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 "" (2001), "" (2002) and "" (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.
Introduction
The Lord of the Rings (film series)
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Introduction
New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films New Line Cinema. New Line Cinema and WingNut Films New Line Cinema, WingNut Films
what is the total length of the lord of the rings movies
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Two hours each trilogy
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what is it's story about?
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It follows 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.
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when was the first movie in the series released?
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2001
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who produced it?
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"The Lord of the Rings" film series began production design in August 1997. Peter Jackson required complete realism and plausibility in his vision of Middle-earth, and hired Weta Workshop to create the various pieces of armour, weapons, prosthetics and creatures seen in the trilogy, as well as aged costumes and historically influenced sets.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Production design
"The Lord of the Rings" film series consists of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson and based on the eponymous novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled "" (2001), "" (2002) and "" (2003). The trilogy was a joint New Zealand-American venture, produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films. Development of the films began in August 1997. All three films were shot simultaneously and entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand from October 1999 until December 2000, with pick-up shots done from 2001 to 2004. "The Fellowship of the Ring" was released on 19 December 2001, "The Two Towers" was released on 18 December 2002 and "The Return of the King" was released on 17 December 2003, each to enormous commercial success and critical acclaim.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Introduction
The extended editions also had a tight schedule at the start of each year to complete special effects and music.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Post-production
Gold was tinted to Hobbiton, whilst cooler colours were strengthened into Lothlórien, Moria and Helm's Deep. Such a technique took 2–3 weeks to do, and allowed some freedom with the digital source for some extra editing. "" required the help of the company Next Limit Technologies and their software RealFlow to simulate the lava in Mount Doom. A technical overview of the special effects used in the film series is given by Matt Aitken "et al." (2004).
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Software
He also bought 40,000 toy soldiers to play with. Pre-visualisation would continue throughout ads production, such as the late addition of the Ents attacking Isengard, and the siege of Minas Tirith in February 2003.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Pre-visualisation
Numerous corpses of actors and horses were also made.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Weta Workshop
With the return of Sean Bean, the Fellowship reunited and proceeded to shoot the Moria sequence and the Rivendell interiors, including five days of coverage for the Council of Elrond.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2000
Negotiations with Zaentz were elongated due to Weinstein's intention to keep Zaentz from producing the film himself, and by the fact that the distribution rights for "The Hobbit" were left in United Artists' hands. Miramax tried to buy the rights from the studio in vain. By April 1996, Jackson had reread "The Hobbit" and commissioned WETA to produce concept art, when Harvey suggested postponing it to a potential prequel.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Early Development
In 1972, Arthur Rankin used a loophole in the US publication of the books (which made them public domain) to create an animated TV special based on "The Hobbit" (1977), and a sequel based on the closing chapters of "The Return of the King" (1980).
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Previous Adaptations
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".
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Production
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 "" (2001), "" (2002) and "" (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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Introduction
In December 2005, a contractor won an award from the Department of Conservation for their restoration work.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Environmental impact
A 1:4-scale miniature of Helm's Deep that ran 50 feet wide was used for forced perspective shots, as well as the major explosion sequence. The film explores the armies of Middle-earth. John Howe was the basic designer of the evil forces of Middle Earth, with the Uruk-hai being the first army approved by Jackson. Howe also designed a special crossbow for the Uruk-Hai characters, which was significant because it did not require external tools to rearm. This design was the realization of a 16th-century manuscript. Also created were 100 Elven suits of armour, for which emphasis was placed on Autumnal colours due to the theme of Elves leaving Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Production design
"The Lord of the Rings" series was the first time whose three separate instalments were written and shot simultaneously (excluding pick up shoots). Jackson found "The Return of the King" the easiest of the films to make, because it contained the climax of the story. "The Return of the King" was originally the second of two planned films under Miramax from January 1997 to August 1998, and more or less in its finished structure as the first film was to end with "The Two Towers"' Battle of Helm's Deep. Filming took place under multiple units across New Zealand, between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000, with pick up shoots for six weeks in 2003 before the film's release.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Production
Middle-earth as envisioned by Jackson was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe, former Tolkien illustrators, and created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics, and creatures, as well as the Art Department which built the sets. Richard Taylor headed Weta, while Grant Major and Dan Hennah organized the planning and building respectively. The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in both the previous two films, is seen fully in this film, and with it the Gondorian civilization. The enormous soundstage was built at Dry Creek Quarry, outside Wellington, from the Helm's Deep set.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Design
The first scene filmed was the "Wooded Road" sequence in "The Fellowship of the Ring", where the Hobbits hide beneath a tree from a mounted Ringwraith. The focus was generally on "The Fellowship of the Ring" when the Hobbits try to reach Rivendell, such as a single night in Bree exteriors; this was done with the hopes that the four actors playing the hobbits would bond. Second units also shot the Ford of Bruinen chase and the deforestation of Isengard. Liv Tyler generally came to New Zealand for stunts, and spent five days on a barrel for Bruinen while riding double Jane Abbott got to ride on horseback.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Late 1999
Each film had the benefit of a full year of post-production time before its respective December release, often finishing in October or November, with the crew immediately going to work on the next film. In this period's later part, Jackson would move to London to supervise the scoring and to continue editing, while having a computer feed for discussions to The Dorchester Hotel, and a "fat pipe" of Internet connections from Pinewood Studios to look at the special effects. He had a video link and 5.1 surround sound to organize meetings and listen to new music and sound effects generally wherever he was.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Post-production
The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 animated dark fantasy adventure film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It is an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings", comprising "The Fellowship of the Ring" (1954) and the first half of "The Two Towers" (1954). Set in Middle-earth, the film follows a group of hobbits, elves, men, dwarves, and wizards who form a fellowship. They embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring made by the Dark Lord Sauron, and ensure his destruction. Ralph Bakshi encountered Tolkien's writing early in his career, and had made several attempts to produce "The Lord of the Rings" as an animated film before being given funding by producer Saul Zaentz and distributor United Artists.
