The Lord of the Rings (film series)

The Lord of the Rings is a film series of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films, it is an international venture between New Zealand and the United States. The films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis and Sean Bean.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, to ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, along with Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry, Pippin and the wizard Gandalf, unite to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring in order to aid Frodo by distracting Sauron's attention.

The three films were shot simultaneously and entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand from 11 October 1999 until 22 December 2000, with pick-up shots done from 2001 to 2004. It was one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with a budget of $281 million. The first film in the series premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001; the second film premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 5 December 2002; the third film premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on 1 December 2003. An extended edition of each film was released on home video a year after its theatrical release.

The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made. It was a major financial success and is among the highest-grossing film series of all time with $2.981 billion in worldwide receipts. Each film was critically acclaimed and heavily awarded, the series winning 17 out of its 30 Academy Award nominations.

Films

The Fellowship of the Ring

Main article: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

Main article: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Return of the King

Main article: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Cast and crew

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Casting

Jackson began abstract discussions on casting during the development of the scripts with Miramax. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens compiled a casting wishlist, which included Cate Blanchett for Galadriel and Ian Holm for Bilbo. Jackson considered Sir Nigel Hawthorne for Gandalf, but the actor was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Wondering whether Patrick Stewart would be right for the part, Philippa Boyens drew a tape of him performing opposite Ian McKellen, only to suggest the latter to Jackson. McKellen became Jackson's first choice for Gandalf. Christopher Lee sent Jackson a photograph of him in a wizard's costume, wanting to play Gandalf, but Jackson decided he would be a perfect Saruman, instead.

Miramax wanted a recognisable name for Gandalf, and suggested Max von Sydow or Paul Scofield and, wanting an American star, even mentioned Morgan Freeman. When New Line took over, they suggested Christopher Plummer or Sean Connery for the part (both declined), and put a veto against Richard Harris when his name came up. When von Sydow inquired for the part later, his agent told him they were looking for an English actor.

While casting, Jackson looked for backup options for the various parts, including Lucy Lawless and Nicole Kidman for Galadriel; Anthony Hopkins or Sylvester McCoy (eventually recast as Radagast) for Bilbo; Paul Scofield, Jeremy Irons, Malcolm McDowell or Tim Curry for Saruman. For Gandalf, they looked into Tom Baker, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Neil, Bernard Hill (who was instead cast as Theoden) and Peter O'Toole, and into several older actors who auditioned for other parts like Patrick McGoohan and Anthony Hopkins.

Miramax and Jackson discussed Sir Daniel Day-Lewis for Aragorn, starting "fanciful internet speculation" that Day-Lewis was approached for the part numerous times, although Jackson eventually inquired about him. Jackson cast Stuart Townsend, whom the studio deemed too young. After shooting began, Jackson agreed and decided to recast the role. They approached Viggo Mortensen, but also spoke to Russell Crowe (who auditioned for Boromir previously), as a backup choice.

Patrick McGoohan, their first choice for Denethor, proved "quite grumpy" when they met, and they instead looked into Donald Sutherland and John Rhys-Davies, and ultimately cast John Noble. Davies was recast as Gimli, instead of Billy Connolly (later cast as Dain), Robert Trebor and Timothy Spall. In conversations with Miramax, Liam Neeson's name came up for Boromir, but he declined. Daniel Craig auditioned. New Line suggested Nicolas Cage, but the filmmakers declined and cast Sean Bean.

Cast

Template:See also The following is a list of cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the extended version of the films.

