of the trilogy never seen in theaters. Check it out after the jump.

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The week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt return once again with some new things to talk (and complain) about.  Some of the topics on this week’s show include the season finale of The Walking Dead, AMC’s Breaking Bad marathon, the latest Battle: Los Angeles and Tempest trailers, Spider-Man: Turn Out the Dark, the iPad 2, the Verizon iPhone, Adam Green’s Hatchet 2 and a whole lot more.

In addition, like they do every week, the bioys picked some stuff for your reading, viewing or otherwise entertainment pleasure. This week Matt picked Spaghetti With A Chance of Meatballs on Blu-ray and Chris picked The Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

At Comic Con, the folks at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment gave us a walk through of their new family friendly Lord of the Rings title, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest. Rated E10+, Aragorn’s Quest takes a drastically different tone and gameplay style from the recently revealed The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

Shown on the Wii, Aragorn’s Quest has players listen to the tales of Samwise Gamgee as he explains to his children the events of The Lord of the Rings, focusing on the tale of the current king Aragorn. Over the course of eight chapters, players are then given the opportunity to take the role of Aragorn on a series of quest that follow the events of the three films. Each quest contains smaller side quests players can embark on.

Having Samwise voiced by Sean Astin and Gimlee voiced by John Rhys-Davies is meant to keep an older audience into the game as they help younger players through it. Unfortunately during our walk through, the noise of the convention prevented us from experiencing the voice acting.

The game has a simple visual style that strays away from the dark overtones of the film and previous game titles. There is no blood or any other effects that would go against the game’s family friendly image. Using the WiiMote, players hack and slash their way through hordes of goblins, orcs, spiders and trolls in an effort to escort Frodo to the peak of Mount Doom to destroy the one ring. Different motions result in different strikes. During combat, directional prompts will appear to perform specific actions and finishing blows. Players will also have a chance to switch between ranged and melee combat as well.

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Back during our E3 Coverage we revealed the first trailer of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. Now, in graphic and bloody detail, Snowblind Studios has revealed the full cinematic trailer detailing the story behind the clips in the initial release. Sent into battle, the threesome of the dwarf warrior, human sorcerer and elf archer take the fight to Sauron’s forces with a head-on assault on one of his base camps.

One thing that stands out about the new trailer compared to the previous Lord of the Rings games which were tied into the Peter Jackson films is how much darker a tone these have and how brutal the imagery is. Limbs are literally being sliced off. Orcs are being shot in the face with arrows. Blood is flowing.

These feel more in tune with some of the epic battles from the movies than what were delivered to the PlayStation 2 titles all those years ago. Snowblind isn’t worried about producing a family friendly title it looks like and for that, they should be applauded.

Take a peek for yourself at the new trailer and let us know what you think about the new title after the jump.

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One of the best parts of E3 is getting a first look at titles not yet on gamers’ radars. One of the games that is popped up during the show was Snowblind Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. In it, players will be given the opportunity to further explore on the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 the world of Middle Earth that J.R.R. Tolkien first created over sixty years ago .

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North evolves the Action/RPG genre through innovative online, interdependent co-op play for up to three players, who form their own Fellowship and engage in brutal combat. Gamers must play together or perish as they explore previously unexplored lands, story elements and characters as well as elements familiar from past feature films. Players engage in extensive character customization and development, expansive co-op gameplay options and upgradeable weapons, skills and special abilities.

With the film rights being sold to Warner Bros. and the game being distributed from Warner Bros. Interactive, expect some visual tie ins between the two. Playing as either human, dwarf or elf, the action of the game looks to take a darker and more graphic visual style than the violence portrayed in previous The Lord of the Rings titles.

Check out the trailer for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North after the jump.

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This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for a few of them in particular. These esteemed examples of entertainment include The Natural, Dreamscape, the debut of the quirky ABC show The Unusuals, the second season of Simon & Simon, Cocoon and the Blu-ray premiere of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (pictured above with Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan and John Rhys-Davies). Yes, we realize it’s not the director’s cut of the trilogy but still, having these great films on Blu-ray in any form is cause for excitement.

Check them out:

Movies

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans ~ Fairuza Balk, Nicolas Cage, Vondie Curtis-Hall (Blu-ray and DVD)

Cocoon ~ Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn (Blu-ray)

Dolan’s Cadillac ~ Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, and Emmanuelle Vaugier (Blu-ray and DVD)

Dreamscape ~ Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer (Blu-ray)

Flight of the Intruder~ Rosanna Arquette, Adam Biesk, Reb Brown (Blu-ray)

Jade ~ David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Cazz Palmintieri (Blu-ray)

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In the latest The First Avenger: Captain America news, HeatVision is reporting that Hugo Weaving (Matrix, Lord of the Rings) is Marvel Studio’s first choice to star as the film’s villain, Red Skull. In the comic books, Red Skull is Captain America’s archenemy, engaging in espionage and sabotage as Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man.

If Weaving is tapped, it would reunite the star with director Joe Johnston, whom he worked with in this year’s The Wolfman. In other casting news, the list of Captain America contenders appears to have thinned.

We recently reported that five actors were in the running. However, HeatVision and Deadline New York have both reported that John Krasinski is no longer in the race for the coveted role. According to the sites, Marvel is now considering Wilson Bethel (Generation Kill), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Garrett Hudlund (Tron Legacy), who have all either read, tested, or received test offers.

The First Avenger: Captain America is slated for a July 11, 2011 release.