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) | Introduction
A team led by Randy Cook performed the animation using both motion capture data and manual recreation of Serkis' facial reference. Gollum's CG model was also redesigned during 2001, now using a subdivision surface model instead of the NURBS model for "Fellowship" (a similar rebuild was also done for the digital doubles of the lead actors), when Serkis was cast as Sméagol, Gollum's form before he is cursed by the One Ring, so as to give the impression that Serkis as Sméagol transforms into the CG Gollum. The original model can still be glimpsed briefly in the first film. Over Christmas 2001, the crew proceeded to reanimate all the previous shots accordingly within two months.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Animation and computer graphics effects
Daily rushes would often last up to four hours, with scenes being done throughout 1999 to 2002 for the rough (4½-hour) assemblies of the films. In total, of film was edited down to the 686 minutes (11 hours and 26 minutes) of extended edition running time. This was the final area of shaping of the films, when Jackson realized that sometimes the best scripting could be redundant on screen, as he picked apart scenes every day from multiple takes. The first film's editing was relatively easygoing, although after a screening to New Line they had to re-edit the beginning for a prologue.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Editing
The first time Jackson actually saw the completed film was at the Wellington premiere. Many filmed scenes remained unused, even in the extended editions. Promotional material for "The Fellowship of the Ring" contained an attack by Orcs from Moria on Lothlórien after the Fellowship leaves Moria, replaced with a more suspenseful entrance for the Fellowship. Also cut were scenes from the book, including Frodo seeing more of Middle-earth at Parth Galen, an extended Council of Elrond and new scenes with an attack upon Frodo and Sam at the river Anduin by an Uruk-hai.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Editing
Beagle. It covered only the first half of the story of "The Lord of the Rings". In 1977, an animated musical television film of "The Hobbit" was made by Rankin-Bass, and in 1980, they produced the animated musical television film "The Return of the King", which covered some of the portions of "The Lord of the Rings" that Bakshi was unable to complete. From 2001 to 2003, New Line Cinema released "The Lord of the Rings" as a trilogy of live-action films that were filmed in New Zealand and directed by Peter Jackson. The series was successful, performing extremely well commercially and winning numerous Oscars.
J. R. R. Tolkien | Film adaptations
Director Ralph Bakshi was introduced to "The Lord of the Rings" during the mid-1950s while working as an animator for Terrytoons. In 1957, the young animator started trying to convince people that the story could be told in animation, and even began developing an original science-fantasy film, which would become "Wizards", as "Tolkien in the American idiom". In 1969, the rights were passed to United Artists, where an "elegant" Peter Shaffer script was abandoned. Denis O'Dell was interested in producing a film for the Beatles, and approached directors David Lean (busy with Ryan's Daughter), Stanley Kubrick (who deemed it "unfilmable") and Michaelangelo Antonioni.
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) | Development
Surprising the makers of the film, the simple act of kneeling down was used to great effect. Some actors also wore oversized costumes to make average-sized actors look small, and there were numerous scale doubles who were disguised with costumes (and even latex faces for the hobbit doubles) and an avoidance of close-ups and numerous back shots.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Scale
In 1979 the US National Public Radio broadcast a radio dramatization of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It was produced by The Mind's Eye and has since been made available by several different companies. It was produced by Bob Lewis and adapted for radio by Bernard Mayes. It is sometimes confused with the later BBC production in 1981, but is distinguished by the fact that the most widely circulated US edition comes in a wooden box, whether on compact discs or cassette tapes. The radio script of "The Lord of the Rings" was written by Bernard Mayes.