Character
	The Fellowship of the Ring	The Two Towers	The Return of the King
The Fellowship
Frodo Baggins	Elijah Wood
Aragorn	Viggo Mortensen
Boromir	Sean Bean
Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck	Dominic Monaghan
Samwise Gamgee	Sean Astin
Gandalf	Ian McKellen
Gimli	John Rhys-Davies
Legolas	Orlando Bloom
Peregrin "Pippin" Took	Billy Boyd
The Shire and Bree
Bilbo Baggins	Ian Holm	Template:CEmpty	Ian Holm
Mrs. Bracegirdle	Lori Dungey	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Barliman Butterbur	David Weatherley	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Rosie Cotton	Sarah McLeod	Template:CEmpty	Sarah McLeod
Gaffer Gamgee	Norman Forsey	Template:CEmpty	Norman Forsey
Elanor Gamgee	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Alexandra Astin
Bree Gate-Keeper	Martyn Sanderson	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Farmer Maggot	Cameron Rhodes	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Old Noakes	Bill Johnson	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Everard Proudfoot	Noel Appleby	Template:CEmpty	Noel Appleby
Mrs. Proudfoot	Megan Edwards	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Otho Sackville	Peter Corrigan	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Lobelia Sackville-Baggins	Elizabeth Moody	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Ted Sandyman	Brian Sergent	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Rivendell and Lothlórien
Arwen	Liv Tyler
Celeborn	Marton Csokas	Template:CEmpty	Marton Csokas
Elrond	Hugo Weaving
Figwit	Bret McKenzie	Template:CEmpty	Bret McKenzie
Galadriel	Cate Blanchett
Haldir	Craig Parker		Template:CEmpty
Rúmil	Jørn Benzon	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Isengard and Mordor
Gollum/Sméagol	Andy Serkis
Gorbag	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Stephen Ure
Gothmog	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Lawrence Makoare Craig Parker Template:Small
Gríma Wormtongue	Template:CEmpty	Brad Dourif
Grishnákh	Template:CEmpty	Stephen Ure	Template:CEmpty
Lurtz	Lawrence Makoare	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Mauhúr	Template:CEmpty	Robbie Magasiva Andy Serkis Template:Small	Template:CEmpty
Mouth of Sauron	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Bruce Spence
The One Ring	Alan Howard Template:Small	Template:CEmpty	Alan Howard Template:Small
Saruman	Christopher Lee
Sauron	Sala Baker Alan Howard Template:Small	Template:CEmpty	Sala Baker Alan Howard Template:Small
Shagrat	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Peter Tait
Sharku	Template:CEmpty	Jed Brophy	Template:CEmpty
Snaga	Template:CEmpty	Jed Brophy Andy Serkis Template:Small	Template:CEmpty
Uglúk	Template:CEmpty	Nathaniel Lees	Template:CEmpty
Witch-king of Angmar	Brent McIntyre Andy Serkis Template:Small	Template:CEmpty	Lawrence Makoare
Rohan and Gondor
Damrod	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Alistair Browning
Denethor	Template:CEmpty	John Noble
Éomer	Template:CEmpty	Karl Urban
Éothain	Template:CEmpty	Sam Comery	Template:CEmpty
Éowyn	Template:CEmpty	Miranda Otto
Faramir	Template:CEmpty	David Wenham
Freda	Template:CEmpty	Olivia Tennet	Template:CEmpty
Gamling	Template:CEmpty	Bruce Hopkins
Grimbold	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Bruce Phillips
Háma	Template:CEmpty	John Leigh	Template:CEmpty
Haleth	Template:CEmpty	Calum Gittins	Template:CEmpty
Irolas	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Ian Hughes
King of the Dead	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty	Paul Norell
Madril	Template:CEmpty	John Bach
Morwen	Template:CEmpty	Robyn Malcolm	Template:CEmpty
Théoden	Template:CEmpty	Bernard Hill
Théodred	Template:CEmpty	Paris Howe Strewe	Template:CEmpty
Treebeard	Template:CEmpty	John Rhys-Davies Template:Small
Historical figures
Déagol	Thomas Robins Template:Small	Template:CEmpty	Thomas Robins
Elendil	Peter McKenzie	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Gil-galad	Mark Ferguson	colspan="2" Template:CEmpty
Isildur	Harry Sinclair	Template:CEmpty	Harry Sinclair

Crew

Crew
	The Fellowship of the Ring	The Two Towers	The Return of the King
Director	Peter Jackson
Producers	Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Tim SandersTemplate:Ref
Screenwriters	Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Stephen SinclairTemplate:Ref
Composer	Howard Shore
Cinematographer	Andrew Lesnie
Editors	John GilbertTemplate:Ref	Michael HortonTemplate:Ref	Jamie SelkirkTemplate:Ref
Production designers	Dan Hennah and Grant Major
Conceptual designers	Alan Lee and John Howe
Costume designers	Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor
Visual effects supervisor	Jim Rygiel
Production companies	New Line Cinema and WingNut Films
Distributing company	New Line Cinema

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Development

Main article: Middle-earth in film

File:Peter Jackson01.jpg

Peter Jackson at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on 1 December 2003 at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington.

Previous attempts

Previous attempts to film Tolkien's works were made by William Snyder, Peter Shaffer and John Boorman. These attempts resulted in a couple of unproduced scripts, concept art and an animated short. Other filmmakers and producers to have had an interest in adapting Tolkien are said to include Walt Disney, Al Brodax, Forrest Ackerman, Denis O'Dell (who considered Richard Lester to direct, but instead approached David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni) and George Lucas. The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt Films before being sold perpetually to United Artists. In 1976, UA passed the rights to The Lord of the Rings (and a part of the rights to The Hobbit) to Fantasy Films.

