The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a New Line Cinema film directed by Peter Jackson released on December 17 2003. An unprecedented triumph with both critics and moviegoers, The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King went on to sweep all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as becoming the second highest grossing movie worldwide of all time behind only Titanic.It is widely considered the 'crowning jewel' of the The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King has repeatedly been voted by users of the Internet Movie Database as one of the greatest movies ever made, and is constantly in their Top 5 Movies of all time (currently at #4). [http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

The theatrical cut's runtime is 200 minutes. It is the concluding part of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring (film) and The Two Towers (film). It was adapted from parts of the last two volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic literary fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson. It was the 76th film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year. It was followed by a 2003 video game, The Return of the King (video game).

Cast

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Role	Actor
Frodo Baggins	Elijah Wood
Gandalf the White	Ian McKellen
Aragorn (Strider)	Viggo Mortensen
Samwise Gamgee (Sam)	Sean Astin
Galadriel	Cate Blanchett
Théoden	Bernard Hill
Éowyn	Miranda Otto
Éomer	Karl Urban
Gimli son of Glóin	John Rhys-Davies
Treebeard	John Rhys-Davies (voice)
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry)	Dominic Monaghan
Peregrin Took (Pippin)	Billy Boyd
Legolas	Orlando Bloom
Elrond	Hugo Weaving
Arwen Evenstar	Liv Tyler
Bilbo Baggins	Ian Holm
Gollum	Andy Serkis (voice and motion capture)
Denethor	John Noble
Faramir	David Wenham
Rose "Rosie" Cotton	Sarah McLeod
The Witch-king of Angmar (Lord of the Nazgûl)	Lawrence Makoare (voiced by Andy Serkis)
Gothmog	Lawrence Makoare
Saruman the White (Extended version only)	Christopher Lee
The Mouth of Sauron (Extended version only)	Bruce Spence
Gríma Wormtongue (Extended version only)	Brad Dourif

Synopsis

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While Frodo and Sam continue their journey to Mount Doom in order to destroy the One Ring, their companion, Gollum, secretly plans to take it for himself. Meanwhile, Sauron's dark forces mount an unprecedented attack, culminating in the massive Battle of the Pelennor Fields on the outskirts of Minas Tirith. The other surviving members of the Fellowship join forces with Rohan and Gondor to defeat them. However, Aragorn realises that their numbers are few by comparison with the might of Sauron, and he, Legolas and Gimli undertake a perilous expedition to enlist the aid of the King of the Dead and his spectral army.

Background

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The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is unusual in that it is, to date, the only one whose separate installments were written and then shot simultaneously (excluding pick up shots). Not only did this help cut production costs, but it also ensured that all three films were consistent in terms of story, acting, effects, cinematography, and direction. Many of the cast and crew members repeatedly describe the three films as more "parts of one big movie" than three separate episodes in the story.

Closing the Trilogy

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In his final, emaciated form, Gollum is "played" in the Lord of the Rings films by a CGI character whose movements are at times derived from a motion-capture suit worn by Andy Serkis, and otherwise from footage of him interacting with the other actors that was digitally replaced. But the final film in the trilogy afforded Andy the chance to appear in person in a flashback scene playing Sméagol before his degradation into Gollum. Co-screenwriter Fran Walsh directed the scene, as Peter Jackson was unavailable.

The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is seen fully in this film. The filmmakers took great care to base its design closely upon Tolkien's original description. Close-ups of the city were represented by sets and long shots by the most detailed miniature built for the trilogy, often populated by CGI characters.

Other key events include the Siege of Gondor; the re-forging of the shards of Narsil into Aragorn's new sword, Andúril; Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas' journey through the Paths of the Dead; the epic Battle of the Pelennor Fields featuring the charge of the mûmakil (everything being carefully choreographed in advance, a process Jackson describes as like planning a real battle); Merry and Éowyn's role in the defeat of the Lord of the Nazgûl; the destruction of the One Ring and the final fall of Sauron; Aragorn's assumption of the throne; and the departure of several of the heroes to the Undying Lands.

DVD releases

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Theatrical Edition

The theatrical edition of the movie was released on DVD on May 25, 2004. The DVD was a 2-disc set with extras on the second disc. The theatrical DVD sets for the two prequels were released eight months after the films were released, but Return of the King's set was completed in five because it did not have to market a sequel (the previous films had to wait for footage of their sequels to become available for a ten minute preview).