The Lord of the Rings (1979 radio series) | Introduction
Canadian composer Howard Shore composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced the trilogy's music. He was hired in August 2000 and visited the set, and then 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 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.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Music
An upcoming streaming television series is being produced based on the novel "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was developed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the streaming service Prime Video, and is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth before the events of the "Lord of the Rings" novel and films. The series is produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema, with Payne and McKay serving as showrunners. Amazon bought the television rights for "The Lord of the Rings" for $250 million in November 2017, making a five season production commitment worth at least $1 billion.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Introduction
The extras insulted each other in Māori and improvised stunts, partially because those dressed in Uruk-hai prosthetics got extremely cold. The production then got larger, with Wood and Astin shooting scenes in Mount Ruapehu for Emyn Muil and Mount Doom. On 13 April 2000, Andy Serkis joined the cast. During this shoot, cross coverage was used for a pivotal scene in "The Return of the King". In the meantime, prologue scenes and the Battle of the Black Gate were shot, during which Sala Baker wore the Sauron armour. The Black Gate scene was filmed at a former mine field in the Rangipo Desert, and soldiers served as extras.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2000
"The Lord of the Rings" film series used many groundbreaking practical and digital visual effects that were unheard of in the film industry. Ranging from prosthetics and props to creatures almost entirely made through computer graphics, the process of making the film series has been praised as having forged a breakthrough in the world of cinematic visual effects. Weta Workshop was the major stylistic force behind the films, working on concepts, sets and digital effects years before the first scenes were even shot. The series was also briefly aided by Digital Domain in the first movie. Props, sets, prosthetics and locations were given the utmost concentration and detail to achieve a look that was as realistic as possible.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Special effects
The army often helped out, too, building Hobbiton almost a year before filming to give the impression of real growth and age, moving of earth, and creating roads to the Edoras location during six months of building, although there was some controversy over their pay. Sometimes sets would be reshaped: the caverns of Isengard became Shelob's Lair, and Helm's Deep became a Minas Tirith backlot. Sets would also occasionally employ forced perspective to save budget. Despite a large amount of safety involved, there were still fires on a Rohirrim village location and the Morgul Road set, and Alan Lee fell off a Lothlórien miniature.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Art design
By now, Tolkien was in conversations with Bernie-Katzka Productions and United Artists for the rights to "The Lord of the Rings" and "an option on "The Hobbit"". Peter Shaffer was commissioned to write a script for a three-hour film, which was deemed "elegant" but was never made. At this time, Denis O'Dell, a producer working for the Beatles, expressed interest in making a "musical multimedia extraveganza" starring the band members, with David Lean tipped to direct. With Lean busy on "Ryan's Daughter", it passed to Stanley Kubrick (who deemd it "unfilmable") and Antonioni, to no avail. In 1969, with the full rights now in their disposal, UA commissioned John Boorman to write a new script, but by the time he completed his rough draft in 1970, it was deemed too costly.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Previous Adaptations
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Previous attempts
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 (film series) | Introduction
Render time refers to the amount of time it took the computer to process the image into a usable format; it does not include the amount of time it took the texture artists to "draw" the frame. The hair dynamics of CG Gollum in "The Two Towers" were generated using Maya Cloth. Because of its technical limitations, Weta subsequently moved to the Syflex system for "The Return of the King".
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Animation and computer graphics effects
Amazon Studios wanted to produce the series themselves, so Warner Bros. Television would not be involved in the project, with Amazon instead working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema. New Line, the Warner Bros. division who produced the films, was included in the deal due to the potential for the series to use material from the films. The series is a prequel to the events of "The Lord of the Rings", depicting "previously unexplored stories" based on Tolkien's works, with some creative restrictions imposed on the series by the Tolkien Estate. The deal stipulated that production on the series begin within two years.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Deal and announcement
20,000 New Zealand cricket fans provided the sound of the Uruk-hai army in "The Two Towers", with Jackson acting as conductor during the innings break of a one-day international cricket match between England and New Zealand at Westpac Stadium. They spent time recording sounds in a graveyard at night, and also had construction workers drop stone blocks for the sounds of boulders firing and landing in "The Return of the King". Mixing took place between August and November at "The Film Mix", before Jackson commissioned the building of a new studio in 2003. The building, however, had not yet been fully completed when they started mixing for "The Return of the King".