In 1977, an animated adaptation of The Hobbit was produced as a TV special by Rankin and Bass (followed in 1980 by a TV animated adaptation of The Return of the King), and in 1978 Ralph Bakshi made an animated feature of the first half of The Lord of the Rings. While profitable, the film didn't make enough money to automatically warrant the sequel which would close the story, and an argument with producer Saul Zaentz led Bakshi to abandon the project. Several Tolkien-esque fantasy films were produced at the time, as well, including Boorman's Excalibur and George Lucas' production of Willow.

At the time that Bakshi's film aired, a teenager Peter Jackson hadn't read the book, but "heard the name", and went to see the film: "I liked the early part – it had some quaint sequences in Hobbiton, a creepy encounter with the Black Rider on the road, and a few quite good battle scenes – but then, about half way through, the storytelling became very disjointed and disorientating and I really didn't understand what was going on. However, what it did do was to make me want to read the book – if only to find out what happened!" Jackson bought a tie-in paperback edition. He later read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, and listened to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation. Assuming someone will one day adapt it to a live-action film, Jackson read on some previous attempts to bring the piece to the screen. He hadn't watched the Rankin and Bass TV Specials.

Pitch to Miramax

In 1995, while completing post-production on The Frighteners, Jackson and Fran Walsh discussed making an original fantasy film, but couldn't think of a scenario that wasn't Tolkien-esque, and eventually decided to look up the film rights. They went to Harvey Weinstein from Miramax, who got the rights from Saul Zaentz. Jackson knew it would take multiple films to do Tolkien justice, but initially pitched a single trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit and, if that would prove successful, two Lord of the Rings films shot back-to-back. Jackson began rereading The Hobbit, looking at illustrations and commissioning concept art from the book, but the rights eventually proved unattainable, having been split between Zaentz and United Artists. Harvey tried to buy the studio's share of the rights, but was unsuccessful.

With the Hobbit postponed for a later prequel, Jackson proceeded with making two or more Lord of the Rings films: "We pitched the idea of three films and Miramax didn't really want to take that risk, but we agreed on two." He began writing the scripts with Walsh and Stephen Sinclair, storyboard with Christian Rivers and discussing casting ideas with the Weinsteins. Meanwhile Weta Digital began software development for the digital effects required, and WETA Workshop were producing props and concept art. Sinclair later dropped from the project, but Jackson felt that some of his contributions survived into the finished scripts, particularly the middle film, The Two Towers, for which he is credited.

Move to New Line

However, as the scripts took shape, it became clear that the budget required would exceed Miramax's capabilities. The Weinsteins suggested cutting the project to one film. Jackson inquired whether it could be around four-hours in duration, but Miramax insisted on two hours, suggesting major cuts to the story, which Jackson refused. Harvey Weinstein threatened to replace Jackson with screenwriter Hossein Amini and directors John Madden or Quentin Tarantino. Jackson believes this was an empty threat to get him to concede to making a one-film version himself.

Harvey eventually relented to putting the project on a turnaround, but the onerous conditions were meant to prevent the project from being taken up by another studio. Jackson got an audience with New Line CEO Robert Shaye, who accepted the project, but requested that it be expanded into a trilogy. Final Cut rights were shared contractually between Jackson and Bob Shaye, but there was never any interference in Jackson's cut.

Production

Main article: Production of The Lord of the Rings film series

File:Alan Lee 2005.JPG

Alan Lee, a Tolkien illustrator who assisted in the visual design, at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow.

Jackson began storyboarding and screenwriting the series with Christian Rivers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time. Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens did not write each film to correspond exactly to its respective book, opting instead to write a three-part adaptation with some sequences missing, some sequences created from scratch, and some sequences moved from one area to another regardless of its placement in the books. To allow the story to be clearer for viewers, Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story than did Tolkien. During shooting, the screenplays continued to evolve, in part due to contributions from cast members looking to further explore their characters.

Earlier versions of the script included additional characters like Fatty Bolger, Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir, Erkenbrand, Imrahil and Forlong. At one point, Jackson even considered reintroducing Tom Bombadil in a cameo. Gimli was going to swear throughout the films, and Arwen would join the Fellowship in Rohan and share a nude scene with Aragorn in the pools of the Glittering Caves.

