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THE WHEEL OF TIME™
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Tor has invited Robert Jordan fans and others to design clues like this one.  Art by Sarah Ellerton & page design by Dragonmount.com |
Tor is betting that by inviting various groups to design and produce the clues in the contest, they will have more incentive to promote the book to their user bases. Red Eagle Entertainment will contribute the Web page with the first clue, which will coincide with the July debut of its comic book tied to New Spring,the prequel to Jordan 's series. Prominent fan sites such as Dragonmount.com, Silklantern.com and Encyclopaedia-wot.org (which receives up to 300,000 page hits per month) will also deliver Web pages that will be used in the hunt, as will Audible.com and Audio Renaissance (which, like Tor, is owned by Holtzbrinck).
"We have a huge and loyal fan base who re-read all of the novels in the series before each new book comes out," explained Tor publicity director Elena Stokes. Playing off of that zeal, each clue will relate to one of the 12 books in the series, starting with New Spring and working chronologically up to Knife of Dreams. So far, the series has sold more than 12 million copies in North America. Knife of Dreams will launch with a one million–copy first printing.
The quest is structured to accomplish several goals: to refresh interest in the entire line of books; to motivate affiliates to market tie-in products by giving them a participatory stake; and to tap into fans' desire to play a role in a larger affinity community. "People like being asked questions they can answer and seeing that their participation is counted," explained Prestin Austin, founder of Clotho Advanced Media, a Web design firm that monitors Internet trends. "They become brand ambassadors by latching onto an otherwise diverse community that couldn't exist to this extent in any other avenue of brand communication.”
OVER 12 MILLION COPIES
IN PRINT IN NORTH AMERICA!!
The New York Times has called Robert Jordan the American heir to Tolkien, and all the books in his The Wheel of Time series have garnered great critical praise as well as enormous popularity.
A franchise in the tradition of Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time has international brand awareness. Currently, the series is published in 21 languages and is available in Great Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Taiwan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Russia, Korea, Turkey, Estonia, and the United States.
For more news about Wheel of Time projects in development, check out the press releases below.
RED EAGLE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES THE WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY OF ROBERT JORDAN’S NEW SPRING COMIC SERIES
July 14, 2005 - SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – Red Eagle Entertainment, LLC™ announced today the general availability of a new comic book series based upon internationally and critically
acclaimed author Robert Jordan’s New Spring: The Novel, the prequel to his bestselling epic series The Wheel of Time.™
Red Eagle Entertainment also announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., the largest distributor of comic books to the retail market in North America. Diamond Comic Distributors will make the New Spring comic series available at comic book retailers throughout the United States and Canada.
Today’s announcements were made at the 2005 Comic-Con International convention in San Diego, California, where Robert Jordan is being featured as a guest of honor. Produced in partnership with comic book studio Dabel Brothers Production (DB Pro), New Spring tells the story of Rand al'Thor, a young man from a small farming village who is destined to become The Dragon Reborn, the champion who will confront the ultimate evil known as the Dark One with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.
“Fifteen years after publication of the first volume of The Wheel of Time cycle,” said Robert Jordan, “I'm excited to put New Spring, part of the backstory, into the visual medium of comic books and graphic novels, providing readers of the cycle with new insights into the major characters, settings and plotlines of The Wheel of Time. There are things in New Spring that will never be told in the main sequence novels.”
“We are taking Robert Jordan’s masterwork to an entirely new level,” said Rick Selvage, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Red Eagle Entertainment. “The quality of the artwork and storyline have greatly benefited from Jordan’s close, personal involvement in the development of the comic series.” “We expect the New Spring comic series will expand the reach of Jordan’s work to new fans throughout the world, said Larry Mondragon, Executive Vice President of Red Eagle Entertainment.
The comic book adaptation has been co-written by Robert Jordan and comic book veteran Chuck Dixon (writer, Batman, Nightwing, Savage Sword of Conan, writer/creator, Way of the Rat, adapter, The Hobbit, 2002). It will feature art by Mike S. Miller ( Justice League of America, Wolverine, Adventures of Superman, The Hedge Knight) with colors by Étienne St. Laurent, letters by Dave Lanphear of Artmonkeys, and book design by Lithium Pro Design.
To find out the location of the nearest comic retailer, fans may go online to www.comicshoplocator.com. To further serve worldwide demand for this latest work by Robert Jordan, Red Eagle has announced that subscriptions to the entire comic series will be directly available from Red Eagle at www.red-eagle-entertainment.com/shop and through selected affiliate websites in The Wheel of Time online community.
Red Eagle Entertainment intends to release a graphic novel based upon the New Spring prequel in the first quarter of 2006. Red Eagle Entertainment is also developing a liveaction feature film based upon The Eye of the World, the first full-length novel in Jordan’s The Wheel of Time saga.
Further information regarding the New Spring comic book and graphic novels, and other Red Eagle projects are available at www.red-eagle-entertainment.com and at major websites maintained by fans of Robert Jordan and The Wheel of Time series.
About Red Eagle Entertainment, LLC™ Red Eagle Entertainment builds global value in franchise entertainment properties through a comprehensive program of licensing and brand management. Based in Los Angeles, Red Eagle scours the creative landscape for compelling literary works, original story concepts and under-leveraged brands and entertainment properties and acquires projects for development into motion pictures, television, electronic games, consumer products and more.
For more information about Red Eagle Entertainment, please visit www.red-eagleentertainment. com. Members of the media may call (310) 589-5432 or send questions via e-mail to information@red-eagle-entertainment.com.
© Copyright 2005, Red Eagle Entertainment, LLC All Rights Reserved All Trademarks and Titles are the Property of their Respective Owners.
RED EAGLE ENTERTAINMENT TO BRING THE STORYTELLING MAGIC OF ROBERT JORDAN’S WHEEL OF TIME™ TO FILM AUDIENCES WORLDWIDE
March 12, 2004 – Red Eagle Entertainment LLC has acquired the exclusive, worldwide production and distribution rights to Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World, the first novel in his best-selling The Wheel of Time series. In addition to licensing the property for film and television production, Red Eagle Entertainment will manage a comprehensive ancillary portfolio that will include the development of related video games, toys and other consumer products and services. The announcement was made today by Rick Selvage, chairman and president, Red Eagle Entertainment. Red Eagle Entertainment is in discussion with potential production partners to develop a motion picture based upon The Eye of the World.
“The public’s appetite for action fantasy entertainment has been stunningly affirmed with the recent blockbuster success of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter film franchises,” said Selvage. “Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time™ series is a one-of-a-kind property. In order to meet the high expectations of the millions of devoted Robert Jordan fans around the world, we intend to make careful choices regarding the development and management of the first installment of The Wheel of Time saga, The Eye of the World. I believe that old and new fans alike will find that the combination of film and technology will offer powerful new ways to bring Jordan’s epic masterpiece to life.”
The Wheel of Time portrays a vision of fantasy unlike any other. Jordan brings a striking realism to his writing as he carefully weaves an epic story into an intricate account of the culture, history, politics and magic of his fantasy world. The result is a consistency and credibility seldom found in works of fantasy fiction. The female characters in The Wheel of Time take on complex and multidimensional roles—they rule sovereign nations, give orders, lead important negotiations, are the trusted keepers of a magical power that drives men insane, and play a central in protecting the world from destruction. In The Wheel of Time, the world is full of shades of gray and moral equivocation. In many ways it is a coming of age story, and what makes the characters so interesting, is that the choices they make and the paths they choose will surprise the audience.
and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.