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Sound
Sound technicians spent the early part of each year trying to find the right sounds. Some, such as animal sounds like those of tigers and walruses, were bought. Human voices were also used. Fran Walsh contributed to the Nazgûl scream and David Farmer the Warg howls. Other sounds were unexpected: the fell beast's screech is taken from that of a donkey, and the mûmakil's bellow comes from the beginning and end of a lion's roar. In addition, ADR was used for most of the dialogue. The technicians worked with New Zealand locals to get many of the sounds. They re-recorded sounds in abandoned tunnels for an echo-like effect in the Moria sequence.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Sound
Jackson initially intended to have all three films edited at once by himself and editor Jamie Selkirk. This soon proved too ambitious, and Selkirk (who continued to act as the supervising editor) hired a different editor for the first two films: John Gilbert, who worked some reels to be shown to distributors during the shoot, would edit the first film, while Michael J. Horton and Jabez Olssen on the second. Selkirk and Annie Collins edited the third. Initially, they were all intended to cut them simultaneously, but after a month, overseeing three edits became too much for Jackson, and he focused on editing the first film, while the other editors created assemblies of the other films.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Editing
Peter Lyon also forged swords, each taking from three to six days, creating spring steel "hero" swords for close-ups, aluminum fight swords and rubber versions, too. Weta also created 10,000 real arrows and 500 bows. Howe even created a less crude type of crossbow, intended for the Uruk-hai while requiring no external tools to rearm, based on a 16th-century manuscript. Weta created numerous pieces of prosthetics and continually monitored them on set. They created 1,800 Orc body suits to go with 10,000 Orc heads, lasting six days and one day respectively. Weta also spent a year creating hobbit feet that would look like large, furry feet yet act as shoes for the actors.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Weta Workshop
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Production
Thereafter, no official "The Lord of the Rings" titles were released until the making of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy for New Line Cinema in 2001–2003, which brought the story to the mass market. Electronic Arts obtained the licences for the three films, while Vivendi Games obtained the licence to produce games based on the books from Tolkien Enterprises. This gave rise to an unusual situation: Electronic Arts produced no adaptation of "The Fellowship of the Ring", but produced adaptations named (which covered events of both the first two films) and , whereas Vivendi only produced a game covering the first volume of Tolkien's work, .
Middle-earth in video games | Film trilogy revival (2001-2009)
Producer Mark Ordesky, the executive producer of "The Lord of the Rings", planned to return to supervise the prequels. Jackson explained he chose not to direct because it would have been unsatisfying to compete with his previous films. In February 2008, the Tolkien Estate (through The Tolkien Trust, a British charity) and HarperCollins Publishers filed a suit against New Line for breach of contract and fraud and demanded $220 million in compensation for "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The suit claimed New Line had only paid the Estate an upfront fee of $62,500, despite the trilogy's gross of an estimated $6 billion worldwide from box office receipts and merchandise sales.
The Hobbit (film series) | First stages of development
Dickson decided to give the Hobbits shorts due to their bare feet, and specifically worked on long sleeves for the Elves for a gliding impression. Dickson also took great pains to distinguish the colors worn by the Gondorians (silver and black) and the Rohirrim (brown and green).
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Costumes
Two hundred and fifty suits were also made for the Rohirrim. The designs for Rohan were based on Germanic and Anglo-Saxon patterns, with most of the weapons designed by John Howe and forged by Peter Lyon. Each sword took 3 to 6 days to make.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Production design
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Pitch to Miramax
Jackson won the rights to film Tolkien's epic in 1997 after meeting with producer Saul Zaentz. Originally working with Miramax Films towards a two-film production, Jackson was later pressured to render the story as a single film, and finally overcame a tight deadline by making a last-minute deal with New Line, who were keen on a trilogy. Principal photography stretched from 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000 with extensive location filming across New Zealand. With the benefit of extended post-production and extra periods of shooting before each film's release, the series met with huge success and sent Jackson's popularity soaring.
