Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Do epics get any better ?

[Still Wynning]

Has anyone seen this?



Pretty disappointing if what he said is the case. As a result of trying to unify the look of the films as much as possible, some of the original quality of the LOTR trilogy was lost. Wonder if this was a mandate enforced by WB to Peter Jackson just to rush a product to be released by Holiday 2020, or if this is genuinely what Peter Jackson wanted to release?

Considering WB’s recent business decisions and past dealings with Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy by screwing other people over (see Lindsay Ellis’ very informative video series on what went down), I would venture towards the former.

 

[Batmannerism]

Scenes like this will never not give me goosebumps. I regret not seeing these movies sooner nowadays.

I posted this recently but will never get bored of it.

Theoden's best speech, actually the best speech in the whole trilogy. One of the best moments in all the films, and there is a lot of competition for that spot.

Yeah. The Rohirrim charge is indeed one of the best moments in a trilogy that's full of moments that are the envy of pretty much every other film series.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah. The Rohirrim charge is indeed one of the best moments in a trilogy that's full of moments that are the envy of pretty much every other film series.

I love the Ringwraith chase of Arwen, the Balrog scene in FOTR and the beginning of TTT and the Helm's Deep defence.

 

[Batmannerism]

Okay, they're replaying LOTR on our TV. Tonight , Fellowship of the Ring .

Have to say that these movies still look amazing and have aged beautifully - considering it was made more than 20 years ago, it's still the gold standard in epic fantasy trilogies.

Soon I'm going to start a thread comparing LOTR with the Original SW trilogy. There's so much to say - start with the musical scoring, for example, both rely heavily on leitmotif and repeated themes.

The music of these films is so distinctive and well done that I could hear a few seconds of either and tell you what would be happening in the film at that time.
To me that shows a level of mastery in story that is really rare these days.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah. The Rohirrim charge is indeed one of the best moments in a trilogy that's full of moments that are the envy of pretty much every other film series.

Such a great moment. When that happened, I remember thinking I wanted to fight and die for Theoden. They were fighting for something greater than themselves to protect their families and allies.

 

[Thundarr]

I was first introduced to The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings through the Rankin-Bass and Ralph Bakshi animated movies respectively. From there I have read the novels and eventually seen the Peter Jackson Trilogy.

I might not go quite so far as to say that The Lord Of The Rings movie trilogy is the greatest epic movie trilogy of all time, but it's at least a very close second place to the original Star Wars Trilogy. In fact they're practically tied. I'm not knocking it in any way, I absolutely LOVE those movies. And one of these days when I have the money and this pandemic has finally run its course, I plan to travel to NZ and do the LOTR Tour. But I think that Star Wars edged JUST past it in my own personal rankings, but only by a smidge.

 

[Batmannerism]

I was first introduced to The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings through the Rankin-Bass and Ralph Bakshi animated movies respectively. From there I have read the novels and eventually seen the Peter Jackson Trilogy.

I might not go quite so far as to say that The Lord Of The Rings movie trilogy is the greatest epic movie trilogy of all time, but it's at least a very close second place to the original Star Wars Trilogy. In fact they're practically tied. I'm not knocking it in any way, I absolutely LOVE those movies. And one of these days when I have the money and this pandemic has finally run its course, I plan to travel to NZ and do the LOTR Tour. But I think that Star Wars edged JUST past it in my own personal rankings, but only by a smidge.

Ironically, down here the pandemic has kind of faded away - our borders are still closed but life is mostly back to normal.

I remember the Bakshi FOTR movie from.my childhood, it was cool. Then in 1980 there was the Return of the King tv special - I always wondered what happened to the Two Towers, but they never made it into a film, Jackson's is the first.

Original Star Wars is possibly the only epic trilogy that challenges LOTR IMHO, and to me comes a close second. I have loved original Star Wars since I saw it as a kid in the 70s-80s, but to me it doesn't quite reach the same heights as LOTR.

Star Wars filled me with wonderment as a kid, and had tons of nostalgia value - as well as being great movies period. LOTR had the same effect on me as an adult, not quite as easy.

Sadly the SW prequels, the Abrams SW films and the Hobbit movies ( did I mention I was in an Unexpected Journey for 7 seconds ?) all fall very far short of greatness.

 

[LuiAlbZondo]

Recently rewatched the trilogy as I hadn't in a couple of years and it still holds up greatly! Not as much the Hobbit trilogy but I still enjoy that one as well. Lord of the Rings is still one of the best trilogies ever for me!

 

[Drizzle]

I remember the Bakshi FOTR movie from.my childhood, it was cool. Then in 1980 there was the Return of the King tv special - I always wondered what happened to the Two Towers, but they never made it into a film, Jackson's is the first.

Bakshi's LOTR film adapted Fellowship of the Ring and most of Two Towers. The Rankin Bass Return of the King kind of filled in the gap but the animated adaptations still left out plenty from the second and third books.

 

[Batmannerism]

One week later, the Two Towers is on !

It's my least favorite of the trilogy, but it's still awesome. I remember at the end, that feeling of not being able to wait a whole other year for the Return of the King.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Yeah TTT is probably my least favourite but even then there's not much in it and the movie has some amazing moments. The ride of the Rohirrim and the March of the Ents being top of the list.

