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More of the 'Rings' magic
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY

It's over.

To those who have found hobbits to be dangerously habit-forming and now are
in denial, we regret to remind you that there aren't any more Lord of the
Rings movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy.

For the first time in three years, December will be a Frodo-free zone.

All that is left is anticipated Oscar glory next month and filmmaker Peter
Jackson's sure-to-be-hefty extended DVD of the conclusion, The Return of
the King.

Like the original Star Wars trilogy or Titanic, a box-office monster such
as Rings exists on a rarified plane.

Think about it. Three features shot at the same time and released
back-to-back with a script brought to life by a New Zealand whiz who
happens to have a reasonable facsimile of Middle-earth practically in his
backyard.

"The Lord of the Rings is sui generis," Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers
declares. "There is really nothing like it."

But moviegoers who crave more fantastical feats can take heart. The triumph
of Rings as well as the continuing Harry Potter series (the third
installment, The Prisoner of Azkaban, is due June 4) have left an indelible
impression on Hollywood, where any massive success usually breeds more
attempts of the same. Witness the coming onslaught of post-Gladiator
historical epics.

Sure enough, nearly every major studio has its mitts on a potential fantasy
franchise based on a series of popular books that carry their own
often-rabid fan base.

"The people who run studios sometimes make decisions based on what happened
the year before," says Toby Emmerich, production chief for New Line Cinema,
the company behind Rings. "It's like investing in stock funds by looking at
the previous year, which you aren't supposed to do."

In this case, the risk can be worth it. These literary lands of
make-believe might not all be Oscar-bound, but there's more at hand than
mere awards. Namely, a possible ongoing stake in the lucrative family-movie
market (and most of these titles are more kid-accessible than the
relatively humorless prose of Tolkien) and tie-in opportunities galore.

New Line also is back in the fantasy game, having snapped up another
trilogy in 2002 before Rings grossed its first billion worldwide. It's a
collection that has won such prizes as the Whitbread Book of the Year ­ the
first children's book to be so honored.

British author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials tells of a young girl,
Lyra Silvertongue, who goes off on an extraordinary adventure inspired by
no less than Paradise Lost and involves armored polar bears and soul-mate
companions known as daemons.

The individual titles ­The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber
Spyglass­ will likely be combined into two movies, to be shot back to back,
with the first in theaters by late 2005 or early 2006, Emmerich says. A
sign of a quality production afoot: Oscar winner Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare
in Love) is writing the screenplay.