The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King

[Find Your Magali]

I think I spotted jackson's cameo... he is a captain of the mercenary ships when gandalf is describing the evil army to pippin.

I saw that, but wasn't sure if it was him or not.

Meanwhile, I spotted that cute little girl of Jackson's within the first 10 minutes.

She was cute in the first movie, a bit on the overacting side in the second movie and just a bit too obvious in third.

I don't see her getting a nomination.  :P

[MacGuffin]

'Return of King's' opening day: $34M
1st-day gross best of series, 6th best in history

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in $34.1 million domestically on opening day, easily beating the debuts of the fantasy epic's first two installments, distributor New Line Cinema said Thursday.

It was a record debut for a movie opening on Wednesday, surpassing the $28.5 million take for "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" in 1999.

The film also had the sixth-best single-day gross ever, behind "Spider-Man" with $43.6 million and $39.4 million on two different days, "The Matrix Reloaded" with $37.5 million and $34.4 million on two different days, and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with $34.2 million.

Those films ran far shorter than "Return of the King," whose three-hour, 20-minute running time limits the number of screenings theaters can squeeze in each day.

By Sunday, "Return of the King" should have handily passed the $102 million that "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" grossed domestically in its first five days last year.

The film also took in $23.5 million in 19 other countries where it debuted Wednesday, including Great Britain, Germany and France. The movie was opening in about 10 more countries Thursday and Friday and gradually expands to other territories over the next couple of months.

New Line executives hope the final chapter of the saga will ultimately top $1 billion worldwide, becoming the second movie to cross that mark, after "Titanic" with $1.8 billion.

"Everyone wants to have closure and see the last part of the story, so I think we should be able to hit that mark," said Rolf Mittweg, New Line's head of worldwide marketing and distribution. "People are storming to the theaters. All shows have been sold out virtually."

Unlike many sequels, which can lose steam with each successive movie, "The Lord of the Rings" has expanded its audience as the story unfolded.

Part one, "The Fellowship of the Ring," took in $18.2 million domestically on day one in 2001, topping out with a total domestic haul of $314 million and a worldwide tally of $861 million.

The middle chapter, "The Two Towers," opened last year with $26.2 million domestically on its way to a $340 million domestic total and $921 million globally.

The release of "Return of the King" closes a seven-year odyssey to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's mammoth chronicle about an alliance of humans, wizards, elves, dwarves and hobbits aiming to destroy a ring of ultimate power and stop an evil lord from enslaving the mythical land of Middle-earth.

The films were shot simultaneously in New Zealand by relatively untested director Peter Jackson, who had been best known for a series of cult-horror flicks and the acclaimed 1994 drama "Heavenly Creatures," which helped launch Kate Winslet's career.

With about $300 million committed to the production by New Line and other investors, the project was a major risk if the first film flopped. But by the time New Line dazzled critics with 26 minutes of footage at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, the studio knew it had a winner.

"This may have been the biggest gamble in cinema history," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "For New Line, this is a feather in their cap. This is their legacy. To me, it's the strongest intersection of critical acclaim and box-office success in a series of films that I've ever seen."

[Just Withnail]

"If I return, think better of me, father"

If the wrongfully menacing Faramir of the Two Towers theatrical cut wasn't redeemed by the Extended Edition, then this line sure made me feel for him in Return of the King.

What really surpriced me, was how it seemed like the actors had been holding back a bit the last two films, to just let it all pour in this one. In the first two, you never saw Billy Boyd/ Pippin bring forth emotions like he did in the "I saw him!" scene, or Sam really cry over any of Frodo's fake-deaths until he was stung by Shelob. And is it just me, or was Elijah Wood twice as good in ROTK as he was before?

[©brad]

um, how come no one is seeing this? i expected this thread to be 20 pages strong by now.

[Xixax]

Saw it last night. My thoughts have all been expressed here by others.

Slight disappointment, but still pretty in awe of the whole thing.

Too long, tried to do too much in a single film, yadda yadda...

If they'd have cut about an hour and made the extended release contain everything they cut and then the stuff they actually did cut, I think it would have been a better piece.

But still, it was pretty great on its own.