Peter Jackson | "The Lord of the Rings"
The Cirith Ungol stair ledge was built as a wet weather set on a squash court in a hotel in Queenstown. On 24 November 1999, Sean Astin's close-ups on the Cirith Ungol set were shot in what became the first shots to be filmed for "The Return of the King". Andy Serkis (Gollum) had not yet been cast. The set remained standing on the squash court and it was not until a year later, on 30 November 2000, that Elijah Wood's first close-ups were shot on the same ledge. This would become a general failsafe measure if the weather disrupted the shooting schedule.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Late 1999
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Previous attempts
While the Hobbit leads had scenes in Hobbiton interiors and Rivendell exteriors in Kaitoke Park with new arrival Ian Holm, Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies filmed scenes involving the Rohirrim countryside. Mortensen broke his toe kicking an Orc helmet on camera, Bloom fell off his horse and broke a rib, and Rhys-Davies' scale double Brett Beattie dislocated his knee. They spent two days injured during the "orc hunting" sequence seen in the second film. Soon after, they spent a month of day shoots at Helm's Deep and another three months of night shoots handled by Mahaffie, in Dry Creek Quarry outside of Wellington, during which Mortensen's tooth was knocked out and Bernard Hill was hit on the ear with the flat of a sword.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2000
Large and small scale doubles were used in many other scenes, while entire duplicates of certain sets (including Bag End in Hobbiton) were built at two different scales so that the characters would appear to be the appropriate sizes. At one point in the film, Frodo runs along a corridor in Bag End, followed by Gandalf (played by Ian McKellen). Wood and McKellen were filmed in separate versions of the same corridor, built at two different scales; these two separate shots were then combined to create a shot of both actors appearing to be in the same corridor. Forced perspective was also employed, so that it would look as though the short hobbits were interacting with taller Men and Elves.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Scale
At the end of July, Amazon announced that Payne and McKay would serve as showrunners and executive producers for the series, and revealed the full creative team that was working on the project: executive producers Bayona, Atienza, Bruce Richmond, Gene Kelly, Lindsey Weber, and Sharon Tal Yguado; co-producer Ron Ames; costume designer Kate Hawley; production designer Rick Heinrichs; visual effects supervisor Jason Smith; and illustrator/concept artist John Howe, who was one of the chief conceptual designers on the films. Additionally, Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey was revealed to be working on the series, though he was believed to no longer be involved in the project by April 2020.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Creative team
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Previous attempts
Principal photography for "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy was conducted concurrently in New Zealand for 438 days from 11 October 1999 through 22 December 2000. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The trilogy was shot at over 150 different locations, with seven different units shooting, as well as at soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. Jackson directed the whole production, while other unit directors included Alun Bollinger, John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osborne and Rick Porras. Jackson monitored these units with live satellite feeds, and with the added pressure of constant script re-writes and the multiple units handling his vision, he only got around four hours of sleep a night.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Filming
During Bilbo's birthday party speech, the polystyrene birthday cake with 111 (not confirmed if there really were 111) candles was actually on fire, but everyone kept acting while some of the crew tried to put it out. A similar instance of things occurring that were not in the script was Ian McKellen knocking his head painfully on a beam inside Bag End, but he kept acting through it.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Art design
Some of their famous images of Bag End, Orthanc, Helm's Deep, the Black Gate, and John Howe's Gandalf and the Balrog made it into the film. The last one inspired the opening sequence of "The Two Towers". Jackson sometimes replicated some shots from famous Tolkien illustrations as a nod to fans. Lee worked on designs for architecture, the first being Helm's Deep, as well as the Elven realms, Moria, Edoras, and Minas Tirith, and although Howe primarily designed armour and the forces of evil (see below), he contributed to the design of Bag End, Minas Morgul, Cirith Ungol and Barad-dûr.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Art design
Pick-up shoots were conducted from 2001 to 2003 for six weeks every year to refine each film's edit. For the first two films, the cast and crew often returned to sets; for the third, they had to shoot around the clock in a car park full of set parts. Pick-ups provided a chance for cast and crew to meet in person again, and during "The Two Towers" pick-ups, Sean Astin directed a short film entitled "The Long and Short of It". Notable scenes filmed in the pick-ups include the flashback with Boromir (where he is sent to Rivendell by his father Denethor) featured in "The Two Towers" Extended Edition, as well as the re-shot Witch-king scenes with his new helmet design, the improved Orc designs and the new character of Gothmog, and a re-shoot of Aragorn and Arwen kissing at the coronation scene, all for "The Return of the King".
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2001–2004: Pick-ups
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Pitch to Miramax
The Pelennor Fields scene also contains "multi-body agents" in the form of a 5 × 5 grid of Orcs. While Jackson insisted on generally using miniatures, sometimes shots would get too difficult for that, primarily with the digital characters. Sometimes natural elements like cloud, dust and fire (which was used as the electronic data for the Wraithworld scenes and the Balrog) would be composited, and natural environments were composited to create the Pelennor Fields. To give a "painterly" look to the films, cinematographer Peter Doyle worked on every scene within the computer to strengthen colours and add extra mood and tone to the proceedings.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Software
Jackson described the production as the world's largest home movie, due to the independence and sense of family. Producer Barrie Osborne saw it as a travelling circus. Fran Walsh described writing the script for the production as laying the track down in front of a moving train. Jackson also described shooting as like organizing an army, with 2,400 people involved at the height of production. Due to the remoteness of some of New Zealand's untamed landscapes, the crew carried survival kits in case helicopters could not reach the locations to bring them home in time.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Filming
The music for the series turned out to be a success and 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.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Music
A limited collector edition was created by Fantasy Records as a picture disc double LP featuring four scenes: The Hobbits leaving Hobbiton, The Ringwraiths at Bree, Gandalf and the Balrog, Journey with the Orcs. In 2001, the album was reissued on compact disc, with bonus tracks.
