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 ', ' and . 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''
''The Two Towers''
''The Return of the King''
Cast and crew
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, 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 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 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 "fanficul internet speculation" that Day-Lewis was approached for the part numerous times, although Jackson did eventually inquire 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, 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, 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
The following is a list of cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the extended version of the films.Crew
Development
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 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 to Fantasy Films.In 1977, an animated adaptation of The Hobbit was produced as a TV special by Rankin and Bass, 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' 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
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 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.
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 were already prepared. In total, 1828 km of film was edited down to the 11 hours and 26 minutes of extended running time.
Music
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 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, and Peter Jackson 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, Gladiator, Star Wars, and Out of Africa respectively.
Soundtracks
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.' 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 ' 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 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, to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
Critical and public response
The Lord of the Rings trilogy received universal acclaim and is constantly 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, Times 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, 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 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.
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
| ' | 91% | 92/100 | |
| ' | 95% | 87/100 | |
| 93% | 94/100 |
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 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 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
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 and Titanic. The Return of the King also became only the second sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture after The Godfather Part II.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."
| Category | - | - | - |
| Category | 74th Academy Awards | 75th Academy Awards | 76th Academy Awards |
| Category | The Fellowship of the Ring | The Two Towers | The Return of the King |
| Picture | |||
| Director | |||
| Adapted Screenplay | |||
| Supporting Actor | |||
| Art Direction | |||
| Cinematography | |||
| Costume Design | |||
| Film Editing | |||
| Makeup | |||
| Original Score | |||
| Original Song | |||
| Sound Editing | |||
| Sound Mixing | |||
| Visual Effects |
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 between the film series and the book trilogy
The film series provoked both positive and negative reactions from fans and scholars of the novels, and was sometimes seen as changing parts Tolkien felt thematically necessary in terms of characters, themes, events and subtlety. Some fans of the book who disagreed with such changes have released fan edits of the films such as The Lord of the Rings: The Purist Edition, which removed many of the changes to bring them closer to the original.It was rumoured that the Tolkien family became split on the series, with Christopher Tolkien and his son Simon Tolkien feuding over whether or not it was a good idea to adapt. to the point Simon was threatened to be cut off from literary inheritance.
Christopher has since denied these claims, saying, "My own position is that The Lord of the Rings is peculiarly unsuitable to transformation into visual dramatic form. The suggestions that have been made that I 'disapprove' of the films, even to the extent of thinking ill of those with whom I may differ, are wholly without foundation." He added that he had never "expressed any such feeling". In 2012, however, he described the films as having "eviscerated" the book, and criticized the resulting "commercialisation" of his father's work.
Several critics contend that the portrayal of women, especially Arwen, in the films is thematically faithful to Tolkien's writings despite some differences.
Wayne G. Hammond, a Tolkien scholar, said of the first two films that he found them to be "travesties as adaptations... faithful only on a basic level of plot" and that many characters had not been depicted faithfully to their appearance in the novel.
Supporters of the series assert that it is a worthy interpretation of the book and that most of the changes were necessary. Many who worked on the series are fans of the book, including Christopher Lee, who had actually met Tolkien in person, and Philippa Boyens once noted that no matter what, it is simply their interpretation of the book. Jackson once said that to simply summarize the story on screen would be a mess, and in his own words, "Sure, it's not really The Lord of the Rings... but it could still be a pretty damn cool movie." Other fans also claim that, despite any changes, the films serve as a tribute to the book, appealing to those who have not yet read it, and even leading some to do so. The Movie Guide for The Encyclopedia of Arda states that Jackson's films were exceptional since filming the whole story of The Lord of the Rings was probably impossible. This notion is partially supported by a review published in 2005 that otherwise criticized a lack of "faithfulness to Tolkien's spirit and tone." Douglas Kellner argues that the conservative community spirit of Tolkien's Shire is reflected in Jackson's films as well as the division of the Fellowship into "squabbling races". In a 2006 review, film theorist Kristin Thompson was critical about the fact that film studies were undertaken by literary researchers and about the frequent denigration of Jackson's work in the collected essays.
Home media
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 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 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.
| Film | Theatrical edition length | Extended edition length |
| ' | 178 minutes | 208 minutes |
| ' | 179 minutes | 226 minutes |
| 201 minutes | 252 minutes | |
| Total runtime | 558 minutes | 686 minutes |
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
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, 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 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
Numerous video games were released to supplement the film series. They include: ', ', ',, ', ', ', ', The Lord of the Rings Online, ', ', ', Lego The Lord of the Rings, Guardians of Middle-earth, ', ', and pinball.''The Hobbit'' prequel trilogy
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.