Extended Edition

The Return of the King did follow the precedent set by its prequels by releasing an Extended Edition (250 minutes) with new editing, and added special effects and music, along with four commentaries and hours of supplementary material. However, this set took longer to produce than the others because the cast and crew were spread all over the world working on other projects. The set was finally released on December 10 2004 in the UK and December 14 in the U.S.. The final ten minutes comprises a listing of the charter members of the official fan club who had paid for three-year charter membership. A collectors' box set was also released, which included the Extended Set plus a sculpture of Minas Tirith and a bonus 50-minute music documentary DVD, Howard Shore: Creating The Lord of the Rings Symphony: A Composer's Journey Through Middle-earth.

Controversy

According to British newspaper reports appearing on November 13, 2003, Christopher Lee was unhappy to learn that a seven-minute scene featuring a confrontation at Isengard, in which Gandalf casts Saruman out of the order of Wizards, would not be appearing in the theatrical cut, and that he had decided to boycott the premiere as a result. However, this was later refuted by Lee, according to Maxim magazine, apparently stating:

"No, I didn't boycott it. That is totally untrue. I said, 'I don't suppose I'd be going to the film. What would be the point?' Boycotting originally comes from the name of an Englishman, Charles Boycott — it's like a condemnation. That's total nonsense, and I've got to set the record straight."

The scene appears in full in the Extended Edition, and Christopher Lee contributed to the behind-the-scenes documentaries and cast commentary contained on them.

Additional scenes

Most of the lines Legolas says in the Extended Edition scene of the Paths of the Dead are direct quotes from the book. For the Special Extended Edition, the scene in which Pippin is looking for Merry after the battle on Pelennor Fields was digitally altered so that it appears to be night instead of day. According to Peter Jackson on the commentary track, this was done to make it appear that Pippin has been looking for hours instead of minutes, underlining the friendship between the two Hobbits.

Easter Eggs

On the Extended Edition DVD, Disc 1, as per the first two movies, go to the scene selection menu, to the last page. Press down until a ring icon appears next to the "new scene" phrase; Up comes a satellite "interview" of Elijah Wood, given by Dominic Monaghan using a German accent. Do the same thing on disc 2 to uncover an MTV skit featuring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn pitching LOTR sequels to Peter Jackson.

The Future

Fans also hoped that the extended discs would feature deleted scenes and outtakes, but none are included except for a few in the behind-the-scenes documentaries. There are further rumours of an even more spectacular Lord of the Rings Trilogy box set in the future, and Jackson has half-seriously mentioned the possibility of re-editing the trilogy into a TV miniseries, along the lines of the Godfather movies.

Deviations from the source material

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• This film contains major scenes that occurred in the middle portion of the novel The Lord of the Rings but were not included in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. These include the moment when the monstrous Shelob attacks Frodo and is wounded by Sam. In the book, Sam accompanies Frodo through the tunnel to encounter the giant arachnid, but the film depicts a different version of events.

• In the book, the fall of Saruman takes place near the end of the story, but in the film's theatrical release Saruman is left trapped in the tower of Orthanc by the Ents. In the extended edition Saruman appears on the roof of Orthanc bearing a palantír and taunts Gandalf and his company with hints of a darkness in the heart of Middle-earth which will destroy them (This is apparently a reference to Denethor's madness). Saruman is finally stabbed to death by Gríma Wormtongue (which in the book occurs at the end of the Scouring of the Shire) and Gríma is shot by Legolas (in the book he is shot by hobbit archers). Saruman falls from the tower and is impaled on a wooden stake projecting from a mill-wheel. (This is an homage to Lee's Dracula movies: Peter Jackson wanted to be the last director to drive a stake through his heart.) The palantír then falls into the water where it is found by Pippin. (In the theatrical version there is no explanation as to how it got there.) In the book Gríma simply throws the palantír at the company, not realising its value.

• Elrond travels to visit Aragorn in Dunharrow in the film, whereas this never happens in the book. Fellow Rangers of the North and Elrond's sons, Elladan and Elrohir do this. According to the DVD commentary, the writers felt they would have to spend too much time establishing these characters.