Jackson hired long-time collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetic makeup, creatures, and miniatures. At New Line's request, animation supervisor Jim Rygiel replaced Weta Digital's Mark Stetson. In November 1997, famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project; most of the imagery in the films is based on their various illustrations, but Jackson also relied on the work of Ted Nasmith, who later had to turn down an offer to join Alan and John. Jackson wanted realistic designs in the style of historical epics rather than fantasy films, citing Braveheart as an inspiration:

"It might be clearer if I described it as an historical film. Something very different to Dark Crystal or Labyrinth. Imagine something like Braveheart, but with a little of the visual magic of Legend. [...]It should have the historical authority of Braveheart, rather than the meaningless fantasy mumbo-jumbo of Willow.

Production designer Grant Major was charged with the task of converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, while Dan Hennah worked as art director, scouting locations and organizing the building of sets. Ngilla Dickson collaborated with Richard Taylor on producing costumes, while Peter King and Peter Owen designed makeup and hair. Most of these crew members (and others) returned to work on The Hobbit.

Jackson and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie considered shooting in large-format like 65 mm film and/or to master the films at 4K, but both were cost-prohibitive and couldn't be done on New Zealand soil. They decided to shoot on fine-grain Super-35mm film and subject the films to rigorous digital grading.

File:Hobbiton, New Zealand.jpg

The house of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the Shire, as filmed in New Zealand.

Principal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in many locations within New Zealand's conservation areas and national parks. Filming took place between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The series was shot at over 150 different locations, with seven different units shooting, as well as soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. Along with Jackson directing the whole production, other unit directors included John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie M. Osborne, Rick Porras, and any other assistant director, producer, or writer available. Miniature Photography took place throughout the entire period, amounting to over 1000 shooting days.

Weta Digital developed new technologies to allow for the groundbreaking digital effects required for the trilogy, including the development of the MASSIVE software to generate intelligent crowds for battle scenes, and advancing the art of motion capture, which was used on bipedal creatures like the Cave Troll or Gollum. With Jackson's future films, motion-capture technology had been pushed so far that it became referred to as "digital makeup", although it was later clarified that during The Lord of the Rings period, it was still fairly reliant on the CG animators.

Each film had the benefit of a full year of post-production time before its respective December release, often finishing in October–November, with the crew immediately going to work on the next film. Jackson originally wanted to edit all three films with Jamie Selkirk, but this proved too much work. The next idea was to have John Gilbert, Michael Horton and Selkirk, respectively, editing the three films simultaneously, but after a month that proved too difficult for Jackson, and the films were edited in consecutive years, although Selkirk continued to act as "Supervising Editor" on the first two entries. Daily rushes would often last up to four hours, and by the time The Fellowship of the Ring had been released, assembly cuts of the other two films (4½ hours each) were already prepared. In total, 1828 km (six million feet) of film was edited down to the 11 hours and 26 minutes (686 minutes) of extended running time.

Music

Main article: Music of The Lord of the Rings film series

File:Howard Shore, Canadian Film Centre, 2013-1.jpg

Howard Shore, composer of the music of the films.

Howard Shore composed, orchestrated, conducted, and produced the trilogy's music. Shore visited the set in 1999, and composed a version of the Shire theme and Frodo's Theme before Jackson began shooting. In August 2000 he visited the set again, and watched the assembly cuts of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. In the music, Shore included many (85 to 110) leitmotifs to represent various characters, cultures, and places – the largest catalogue of leitmotifs in the history of cinema, surpassing – for comparison – that of the entire Star Wars film series. For example, there are multiple leitmotifs just for the hobbits and the Shire. Although the first film had some of its score recorded in Wellington, virtually all of the trilogy's score was recorded in Watford Town Hall and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Jackson planned to advise the score for six weeks each year in London, though for The Two Towers he stayed for twelve.

The score is primarily played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, ranging from 93 to 120 players throughout the recording. London Voices, the London Oratory School Schola boy choir, and many artists such as Ben Del Maestro, Enya, Renée Fleming, James Galway, Annie Lennox and Emilíana Torrini contributed. Even actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto (extended cuts only for the latter two), and Peter Jackson (for a single gong sound in the second film) contributed to the score. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens served as librettists, writing lyrics to various music and songs, which David Salo translated into Tolkien's languages. The third film's end song, "Into the West", was a tribute to a young filmmaker Jackson and Walsh befriended named Cameron Duncan, who died of cancer in 2003.

Shore composed a main theme for the Fellowship rather than many different character themes, and its strength and weaknesses in volume are depicted at different points in the series. On top of that, individual themes were composed to represent different cultures. Infamously, the amount of music Shore had to write every day for the third film increased dramatically to around seven minutes. The music for the series has been voted best movie soundtrack of all time for the six years running, passing Schindler's List (1993), Gladiator (2000), Star Wars (1977), and Out of Africa (1985) respectively.