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) | Music
This would make it the most expensive television series ever. Payne and McKay were hired to develop the series in July 2018, with the rest of the creative team confirmed a year later. Casting took place around the world, with Robert Aramayo leading a large cast of series regulars. Filming began in February 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand, after negotiations between Amazon and the New Zealand government ensured the series could be produced in the country where the film trilogy was made. Production was placed on hold in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed in September. "The Lord of the Rings" is expected to premiere on Prime Video in 2021.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Introduction
Weta coined the term "bigature" for the 72 large miniatures produced for the film, in reference to their extreme size. Out of around six of the shooting crews, there was one specifically devoted to filming on the miniatures, working continuously for years until the end of "The Return of the King". Such miniatures include the 1:4 scale for Helm's Deep, which alongside Khazad-dûm and Osgiliath, was one of the first built. Most sets were constructed to allow compositing with the models and matte paintings, and also built in sections to make them easier to travel with, as the miniatures were not built in the studio where they would later be shot.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Miniatures
More than 48,000 items were created for this trilogy alone, including completely specialized weapons, intricate miniature sets, and extremely lifelike prosthetic body parts. Two hundred and sixty visual effects artists started out on the trilogy; the number had more than doubled by the series' end. Led by acclaimed veterans and talented amateurs alike, the crews within each division would work overnight to produce special effects within short spaces of time to accommodate Jackson's active imagination.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Special effects
Each of these "bigatures" were required to have an extreme amount of detail, as the cameras were filming within inches of the masterpieces in hopes of using cinematography to make the sets look as realistic as possible. Notable examples include the Argonath, Minas Tirith, the tower and caverns of Isengard, Barad-dûr, the trees of Lothlórien and Fangorn Forest and the Black Gate. Alex Funke led the motion control camera rigs, and John Baster and Mary Maclahlan led the building of the miniatures. The miniatures unit worked more than any other special effects crew, labouring for over 1,000 days.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Miniatures
Interest in "The Lord of the Rings" led to several attempts to adapt it for the film medium, most of which were largely unsuccessful. Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi succeeded in securing the rights to produce an animated feature film version, part one of what was originally planned as a two-part adaptation of the story. Bakshi produced the film using, among other animation techniques, rotoscoping, shooting a majority of the film in live-action first before transferring the live footage to animation. While the film had, and continues to have, a mixed critical reaction, it was a financial success, costing USD 8 million to produce, and grossing over USD 30 million at the box office.
Tolkien fandom | 1970s to 1980s
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Box office
Now Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to write three new scripts. The expansion to three films allowed much more creative freedom, although Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to restructure their script accordingly. The three films do not correspond exactly to the trilogy's three volumes, but rather represent a three-part adaptation. Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story than did Tolkien. Frodo's quest is the main focus, and Aragorn is the main sub-plot. The filmmakers also consulted Tolkien's biography, letters and scholary books written on his works. They spoke with Tolkien's Estate, who decided to distance themselves from the films.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | The Move to "New Line"
Weinstein asked Jackson to press on with adapting "The Lord of the Rings". Ultimately, "The Lord of the Rings" was produced by New Line Cinema, not the Weinsteins, and their rights to film "The Hobbit" were set to expire in 2010. In September 2006, the new ownership and management of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer expressed interest in teaming up with New Line and Jackson to make "The Hobbit". In March 2005, Jackson launched a lawsuit against New Line, claiming he had lost revenue from merchandising, video and computer games releases associated with "". He did not seek a specific settlement, but requested an audit to see whether New Line had withheld money owed him.