 

[elgaz]

Been years since I watched all these, must sit down some weekend and binge them. The complexities and logistics alone in putting together a work of this scale are mind boggling.

 

[Schlosser85]

To be totally honest, The Two Towers drags a bit for me.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Been years since I watched all these, must sit down some weekend and binge them. The complexities and logistics alone in putting together a work of this scale are mind boggling.

Production Manager's worst nightmare.

 

[DarkKnight88]

‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Trilogy: A Look Back At A Breathtaking Gamble – Deadline

“I totally appreciate the position that New Line, Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were in and I don’t look back on any of it and judge them remotely,” Jackson says now. “There was a lot of pressure, and they were very upset with us as the budgets went up. The anger was understandable. They aren’t the bad guys in this story; we are really the bad guys for going over budget. Eventually, it stabilized when Barrie Osborne came in as producer a few months into us shooting, when the movie was re-budgeted and realistic. We all felt a bit under siege, but looking back on it, I get it, I understand it all now much clearer.”

Being on the other side of the planet from Shaye’s nervousness probably helped, but Jackson recalls a moment where he was shooting the Helm’s Deep scenes from The Two Towers, way up in a rock quarry in Wellington, and he could see Osborne lugging a large box with a cell phone because service was so unreliable, walking because the path was impassible by car. “It was a period of time when New Line were at their most angry with us in terms of the budget,” Jackson remembers. “I am on the parapet, probably with Viggo [Mortensen], and I see Barrie. It took him about 30 minutes to huff and puff his way to get on the top, and so I kept on shooting. Barrie arrives and says, ‘I have the studio, I’ve got to connect you with Michael Lynne of New Line.’ I ask why. He says, ‘Oh, he’s going to threaten to sue you and sell the house from under you to cover the cost overruns.’ Barrie was just the messenger, but it was one of the only points where I really snapped. I said, ‘Just tell Michael Lynne that I’m shooting this ****ing film and I’m doing the best job I can, and I’m not going to interrupt my day with a phone call like that.’ Barrie picked up the cellphone and made his way back down to the car and drove off.”

Rather than rattling him, this criticism fueled Jackson. “I’m the sort of guy that if I read people are speculating on how much I’m going to fail, that makes me all the more determined not to fail. I thought, I’m going to show you, I’m going to work like a crazy guy to make the best films I possibly can. In a sense I’m grateful for those stories because I do look back on that as being something that really gave me the extra 10 percent to do the best job I could.”

 

[Doctor Jones]

That was a great article. I never really thought of it all from Shaye's perspective. Usually he's just been portrayed as the break to finally get the movie made and we know all about the production, but I had no idea how much pressure New Line were under. But it all makes sense. Shaye breaking down and crying to Jackson in the bathroom because they gambled the entire company and the foreign distributors on these films. It could have sunk a lot of careers. But I give credit to the guy for still taking that risk.

I also couldn't help but laugh when Shaye was in the screening room in NZ and saw all the posters to Jackson's splatter films and realized how crazy this gamble was. Jackson actually snapping is unheard of.

A lot of it was luck too. If the Weinstein's didn't take it out and New Line's slate wasn't lacking then you would have had a Dungeons and Dragons situation under the Weinstein's.

 

[elgaz]

Very interesting article, but I guess the risks paid off in the end : $281m budget for all 3 films and a box office take of a shade under $3 billion across all 3. Not to mention all the merchandise, sequels which did well off the success of the trilogy, etc.

 

[henzINNIT]

It was a crazy risk to take. Betting the farm on a trilogy of anything is already a gamble, handing it to some obscure kiwi director is insane. So glad it happened. Doubt you'll see it again.

 

[mackblack01]

This thread is crazy hyping me up to rewatch the whole trilogy.

 

[Marvolo]

Andy Serkis Is Recording The Lord of the Rings Audiobooks


His narration of the Hobbit audiobook is wonderful so this is great news!

 

[Gothamsknight]

‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Trilogy: A Look Back At A Breathtaking Gamble – Deadline

and now Lord of the Rings is a masterpiece of a trilogy and one of the greatest works ever put to film. Can totally understand the nervousness and skepticism, but ultimately it paid off bigger than anybody could have imagined.

 

[Kane52630]

Has anyone seen this?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Z58uiwcME&feature=youtu.be


Pretty disappointing if what he said is the case. As a result of trying to unify the look of the films as much as possible, some of the original quality of the LOTR trilogy was lost. Wonder if this was a mandate enforced by WB to Peter Jackson just to rush a product to be released by Holiday 2020, or if this is genuinely what Peter Jackson wanted to release?

Considering WB’s recent business decisions and past dealings with Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy by screwing other people over (see Lindsay Ellis’ very informative video series on what went down), I would venture towards the former.

It's the only reason why I've hesitated on buying the 4K release, but I hear they're fixing it?

 

[Marvolo]

It's the only reason why I've hesitated on buying the 4K release, but I hear they're fixing it?

Yes, there is supposed to be a better release this year, but WB hasn't confirmed anything. With the buyout and covid it may be delayed.

 

[Kane52630]

Middle Earth 6 Film Ultimate Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

 

[Drizzle]

I might go for that ultimate set if the bonus features are substantial enough. I've been dying to see those deleted scenes that weren't even in the extended cuts for almost two decades now.