The film’s music editor was Suzana Peric.

Soundtracks

Title	U.S. release date	Length	Composer	Label
The Fellowship of the Ring: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Template:Start date	71:29	Howard Shore	Reprise Records
The Two Towers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Template:Start date	72:46
The Return of the King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Template:Start date	72:05

Reception

Box office

The trilogy's online promotional trailer was first released on 27 April 2000, and set a new record for download hits, registering 1.7 million hits in the first 24 hours of its release. The trailer used a selection from the soundtrack for Braveheart and The Shawshank Redemption among other cuts. In 2001, 24 minutes of footage from the series, primarily the Moria sequence, was shown at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and was very well received. The showing also included an area designed to look like Middle-earth.

The Fellowship of the Ring was released 19 December 2001. It grossed $47.2 million in its U.S. opening weekend and made around $887.8 million worldwide. A preview of The Two Towers was inserted just before the end credits near the end of the film's theatrical run. A promotional trailer was later released, containing music re-scored from the film Requiem for a Dream. The Two Towers was released 18 December 2002. It grossed $62 million in its first U.S. weekend and out-grossed its predecessor with $951.2 million worldwide. The promotional trailer for The Return of the King was debuted exclusively before the New Line Cinema film Secondhand Lions on 23 September 2003. Released 17 December 2003, its first U.S. weekend gross was $72.6 million, and became the second film, after Titanic (1997), to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Template:Hatnote

Film	U.S. release date	Box office gross			All-time ranking				Budget	Template:Abbr
		U.S. and Canada	Other territories	Worldwide	U.S. and Canada		Worldwide
					Rank	Template:H:title	Rank	Template:H:title
The Fellowship of the Ring	Template:Start date	$315,544,750	$572,389,161	$887,933,911	78	9	64	5	$93 million
The Two Towers	Template:Start date	$342,551,365	$608,676,051	$951,227,416	57	7	56	4	$94 million
The Return of the King	Template:Start date	$377,845,905	$764,425,193	$1,142,271,098	45	6	24	2	$94 million
Total		$1,035,942,020	$1,945,490,405	$2,981,432,425					$281 million	Template:NoteTag

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Critical and public response

The Lord of the Rings trilogy received widespread acclaim and is ranked among the greatest film trilogies ever made. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal", while Todd McCarthy of Variety described the films as "one of the most ambitious and phenomenally successful dream projects of all time". The Fellowship of the Ring was voted the greatest fantasy movie of all time in a reader's poll conducted by American magazine Wired in 2012, while The Two Towers and The Return of the King placed fourth and third respectively.

The series appears in the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association: Top 10 Films, [[Time's All-Time 100 Movies|TimeTemplate:'s All-Time 100 Movies]], and James Berardinelli's Top 100. In 2007, USA Today named the series as the most important films of the past 25 years. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Bringing a cherished book to the big screen? No sweat. Peter Jackson's trilogy — or, as we like to call it, our preciousssss — exerted its irresistible pull, on advanced Elvish speakers and neophytes alike." Paste named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009), ranking it at No. 4. In another Time magazine list, the series ranks second in "Best Movies of the Decade". In addition, six characters and their respective actors made the list of 'The 100 Greatest Movie Characters', also compiled by Empire, with Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of Aragorn ranking No. 15, Ian McKellen's portrayal of Gandalf ranking No. 30, Ian Holm's portrayal of Bilbo Baggins (shared with Martin Freeman for his portrayal of the same character in The Hobbit films) ranking No. 61, Andy Serkis' portrayal of Gollum ranking No. 66, Sean Astin's portrayal of Samwise Gamgee ranking No. 77, and Orlando Bloom's portrayal of Legolas ranking No. 94. Template:Hatnote

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
The Fellowship of the Ring	91% (8.18/10 average rating) (231 reviews)	92/100 (34 reviews)	Template:Sort grade
The Two Towers	95% (8.49/10 average rating) (253 reviews)	87/100 (39 reviews)	Template:Sort grade
The Return of the King	93% (8.69/10 average rating) (273 reviews)	94/100 (41 reviews)	Template:Sort grade

Industry response

The series also drew acclaim from within the industry, including from Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas. John Boorman, who once wrote a script for a Lord of the Rings film, said he was happy his own version was unmade as Jackson's films was "of such scope and magnitude that it can only be compared to the building of the great Gothic cathedrals." Forrest J. Ackerman, who once presented a film treatment to Tolkien, and appeared on Jackson's Bad Taste said his pitch "could never have been given the grand treatment that Peter Jackson afforded it."