• A subplot involving Arwen dying is introduced, more or less a complete invention of the film writers. She apparently becomes sick with grief, possibly over Aragorn's seemingly hopeless cause and his impending death — soon after she rides back from the road to the Grey Havens. Elrond tells Aragorn at Dunharrow that her fate has become "bound with the Ring", and that she is dying. Later, after the Ring is destroyed, Arwen shows up at Aragorn's coronation looking no worse for wear. (In the book, she dies - more accurately, gives up her life - after King Elessar's actual death many years later, since she had given up her Elven immortality to be with him. This is only covered in one of the Appendices, not in the main body of the novel.)

• The "blade that was broken" is reforged in this film (the third in the trilogy) whereas it happens in the first of the three books. Peter Jackson said he thought of this moment as the time Aragorn finally overcomes his self-doubt and truly accepts the idea of being King. This element of self-doubt is not present in Tolkien's novel, where Aragorn intends to claim the throne at an appropriate time, ever since Elrond revealed his heritage to him. The films changed Aragorn's character to one of a "reluctant hero" because of a perceived need for an expanded character arc.

• Many readers felt that Denethor appeared as a one-dimensional foil for Gandalf as opposed to the complex tragic character of the book. Peter Jackson explained that he could not introduce a more complex character this late in the trilogy.

• In the book, Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead with not only Gimli and Legolas, but his kinsmen and the sons of Elrond. In the film, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli go alone.

• Sam and Frodo have a major rift in their friendship in the film, due to Gollum's machinations. In the book, nothing of the sort happens. Mark Ordesky said that he lived in fear that this would leak out before the film was released and people would judge the change before seeing how it worked in the film.

• Gandalf's staff is broken in the Extended Edition of the film, during his confrontation with the Witch-king. In the book the Witch-king withdrew to deal with the arrival of the Rohirrim prior to any hostile action between himself and Gandalf.

• The Army of the Dead does help Aragorn in the book, but it does not clear out Minas Tirith and the surrounding area for our heroes as in the film; Aragorn uses the Dead Army to defeat the invasion force of Corsairs of Umbar which Sauron has sent to attack southern Gondor. This Corsair invasion force had tied up the southern half of Gondor's armies, preventing them from reinforcing Minas Tirith. In the books, once the Corsairs are defeated by the Dead, Aragorn lets them depart, and the southern army of Gondor rallies to Aragorn, who proceeds to lead them on the captured Corsair ships to Minas Tirith. The chief (and perhaps only) weapon of the Dead is fear, not physical weapons like swords or spears. Also, they are grey, not green, and meet with Aragorn at the Stone of Erech, not in a Petra-like ghostly city. They even appear eager to fufill their oath, whereas in the film they attack the heroes.

• Gollum's fall into the lava of Mount Doom was rewritten for the film, as the writers felt Tolkien's original idea (Gollum simply slips and falls off) anticlimactic. After Gollum bites off his finger and seizes the Ring, Frodo gets up and struggles with him. Both go over the edge, but Frodo clings on to be rescued by Sam whereas Gollum falls (taking the Ring with him). Originally, an even greater deviation was planned: Frodo would heroically push Gollum over the ledge to destroy him and the Ring. However, the production team eventually realized (as many fans had complained when they first heard rumors of this) that it looked more like Frodo murdering Gollum. As a result, they had Frodo and Gollum struggle for possession of the Ring, but this results in them both accidentally falling over the ledge and destroying the Ring, which is more or less consistent with the theme of the scene in the book: the destruction of the Ring was ultimately due to fate, or rather, the hold of the Ring over Frodo was so great that he could no longer destroy it by the time he came to Mount Doom, but it was his pity for Gollum, deciding to let him live in The Two Towers, which ultimately resulted in the Ring being destroyed and the salvation of Middle-earth. Others feel that the extended fighting blurred the theme of fate, which was quite clear in the book.

• The hobbits' journey home is not included in the film. Instead, Frodo merely narrates over a trawl of the map of Middle-earth, covering the previous locations in the trilogy.

