[doug*platypus]

Olo Gamwich, I herebey request that you change your avatar - that's some scary sh*t. Why is that thing looking at me? Sorry... I get paranoid this late at night.<P>The funny thing is, I had forgotten that ROTK comes out this year!! Thanks for reminding me! Of course, Christmas is so far away, and so close to the end of the year, that it might as well be a-whole-nother year away.<P>I think that a lot of Matrix fans may have been turned off by certain things in the last two LOTR movies. The first Matrix film was pretty much an eye-candy filled rollercoaster ride; it never really slowed down (or stalled) like PJs first two offerings do. It was a lot more modern and topical, and most of all new. Ironically, the legions of fantasy works that have copied Tolkien took away from the originality of the LOTR movies.<P>The Harry Potter movies in my opinion (and in the opinion of certain experts in the industry) actually helped the LOTR movies, and vice-versa. Together they created an unstoppable media phenomenon. It was almost momentum that made me see the second HP (and I'm damn glad that I did). When something's as big as HP, LOTR or M (the Matrix) it's hard not to get swept along in the frenzy.<P>I don't believe that movies compete with each other the way that, say fast food does. You might easily choose to eat Subway instead of McDonalds, but I don't think you need to see Harry Potter instead of LOTR, you could quite happily see them both. In my experience, people don't decide "Right, I'm going to see exactly 2 movies this year, so I'll choose LOTR over greasy old Potter." If two or more movies that are running at the same time greatly appeal to someone, I think they will usually try to find a way to see them both. There will be no competition for ROTK.