However, some filmmakers were more critical. Heinz Edelmann, who pitched the idea of an animated feature when United Artists considered shooting the films with the Beatles, thought it was "badly directed." Ralph Bakshi, who made an animated film based on the first half of the trilogy, didn't watch the films, but was told that Jackson's film was derivative of his. Ahead of the films' release, he said he did not "understand it" but that he does "wish it to be a good movie."

After the films were released, however, Bakshi said that while, "on the creative side", he does "feel good that Peter Jackson continued" he begrudges Saul Zaentz for not notifying him of the live-action films. He also said that, with his own film already made, Jackson could study it and therefore had "a little easier time than I did." Afterwards, he grumbled that Jackson "didn't understand" Tolkien and created "special effects garbage" to sell toys, as well as being derivative of his own film. Bakshi further blamed Jackson for not acknowledging the influence that the animated film had on him, saying that he denied having seen Bakshi's film at all until being forced to mention him, at which point (according to Bakshi) he mentioned Bakshi's influence "only once" as "PR bologny." However, he did praise Jackson's special effects and, in 2015, even apologized for some of his remarks.

In fact, Jackson did acknowledge Bakshi's film as early as 1998, when he told a worried fan that he hoped to outdo Bakshi, as well as mentioning in the behind-the-scenes features that "the black Riders galloping out of Bree was an image I remember very clearly [...] from the Ralph Bakshi film." In the audio commentary to The Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson says Bakshi's film introduced him to The Lord of the Rings and "inspired me to read the book." Jackson watched the film for the first time since its premiere in 1997, when Harvey Weinstein screened it to begin the story conferences. Jackson singles out his one homage to the cartoon: a low-angle shot of Odo Proudfoot calling out "Proudfeet!" which Jackson thought was "a brilliant angle." Another influence came through John Howe, who unwittingly copied a scene from Bakshi's film in a painting that depicted the four Hobbits hiding under a branch from a Ringwraith, which Jackson turned into a scene in the film. Jackson's decision to do a scene that misdirects the audience to think the wraiths slew the Hobbits may also derive from Bakshi. Other similarities, including a few costume designs (such as Barliman's night attire and Bilbo's pants) and scenes like the prologue or Saruman's speech to the Uruks, seem coincidental, as Jackson admits: "our film is stylistically very different and the design is different." Jackson, a fan of Bakshi's earlier films, is puzzled over Bakshi's anger. In 2018, Bakshi clarified that he's "not mad about it. I don't care."

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by The Lord of the Rings film series

File:SDCC13 - Ian McKellen.jpg

Ian McKellen received multiple accolades for his portrayal of Gandalf, including a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 74th Academy Awards.

The three films together were nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards, of which they won 17, both records for any movie trilogy. The Fellowship of the Ring earned 13 nominations, the most of any film at the 74th Academy Awards, winning four; The Two Towers won two awards from six nominations at the 75th Academy Awards; The Return of the King won in every category in which it was nominated at the 76th Academy Awards, setting the current Oscar record for the highest clean sweep, and its 11 Academy Awards wins ties the record held by Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997). The Return of the King also became only the second sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture after The Godfather Part II (1974).

Additionally, members of the production crew won the Academy Award for Technical Achievement for the rendering of skin textures on creatures on The Return of the King, and Stephen Regelous won the Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering Award for the design and development of MASSIVE, "the autonomous agent animation system used for the battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy."

The Lord of the Rings film series at the Academy Awards

Category
	74th Academy Awards	75th Academy Awards	76th Academy Awards
	The Fellowship of the Ring	The Two Towers	The Return of the King
Picture	Template:Nom	Template:Nom	Template:Won
Director	Template:Nom		Template:Won
Adapted Screenplay	Template:Nom		Template:Won
Supporting Actor	Template:NomTemplate:Efn
Art Direction	Template:Nom	Template:Nom	Template:Won
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As well as Academy Awards, each film in the series won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the MTV Movie Award for Movie of the Year, and the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. The first and third films also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film. The New York Film Critics Circle awarded The Return of the King its Best Picture Award at the 2003 Awards Ceremony, hosted by Andrew Johnston, chair of the organization at that time, who called it "a masterful piece of filmmaking."

