From the folks at Weta Limited: Howdy folks! Here's a run down of what's been happening at Weta HQ this month - we've been busy little Weta's! [More]

In this issue:

Doctor Who range announced!
ManMelter Pre-Ordering Open!
Weta's Halo3 work revealed
Weta Comic Convention line up revealed
Eight year old wins Weta art tutorial
Weta Influences Graffiti artist
more..

Today Weta Limited announced they will be creating, in collaboration with BBC Worldwide, a line of Collectible statues based on the popular television series, Doctor Who.

Doctor Who is produced by the BBC and is the longest-running science fiction television series in the world. It follows the adventures of a time-traveller called ‘the Doctor’, who travels time in a phone box, solving problems and righting wrongs. [More]

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – July 17, 2007 – Movies.com returns with its exclusive Annual Readers’ Poll, and this year’s categories are sure to elicit entertaining and shocking results. Should Tobey Maguire continue his reign in the Spider-Man franchise? Will Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt outshine Suri Cruise? Movies.com readers decide - and maybe they’ll even sway Hollywood hard-hitters’ decisions! [More]

The Government has boosted sweeteners to big-budget movie-makers such as Peter Jackson to head off a threat from across the Tasman. The sequel to the Government's existing grant scheme for big-budget screen productions, unveiled yesterday, follows moves in Australia to lure such productions with generous subsidies that outstripped New Zealand's. But the move has raised fears of small, local film-makers being left out in the cold - and questions about the Government propping up big-name Hollywood players such as Jackson. ACT leader Rodney Hide said the Government would lose a bidding war with Australia and giving money to established blockbuster film-makers was a case of "robbing Paul to pay Peter". [More]

Rachel, Web Content Manager for Weta, sends this along: Tomorrow, Weta Workshop's Senior Prosthetics Supervisor Gino Acevedo will be interviewed on National Radio's Nine to Noon programme. Gino will be interviewed by host Kathryn Ryan on National Radio's Nine To Noon programme about his work on King Kong and his little known conservation projects. The interview will broadcast on NZ Tues 17 July at 10.05am. Take a listen to the archived interview here.

Cliff Baldridge, Producer/Director for Santa Barbara Arts TV, writes: A long while back I let you know about some runway footage I shot of Naomi Watts at the Montecito Awards for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival a while back. I have just released the coolest video Exclusive Video of Naomi Watts and Peter Jackson with commentary Peter Jackson and a special video he made for Naomi Watts upon winning the Montecito Awards. I have posted it to exclusive and I want to make sure every at The One Ring.net gets to see it, or at Kong is King.net. It is a really interesting and fun video. Here it is at my SBARTSTV account at Youtube. Here is the link to the video, please embed it on your site. [More]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Saoirse Ronan has joined Rachel Weisz and Ryan Gosling in Peter Jackson's adaptation of "The Lovely Bones" for DreamWorks.

Ronan takes the role of Susie Salmon, the central character in Alice Sebold's 2002 best-seller. The story is told through the voice of Susie Salmon, a young girl who is murdered but continues to observe her family on Earth after her death. She witnesses the impact of her death on her loved ones, while her killer skillfully covers his tracks and prepares to murder again. Weisz and Gosling are playing the grieving parents in "Bones," whose script was written by Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh. Paramount Pictures is distributing the feature. [More]

When Leonardo DiCaprio's "The 11th Hour" trailer went up on his MySpace page, the site got overloaded with so many trailer views that the stat counter started going backwards. When Bruce Willis jumped into an Aint it Cool News chat to defend "Live Free or Die Hard," the fanboys flamed him until he turned on his iChat camera and proved his identity. Then they warmed up to him. The guy who turned him on to Aint it Cool News in the first place was another star with a comeback sequel: Sylvester Stallone. When Steven Spielberg started filming "Indiana Jones 4," he posted a video of himself popping champagne on IndianaJones.com. His photo of Harrison Ford slouching in his Indy costume spread through Cyberspace like wildfire. The dynamic between celebrities and their audience is shifting. The critics and the media no longer have the last word. Thanks to evolving technology, moviemakers and stars have new weapons to not only promote their projects directly to moviegoers, but to fight back against what they perceive as misinformation. They are taking advantage of their Internet fanbases to promote their projects, skipping the marketing middlemen and interacting directly with the people who buy tickets. Fan sites offer them valuable feedback about what their audiences like and dislike. But they also offer an opportunity to set the record straight. And sometimes, change the world. [More]

Heavenly Sword (PS3) Behind the motion-capturing scenes with creative director Tameem Antoniades and Andy Serkis: Week 2 of the blog and so far it’s been a blast! Nearly 7,000 people have read last week’s entry and I’ve had some good questions that hopefully I’ve answered well enough for you all. On this note, it's worth mentioning that, while I want to be as open as possible with you guys, obviously there are things I can’t mention just yet so I may dodge the occasional question. I know you all understand why...This week, I’ve asked Tameem Antoniades, our creative director and co-founder of Ninja Theory, to write some stuff for you all. Tameem has had the cool idea of giving you guys some flashbacks to key moments in the game’s history, giving you some insight into the last couple of years. [More]