I'd have to say that these three are the greatest films ever made. Not necessarily the best acted, or the best story or what have you, but overall looking at the entire piece from start to finish, collectively I think they're the best work that cinema has ever offered in history. Yes, better than Star Wars anything. Without a doubt.

Seems odd that I would say that about a film that I walked away from feeling like it was just "so-so".

[phil marlowe]

saw it yesterday with sigur ros.  he was sobbing like a little girl by the ending,

[Filmfan-2]

Greatest movie ever made. Period. 8)

[RegularKarate]

Man, I can finally visit this thread.  It was driving me crazy.

Saw it last night... fuckin' A!  What an amazing movie (not the best ever, by far, but an amazing movie none-the-less)

I really need to see it again... my jaw was down throughout the entire last 2/3rds of the film.

Almost everything in this movie was great, so I'm just going to list my disapointments:

SPOILERS

-The Witch Captain or whatever never fought Gandolf.  His deat was amazing, but that dude was sent to kill Gandolf, they never even met.

-The so-fucking-cheezeball ending... I liked parts of it and some of it was necessary, but that slow-mo scene of everyone coming in to see Frodo made me want to vomit a little.  I don't need that many slow motion close ups of Elijah Wood's overacting.

Oh, and some things I noticed:

-The head Orc/Gobblin or whatever that was heading up the battle looked like Sloth from the Goonies and had the voice of Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget.

-During the scene where they were going to burn Faramir, David Wenham was replaced temporarily by Thom Yorke.

[modage]

um, how come no one is seeing this? i expected this thread to be 20 pages strong by now.

me too.  weird.  i'm taking my little brother to see it today so i'll get a second viewing.

[©brad]

i watched two towers this morning, and one thing i noticed that was somewhat off in return of the king was the score. i say this b/c in two towers, during one of the beginning montages w/ aragon, legolas, and gimley running-- the powerful LOTR theme that plays there, well, it was from what i remember completely absent in ROTK! i don't know, maybe i'm being picky but the score didn't have the same effect on me that the other two did. it almost felt like it was rushed and just thrown together at the last minute. i dunno. it's not as big a deal as i've made it out to be.

[rustinglass]

I liked the score specially the theme of the dark tower, I think it played a couple of times during the battle... very pulsating.

[picolas]

not sure if i like this or the first one better..

my qualms with it are the same as the other two (lots of things are strangely adapted from a non-reader of the books pov, i never really got the character of Frodo etc.) with the addition of they SHOULD HAVE CUT AT "i'm happy to be with you, at the end of all things.." had they cut there, i would have liked rotk 107x more. nevertheless, this is an amazing movie. it is, of course, brilliantly made and one of the most exciting of the year.

my favourite parts:
- the rejection
- the shot of the spider coming out of the cave.. sneaking sneakingly..
- the whole giant moment where everyone's getting closed in on into a little circle, and cut to sam and frodo climbing the tallest thing in the world with no food or water or sleep to help them. holy crap.
- the shot of gollum that goes THROUGH the ring
- The Return of the Moth.

[Banky]

i think it should have ended after the bow to the hobbits.


i gotta say though that  i think Fellowhip was the crown of the series

[1976]

I've only seen Part 1.

Are Frodo & Sam a couple of fags or something?

[Gamblour.]

not sure if i like this or the first one better..

my qualms with it are the same as the other two (lots of things are strangely adapted from a non-reader of the books pov, i never really got the character of Frodo etc.) with the addition of they SHOULD HAVE CUT AT "i'm happy to be with you, at the end of all things.." had they cut there, i would have liked rotk 107x more. nevertheless, this is an amazing movie. it is, of course, brilliantly made and one of the most exciting of the year.
...
- the shot of gollum that goes THROUGH the ring

I'm with you as far as kinda wishing for more character and less story, I really wish they let the characters drive the films, which they did, but they're still slaves to the story. And to be honest, I wish Frodo had died, that would've been so tragic and emotionally tearing. But instead he leaves and somehow, thinking back on it, it's sadder that he had to leave his friends behind, being so scarred by the ring. My friend told me that it was supposed to resemble a war veteran completely scarred by combat that he can never appreciate or enjoy the life he led before. Looking at that way is terribly fucking tragic.

And the shot of Gollum through the ring....ahhhh! I love it!