Comparisons with the written work

Main article: The Lord of the Rings: film versus book

Commentators have compared Jackson's film trilogy with Tolkien's written work, remarking that while both have been extremely successful commercially, they differ in many respects. Critics have admired Jackson's ability to film the long and complex work at all; the beauty of the cinematography, sets, and costumes; and the epic scale of his version of Tolkien's story. They have however found the characters and the story greatly weakened by Jackson's emphasis on action and violence at the expense of psychological depth; the loss of Tolkien's emphasis on free will and individual responsibility; and the replacement of Frodo's inner journey by an American monomyth with Aragorn as the hero.

As for whether the film trilogy is faithful to the novel, opinions range from Verlyn Flieger's feeling that a film adaptation is not even worth attempting, Wayne G. Hammond's opinion that the film sacrifices the book's richness of characterisation and narrative for violence, thrills, and cheap humour, or Christopher Tolkien's view that Jackson's interpretation is unacceptable, to granting, with Jackson and Boyens, that the film version is inevitably different. From that standpoint, critics such as Brian Rosebury and Tom Shippey have described the films as a partial success, giving some of the feeling and capturing some of the key themes of the novel. Yvette Kisor considers that Jackson was unfaithful to many of Tolkien's details, but succeeded in achieving something of the same impact and feelings of providence, eucatastrophe, and interconnectedness. Dimitra Fimi suggests that Jackson was continuing Tolkien's tradition of adapting folklore, incorporating both the fans' views on that folklore and cinematic traditions such as the zombie in the film trilogy to produce its own modern folklore.

Home media

File:LOTR Trilogy Blu-ray box set at Costco, SSF ECR.JPG

Blu-ray editions of the trilogy.

The first two films were released on standard two-disc edition DVDs containing previews of the next film. The success of the theatrical cuts brought about four-disc extended editions, with new editing, added special effects and music. Jackson came up with the idea of an extended cut for LaserDisc and DVD formats while in preproduction. He could insert some of the violence that he thought he'd have to trim to get a PG-13 rating for the theatre, and he could tailor the pacing to the demands of the small-screen, which he said were "completely different." He observed that the extended cuts will be "ultimately seen as the more definitive versions of the films."

The extended cuts of the films and the included special features (labeled "Appendices" as an homage to the books) were spread over two discs, and a limited collector's edition was also released. The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 12 November 2002, containing 30 minutes more footage, an Alan Lee painting of the Fellowship entering Moria, and the Moria Gate on the back of the sleeve; an Argonath-styled bookend was included with the Collector's Edition. The Two Towers, released on 18 November 2003, contained 46 minutes extra footage and a Lee painting of Gandalf the White's entrance; the Collector's Edition contained a Sméagol statue, with a crueller-looking statue of his Gollum persona available by order for a limited time.

The Return of the King was released on 14 December 2004, having 52 minutes more footage, a Lee painting of the Grey Havens and a model of Minas Tirith for the Collector's Edition, with Minas Morgul available by order for a limited time. The Special Extended DVD Editions also had in-sleeve maps of the Fellowship's travels. They have also played at cinemas, most notably for a 16 December 2003 marathon screening (dubbed "Trilogy Tuesday") culminating in a late afternoon screening of the third film. Attendees of "Trilogy Tuesday" were given a limited edition keepsake from Sideshow Collectibles containing one random frame of film from each of the three movies. Both versions were put together in a Limited Edition "branching" version, plus a new feature-length documentary by Costa Botes. The complete series was released in a six-disc set on 14 November 2006.

Warner Bros. released the trilogy's theatrical versions on Blu-ray in a boxed set on 6 April 2010. An extended edition Blu-ray box set was made available for pre-order from Amazon.com in March 2011 and was released on 28 June 2011. Each film's extended Blu-ray version is identical to the extended DVD version; the total running time is longer due to added credit sequence listing the names of "The Lord of the Rings fan-club members" who contributed to the project.

In 2014, brand new Blu-ray steelbook editions of the five-disc Extended Editions were released. The first, The Fellowship of the Ring, was released on 24 March 2014. The discs are identical to those found in the previous five-disc Blu-ray set. Template:Hatnote

Film	Theatrical edition length	Extended edition length
The Fellowship of the Ring	178 minutes (2 hr, 58 min)	208 minutes (3 hr, 28 min)
The Two Towers	179 minutes (2 hr, 59 min)	226 minutes (3 hr, 46 min)
The Return of the King	201 minutes (3 hr, 21 min)	252 minutes (4 hr, 12 min)
Total runtime	558 minutes (9 hr, 18 min)	686 minutes (11 hr, 26 min)

Legacy

The release of the films saw a surge of interest in The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other works, vastly increasing his impact on popular culture. The success of the films spawned numerous video games and many other kinds of merchandise.

