Tickets sell fast for hottest show on Middle-earth

FROM Middle-earth to Mallow, Minas Tirith to Tallaght, Gandalf to Galway, the whole world is like one big shire in homage to the second movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy which opens tomorrow everywhere this side of the Urals.

Almost every cinema nationwide is showing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring which promises more action than a kung-fu flick on fast forward.

Cinemas in Dublin are reporting brisk business and, while no overall ticket sales figures are yet available, there have been thousands of internet and credit card phone bookings.

In Tallaght, one of the biggest screens in the country, viewings for Wednesday and Thursday night are already booked out and weekend bookings are also very heavy.

It's a similar tale in Cork, where the Gate Cinema has devoted two screens to cope with the crowds. "It's as busy as Harry Potter," said a spokeswoman, "but it's an older crowd, and while there are still some seats left for day-time screenings there's nothing left from 8pm on."

Ditto Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Tralee where the Hobbits are expected to outclass both Harry Potter and the latest James Bond movie Die Another Day.

The film will be shown on more than 10,000 movie screens worldwide 6,500 of them in the US alone according to studio New Line Cinema. New Line is a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, whose Warner Bros Pictures also brought Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to cinemas.

The Rings trilogy will end next December with The Return of the King. The Two Towers introduces new computer-generated characters, including Treebeard the Ent (Ents are tree-ish keepers of the forest) and the creature Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis) who is so life-like that director Peter Jackson himself was astounded when he first saw it.

"I was just blown away. The close-ups of his face looked so real, even I was amazed," Jackson said.

The Two Towers is also the middle chapter of Tolkien's tale, where Middle-earth's fate hangs in the balance. Like The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers is full of sumptuous sets, gorgeous scenery from Jackson's native New Zealand and eye-popping special effects.

The Fellowship has hauled in $860m worldwide, making it the number five movie in all time global ticket sales.

Jackson and his team of more than 2,400 actors, designers and special effects wizards spent 15 months shooting all three films at once in New Zealand. The films cost about $300m to make. Last year, it battled for the box office crown with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which has grossed more than $966m second to Titanic.

When The Two Towers opens tomorrow, it will likely go head-to-head with Harry Potter again for the sword and sorcery crown, although Jackson's film is rated PG-12 in Ireland and may be too violent and frightening for most young children.

Harry Potter and James Bond have been sparring at the top of box office charts for weeks. As of December 8, Harry Potter had raked in $213.9m, while Bond took in $120.4m.

Be warned, though. This is no lighthearted romp through the fields and forests of Middle-earth. Instead, director Peter Jackson serves up a whirlwind tour of JRR Tolkien's fantasy world at war both bloodier and darker than its quadruple Academy-award winning prequel.