The Hobbit (film series) | First stages of development
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Production
"The Two Towers" was always acknowledged by the crew as the most difficult film to make, as "it had no beginning or end", and had the additional problem of inter-cutting storylines appropriately. Jackson even continued editing the film when that part of the schedule officially ended, resulting in some scenes, including the reforging of Andúril, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's demise, being moved to "The Return of the King". Later, Saruman's demise was cut from the theatrical edition (but included in the extended edition) when Jackson felt it was not starting the third film effectively enough. As with all parts of the third film's post-production, editing was very chaotic.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Editing
The script by Brian Sibley and Michael Bakewell attempts to be as faithful as possible to the original novel, but there are some errors and alterations. They include:
The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series) | Discrepancies with the novel
[[File:Sir Peter Jackson.jpg|thumb|[[Peter Jackson]], director of six Tolkien adaptations, at the site of filming of "[[Hobbiton]]" for his [[The Hobbit (film series)|"The Hobbit" trilogy]]]] In the early 1970s [[John Boorman]] planned a film of "The Lord of the Rings", but the plans never went further. Some of the work done was resurrected for the film "[[Excalibur (film)|Excalibur]]" in 1981. [[Ralph Bakshi]] directed an animated movie adaptation of "[[The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)|The Lord of the Rings]]" in 1978 (partly made with the [[rotoscope]] technique), which covered only the first half of "The Lord of the Rings". [[Rankin-Bass]] covered the second half with a children's TV animation "[[The Return of the King (1980 movie)|The Return of the King]]" (1980); earlier they had made a TV animation of "[[The Hobbit (1977 film)|The Hobbit]]" (1977).
Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien | Film
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Industry response
Since "Heavenly Creatures", Jackson was in a contract with Miramax. While he and his lawyer were unsure whether he was contractually obligated to bring his pitch to Miramax first, Jackson decided to do so out of courtesy, only to realize upon calling Harvey Weinstein that he had recently rescued Zaentz' production of "The English Patient", and could therefore leverage the rights from him. Jackson realized it would take multiple films to adapt the books properly, but pitched a single trilogy: one film based on "The Hobbit" and, if that were to prove successful, a two-part adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", shot back-to-back and released six months apart.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Early Development
"The Lord of the Rings" was adapted as a [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|trilogy of films]] (2001–2003), directed by [[Peter Jackson]]. "The Hobbit" was adapted as a [[The Hobbit (film series)|trilogy]] (2012–14), with some elements adapted from "The Return of the King"'s Appendices, resulting in noticeable divergences with the novel.
Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien | Film
The name changes correspond to the companies which owned the rights at different times.
The Lord of the Rings (1979 radio series) | Introduction
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.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Production
This gave the series the option to film the first two seasons back-to-back as the "Lord of the Rings" films had been.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Seasons
A Christmas break and Millennium celebrations followed, and filming resumed on 17 January. Ian McKellen, fresh from filming "X-Men", arrived to film scenes in Hobbiton and the Grey Havens. McKellen did not become that close to the lead Hobbit actors, as he generally worked with their scale doubles, but when Christopher Lee arrived in February, they became very friendly. Shooting the fight sequence in the Orthanc interiors, without air conditioning (for atmosphere) but with heavy wigs and robes, was described by the actors as "murder". The Grey Havens sequence, which takes place at the end of "The Return of the King", was shot three times due to Sean Astin forgetting his vest after lunch and, then, an out-of-focus camera.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2000
Another problem was that the crew realized that the cast performed better in the versions of the film with Serkis. In the end, the CG Gollum was often animated on top of these scenes and Serkis would be painted out. Due to Gollum's not being human, shots such as him crawling down a sheer cliff were shot with no live reference. Serkis also did motion-capture for the character which would drive the body of the model, whilst animators did all fingers and facial animation. Gino Acevedo supervised realistic skin tones, which for the first time used subsurface scattering shader, taking four hours per frame to render.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Animation and computer graphics effects
Théoden's last scene was re-shot just after Bernard Hill finished his scenes; Hill was still in New Zealand. Andy Serkis also had to re-shoot a Mount Doom scene in Jackson's house during post-production. The final and only pick-up in 2004 was a series of shots of falling skulls in "The Return of the King" as part of an extended Paths of the Dead scene. Jackson joked that "it's nice to win an Oscar before you've even finished the film".
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | 2001–2004: Pick-ups
On Wood and the second Cirith Ungol shoot, Peter Jackson stated, "A year later, we were back in the squash court, and this time the heat was on Elijah. He had to get his head back into a scene that had been half-filmed so long ago. He knew that he had to deliver a performance that matched the emotion of Sean's takes, and that he did to perfection". After this scene, when the flood ended, it was during this time that shooting became focused on the battle of Amon Hen. Sean Bean began filming in November for most of his scenes.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Late 1999
At one point, video from the film was used in the episode, but it was taken out.
The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers | Production
While writing the treatment, Jackson considered doing three films and "shaped our treatment into three parts" before Miramax rejected the idea. Between the synopsis and the treatment, Jackson decided to cut Gildor, Crickhollow, the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, the Barrow Wights, Bill Ferney, Radagast, Lothlorien and Ghan-Buri-Ghan. The final treatment divides the story into two parts: "The Fellowship of the Ring" (which covered the aponymous novel but also "The Two Towers") and "The War of the Ring." The first opens immediately with the Battle of the Last Alliance (in what Jackson called a "James Bond" opening) and ends with Saruman's death, and Gandalf and Pippin (the latter having looked into the Palantir) going to Minas Tirith.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Pre-Production for Miramax
The film was originally re-created.