Reunion

On 31 May 2020, through his YouTube channel, actor Josh Gad aired a virtual cast reunion via Zoom as the fourth episode of the web series Reunited Apart, a charity fundraising effort during the COVID-19 pandemic, with The Lord of the Rings reunion supporting Share Our Strength's campaign called "No Kid Hungry". A large part of the original cast participated, including Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, and Elijah Wood. In addition to the cast, director Peter Jackson, screenwriter Philippa Boyens and composer Howard Shore were also present. Furthermore, filmmaker Taika Waititi and castmate Bernard Hill also made an appearance. On 2 June 2020, Josh Gad announced that the charity had raised over $100,000.

Effects on the film industry and tourism

File:Airbus A320-232, Air New Zealand AN0537013.jpg

Air New Zealand painted this Airbus A320 in The Lord of the Rings livery to promote The Return of the King in 2004.

As a result of the series' success, Peter Jackson has become a major figure in the film industry in the mould of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, in the process befriending some industry heavyweights like Bryan Singer and Frank Darabont. Jackson has since founded his own film production company, Wingnut Films, as well as Wingnut Interactive, a video game company. He was also finally given a chance to remake King Kong in 2005. The film was a critical and box office success, although not as successful as the Lord of the Rings series. Jackson has been called a "favourite son" of New Zealand. In 2004, Howard Shore toured with The Lord of the Rings Symphony, playing two hours of the score. Along with the Harry Potter films, the series has renewed interest in the fantasy film genre. Tourism in New Zealand is up, possibly due to its exposure in the series, with the country's tourism industry waking up to an audience's familiarity.

In December 2002, The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition opened at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. As of 2007, the exhibition has travelled to seven other cities around the world. A musical adaptation of the book was launched in Toronto, Canada, in 2006, but it closed after mostly poor reviews. A shortened version opened in London, United Kingdom, in the summer of 2007.

Legal disputes

The legacy of The Lord of the Rings is also that of court cases over profits from the trilogy. Sixteen cast members (Noel Appleby, Jed Brophy, Mark Ferguson, Ray Henwood, Bruce Hopkins, William Johnson, Nathaniel Lees, Sarah McLeod, Ian Mune, Paul Norell, Craig Parker, Robert Pollock, Martyn Sanderson, Peter Tait, and Stephen Ure) sued over the lack of revenue from merchandise bearing their appearance. The case was resolved out of court in 2008. The settlement came too late for Appleby, who died of cancer in 2007. Saul Zaentz also filed a lawsuit in 2004 claiming he had not been paid all of his royalties.

The next year, Jackson himself sued the studio over profits from the first film, slowing development of the Hobbit prequels until late 2007. The Tolkien Trust filed a lawsuit in February 2008, for violating Tolkien's original deal over the rights that they would earn 7.5% of the gross from any films based on his works. The Trust sought compensation of $150 million. A judge denied them this option, but allowed them to win compensation from the act of the studio ignoring the contract itself. On 8 September 2009, the dispute was settled.

Video games

Template:See also Numerous video games were released to supplement the film series. They include: The Two Towers, The Return of the King, The Third Age, The Third Age (GBA), Tactics, The Battle for Middle-earth, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king, The Lord of the Rings Online, Conquest, Aragorn's Quest, War in the North, Lego The Lord of the Rings, Guardians of Middle-earth, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and pinball.

The Hobbit prequel trilogy

Main article: The Hobbit (film series)

The success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy led to Jackson directing a trilogy of prequels based on Tolkien's children's book The Hobbit. The films, which were released between 2012 and 2014, used much of the cast of The Lord of the Rings, including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom who reprised their roles. Most of the crew returned, as well, with Jackson directing, him and Walsh producing and Boyens co-writing. Ngila Dickson, Grant Major, Jim Rygiel and Ethan Van der Ryn dropped out from costume design, production design, animation and sound editing respectively, but were succeeded by their Lord of the Rings colleagues, Richard Taylor, Dan Hennah, Joe Letteri and Brent Burge. The only complete changes in the staff involved the change of gaffer, after Brian Bansgrove died between the trilogies, and stunt coordinator Glen Boswall replaced George Marshall Ruge who worked on Rings.

Although the Hobbit trilogy was commercially successful, it received mixed reviews from critics. However, the films did manage to add another seven Academy Award nominations to the series' tally, to an overall 37, and another win for the Scientific and Engineering Award, resulting in the most nominations and wins for a six-part series.

See also

Template:Portal Template:Wikipedia books

• The Hobbit (1977 film)
• The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
• The Return of the King (1980 film)
• List of longest films
• List of films featuring miniature people

External links

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