• A sequence that only appears in the film trilogy as a fantasy look into the future (via Galadriel's mirror) is the "Scouring of the Shire", in which the hobbits return home at the end of their quest to find their home overrun by evil forces. In the book this is the reality. According to Fran Walsh, "Scouring" doesn't appear in the film this way for two reasons: firstly, it was felt it would disrupt the pacing of the film, and secondly, the writers wanted the film to be about Sauron, the Lord of the Rings, and have his downfall be the climax (instead of focusing on the hobbits, as Tolkien ultimately does).

• After taking Osgiliath, Gothmog of Minas Morgul (here an Orc) says, "The Age of Men is over; the time of the Orc has come!" Actually, the "Age of Men" has not even started yet, since the term refers to the Fourth Age. The statement could, of course, be taken as simply an idle boast (or Orkish pep-talk), not as an accurate description of how Middle-earth "ages" work.

Score

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The music was by Howard Shore, who had previously composed for the first two parts of the trilogy. He received an Academy Award for his work on this film, having won previously for his Fellowship of the Ring score. The end title song, "Into the West", was composed by Shore with lyrics by Fran Walsh. Annie Lennox (formerly of Eurythmics) performed it and also received songwriting credit. The song was partially inspired by the premature death from cancer of a young New Zealand filmmaker named Cameron Duncan whose work had impressed Peter Jackson.

Success

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After two years of attention and acclaim since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring (film), audience anticipation for the final installment of the trilogy had reached fever pitch when the movie was complete. The world premiere was held in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 1 2003, and was attended by the director and many of the stars. It was estimated that over 100,000 people lined the streetsBBC News: How hobbits took over NZ's capital (more than a quarter of the city's population).

As with its predecessors, the film was released to the public the third Wednesday of December. New Line Cinema reported that the film's first day saw a U.S. box office total of $34.5 million — an all-time single-day record for a motion picture released on a Wednesday (until Spider-Man 2 grossed $40.4 million). This was nearly twice the first-day total of The Fellowship of the Ring (film) (which earned $18.2 million on its opening day in 2001), and a significant increase over The Two Towers (film) as well (which earned $26.1 million on its debut in 2002).

The final North American box office stands at $377,027,325, and the worldwide take is $1,118,888,979 (about $741 million overseas). It was the second film in history to earn over $1 billion in box office revenue in its initial release (the first being Titanic in 1997). This compares favourably to the first two films of the trilogy: in their first 35 weeks of theatrical release in North America, the gross income of the first two movies was $313,364,114 and $339,789,881. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, has helped the Lord of the Rings movie franchise go on to become the highest grossing motion picture trilogy of all time, besting other notables such as the Star Wars trilogies.

These figures do not include income from DVD sales, TV rights, etc. It has been estimatedLord of the Rings revenue statistics on Time Warner that the gross income from non-box office sales and merchandise has been at least equal to the box office for all three films. If this is so, the total gross income for the trilogy would be in the region of $6 billion, a very respectable return for a $300 million ($426 million including marketing costs) investment.

Compared to the profits of other films, The Return of the King is probably the most lucrative movie investment of all time. Including marketing costs, it made a 1408% profit over the original outlay from New Line Studios. Comparatively, The Blair Witch Project (including marketing costs of $25 million) made a profit of 992% and Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time, made a profit of 768% over production and marketing costs.

Awards

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On January 27, 2004, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Make-up, Music (Song), Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. However, none of the ensemble cast received any acting nominations. On February 29, the film won all the categories for which it was nominated. It tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscars ever won by a single film, and broke the previous record for a sweep set by Gigi and The Last Emperor (See Movies with eight or more Oscars). It is also the first Best Picture since 1995's Braveheart to have not recieved any acting nominations. The film was the first in the fantasy film genre to win the Best Picture award. It was also only the second time a sequel (though it is not a sequel in the traditional sense) had won the Best Picture category; the first being The Godfather, Part II. (However, if one counts The Silence of the Lambs as the sequel to Manhunter, then it is the third.) It was also the first time that the third movie in a trilogy has won for Best Picture. In the opinion of some critics, however, this accolade was not just for the merits of the individual film, but more a reward for the trilogy as a whole, given that the first two films had not won the major awards of Best Picture or Best Director.BBC News: Rings scores Oscars clean sweep The film won also four Golden Globes, two MTV Movie Awards, two Grammy Awards, nine Saturn Awards and the Hugo Award.

References

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External links

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