The Legend of King Naresuan: The Series | Production About Movie
A shortened version opened in London, United Kingdom, in the summer of 2007.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Effects on the film industry and tourism
Instead, his major artistic influences on the film were classical illustrators such as Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth.
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) | Directing
Filming was set to begin on the series in "the coming months", with some locations still being discussed according to ATEED. Payne and McKay explained that in choosing the series' primary location, they and the production team had needed "somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains" that could also meet the production requirements of the series.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Production locations
New Line produced "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy which became their most successful films to date, grossing over $2.9 billion worldwide. The films were nominated for 30 Academy Awards, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture for each film, and won 17, with the final picture, "" (2003) winning a (joint) record eleven, including Best Picture, as well as being the second highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release. Despite the success of "The Lord of the Rings" films, "Town and Country" (2001) generated a loss of $100 million and De Luca left as production head to be replaced by Toby Emmerich.
New Line Cinema | "The Lord of the Rings"
The design of the trilogy began in August 1997 during storyboarding. Jackson himself wanted a gritty realism and historical regard for the fantasy, repeatedly citing the 1995 historical epic "Braveheart" as a good example:"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".In November 1997, famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project. Up until then, concept artists had primarily been influenced by "Dungeons & Dragons" in their designs.
Production of The Lord of the Rings film series | Art design
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 Lord of the Rings (film series) | "The Hobbit" prequel trilogy
The film is notable for its extensive use of rotoscoping, a technique in which scenes are first shot in live-action, then traced onto animation cels. It uses a hybrid of traditional cel animation and rotoscoped live action footage. The film features the voices of William Squire, John Hurt, Michael Graham Cox, and Anthony Daniels, and was one of the first animated films to be presented theatrically in the Dolby Stereo sound system. The screenplay was written by Peter S. Beagle, based on an earlier draft by Chris Conkling. Although Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" was a financial success, it received mixed reactions from critics, and there was no official sequel to cover the remainder of the story.
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) | Introduction
The game was first announced on May 15, 2001, with publishers Sierra On-Line revealing it would be an Xbox exclusive title, developed by WXP Games, with some non-gameplay pre-rendered cutscenes to be made available at the upcoming E3 event. Sierra were keen to emphasize the game would be based wholly on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954 novel "The Fellowship of the Ring", and would have no connection to the upcoming Peter Jackson directed of the novel. This was because Vivendi Universal Games, Sierra's holding company, owned the rights to video game adaptations of Tolkien's literary works, but Electronic Arts owned the rights to the video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema film series.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game) | Development
Filmmaker Ralph Bakshi was introduced to the work of J. R. R. Tolkien by a director at Terrytoons in 1956. In 1957, he started trying to obtain the rights by convincing producers that the books could be animated, and developing his own Tolkien-esque fantasy film "in the American idiom" which would become "Wizards". When he learned of Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, eventuall proposing that United Artists produce "The Lord of the Rings" as two or three animated films, and a "Hobbit" prequel. Medavoy offered him Boorman's script, which Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his script would have made for a cheap film like "a Roger Corman film".
Middle-earth in film | Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings"
J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", sold the film, stage and merchandising rights of those works to United Artists in 1968, who in turn sold them to The Saul Zaentz Company in 1976, which licenses them through the former Tolkien Enterprises, now "Middle-earth Enterprises". United Artists retained distribution rights. In 1977, Rankin/Bass licensed the rights to produce an animated version of "The Hobbit", which was broadcast on NBC. In 1978, Tolkien Enterprises and the distributor United Artists funded and released an animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" directed by Ralph Bakshi, which covered approximately the first half of the Lord of the Rings.
Middle-earth Enterprises | Background and history
New Line Cinema released the first part of director Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film series in 2001 as part of a trilogy and several actors and roles were introduced once again in a trilogy in "The Hobbit" film series. In 2017, Amazon co-operated with New Line to acquire the television rights to adapt a new prequel show set in a period glimpsed during a flashback in "The Lord of the Rings" films.
Middle-earth in film | Introduction
The following is a list of cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the extended version of the films.
The Lord of the Rings (film series) | Cast
The film was produced by the RVQ Productions, a production owned by Dolphy himself.
Enteng the Dragon | Production
Around 10 percent of the series' crew were believed to be non-New Zealanders, and many of them had remained in the country during its pandemic lockdown and did not require exemptions. Pre-production on further episodes began by July 2020, and filming on the series resumed on September 28.
The Lord of the Rings (TV series) | Filming