Paramount, which is mounting a major advertising and promotional push for the Tomb Raider movie has pulled out all the stops in creating a new website for the summer blockbuster which opens this June 15th. The new site includes IPIX technology which allows visitors to explore 360-degree panoramas of fifty of the film's sets and locations.

Decipher Inc., the Virginia-based CCG powerhouse, announced that it has hired the former staff of Last Unicorn Games.

Decipher Inc. announced this week at GAMA that they have acquired the license to create roleplaying games based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Marvel's dismal fourth quarter performance capped off a very bad year, which saw the company's net sales decline from $319 million to $231 million.

Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributors have announced that they will jointly have the exclusive right to distribute Game Workshop's new table-top war game based on the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ri ngs trilogy.

Two films of special interest to specialty store retailers have had their release dates changed.

The year 2000 was hardly a banner year in the American toy industry; the two giants that dominate the American toy market, Mattel and Hasbro, each suffered setbacks.

The licensing fees for the rights to the Matrix are in the $8-$10 million range, rivaling the sums Electronic Arts paid to acquire the rights to produce videogames for The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter , two of this year's most highly anticipated fantasy films.

Public acceptance of the film will play a determining role, but right now it is safe to say that there is trouble in Pottersville .

Toy Biz will be the master toy licensee and is planning to unveil a multitude of LOTR toys at this year's Toy Fair.