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The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King
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The Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Drama
3 hrs. 30 min. The third of the trilogy. As the shadow of Mordor grows
across the land, Aragorn is revealed as the hidden heir to the ancient
kings. Gandolf miraculously returns and defeats the evil wizard, Saruman.
Sam leaves his master for the dead after a battle with the giant spider,
Shelob; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And while
the armies of the Dark Lord are massing--and the one ring comes ever closer
to the Cracks of Doom.
Release Date: December 17th, 2003.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and frightening images.
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Starring:
Elijah Wood - Sean Astin
Ian McKellen - Viggo Mortensen
John Rhys-Davies - Orlando Bloom
Billy Boyd - Christopher Lee
Liv Tyler - Cate Blanchett
Dominic Monaghan - Andy Serkis
Ian Holm - Brad Dourif
Bernard Hill - Karl Urban
David Wenham - Miranda Otto
Hugo Weaving - John Noble
Sala Baker - Stephen Ure
Lawrence Makoare - Alexandra Astin
Director: Peter Jackson
Producer: Fran Walsh
Barrie M. Osborne
Peter Jackson
Tim Sanders
Screenwriter: Philippa Boyens
Barrie M. Osborne
Fran Walsh
Peter Jackson
Phillippa Boyens
Stephen Sinclair
Cinematographer: Andrew Lesnie
Co-Producer: Rick Porras
Jamie Selkirk
Composer: Howard Shore
Executive Producer: Robert Shaye
Michael Lynne
Mark Ordesky
Source Writer: J.R.R. Tolkien
Release Date: December 17th, 2003 (that's a Wednesday)
Trilogy Rerelease Note: (8/22/03) New Line Cinema will be sending the
first two movies in the trilogy back to about 100-150 theaters in the
two weeks leading up to this movie's release. The Fellowship of the Ring
will come first starting on December 5th, 2003, followed by The Two Towers
starting on December 12th. Both films will be presented as special editions
with over 30 minutes of additional material (essentially the DVD special
editions). This will all lead up to a massive event in those theaters
on December 16th, in which the entire trilogy will be presented in its
entirety, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring presented at 3PM, The
Two Towers at 7PM and the premiere of this movie at 11PM (which will run
over into the 17th, which is the day of its release). Altogether, audiences
who attend this event will see over ten hours of Tolkien (with intermissions
in between each film).
(10/2/03) The list of participating theaters is now online over at LordoftheRings.net.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, October 9th.
World Premiere: December 1st, 2003 (Embassy Theatre, Wellington, NZ)
Awards: Best Ensemble (2003 National Board of Review)
MPAA Rating Note: (5/31/00) There's a contractual obligation not to deliver
this film at an R rating, so like the other two films, you can expect
a PG-13. (11/15/03) Sure enough.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense epic battle sequences and frightening
images)
Running Time: 200 minutes
Running Time Note: (11/18/03) With the news that Peter Jackson has edited
out the opening 7 minute sequence featuring Saruman and Grima, the running
time has dropped from an estimated 210 minutes down to "just"
200 minutes (3 hours and 20 minutes).
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Cast: Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Sean Astin
(Samwise Gamgee), Sala Baker (Sauron), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Orlando
Bloom (Legolas), Billy Boyd (Pippin), Martin Csokas (Celeborn), Bernard
Hill (Theoden), Lawrence Makoare (Witch King of Angmar), Dominic Monaghan
(Merry), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), John Noble (Denethor), Miranda Otto
(Eowyn), John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), Andy Serkis (Gollum), Liv Tyler (Arwen),
Karl Urban (Eomer), Hugo Weaving Elrond), David Wenham (Faramir)
Cast Notes: (11/15/03) AICN reported last week that Peter Jackson has
decided to edit the remaining scenes of Christopher Lee as Saruman and
Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue out of this final movie, with a seven-minute
sequence featuring them being saved for the DVD instead. This news comes
after Jackson had already long ago made the decision not to include (ie,
he never even filmed it) the Scouring of the Shire (personally one of
my favorite sequences from the books), which also features those two characters.
Director: Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners, Dead/Alive,
The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers; next up is King Kong)
Screenwriter: Peter Jackson, Frances Walsh (the writing team behind The
Frighteners and Heavenly Creatures), Philippa Boyens (debut), Stephen
Sinclair (cowriter of Meet the Feebles and Braindead)
Based Upon: The third novel of the classic trilogy of books by J.R.R.
Tolkien that nearly singlehandedly established the modern genre of fantasy
fiction as we know it. This last chapter is preceded by The Fellowship
of the Ring and The Two Towers.
Filming Note: All three films of this trilogy will be filmed at the same
time, over the course of roughly one year in New Zealand. Filming began
on October 11th, 1999. (7/7/00) Principal filming is scheduled to wrap
on the three films in February, 2001. There will still be plenty of postproduction
required (especially on the second and third films). (1/3/01) According
to The Hollywood Reporter, filming has already wrapped. (6/15/03) Peter
Jackson has been filming some additional scenes (and/or reshoots?) in
New Zealand this year.
Budget: It was recently (7/12/99) announced that New Line Cinema has
expanded the budget for Lord of the Rings to a total of $190 million dollars,
making it one of the most expensive film projects ever. However, this
is offset by the fact that this money will produce three films, making
the average for each film for $63 million, which is not really that much
for films of this scale.
Genre: Action, Eye Candy
Articles About This Series: Yahoo! Full Coverage
The Unofficial Fan Sites: fandom.com/ringbearer, theonering.net, lordoftheringsmovie.com,
xenite.org/faqs/lotr_movie
Photo Gallery: Elbakin.com
Watch the Trailer: Yahoo! Movies
Official Actor Site: Ian McKellen
Official Fan Club Site: LOTRFanClub.com
Official Site: lordoftherings.net
Message Board: Share your thoughts on our "The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King" Message Board
Input about Greg's Previews of upcoming Movies, or any movie covered
here, is encouraged. Just e-mail Greg Dean Schmitz using our feedback
form. Please note that all release dates are subject to change.
Source: Yahoo
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Greg's Preview Thoughts:
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10/13/03 - New Line Cinema recently invited me and a few other writers
to a screening of 20 minutes of clips from throughout the film, and what
I saw... was absolutely, hands-down fantastic. The one condition to the
event was that I can't write about *which* specific scenes we saw. So,
I can't fully tell you about how much better the facial CGI work on Gollum
seemed to me this time around, or about a certain song performance that
nearly made my eyes water, or how fear-invoking one of the riding-to-battle
sequences is, or about how this is the movie in which the three hobbits
besides Frodo really get their different chances to shine (well, I knew
that going in).
So, that leaves me with vagaries, but I'll try to make them *good* vagaries.
Over all, it felt like these clips made the film seem like the most colorful,
most visually fantastic of the three. I think the reason for this is that
there is a lot more contrast going on in this film, visually, whereas
the first two films were sort of evenly drenched in similar palates. Which,
of course, makes a lot of sense when you consider that this is the movie
in which the light of good and the darkness of evil clash for one final
time. There was also a sense of finality and creeping dread in so many
of the lines and performances which made every scene doubly powerful and
intense. I'm sure New Line's intention with this screening was to let
me get a glimpse so I could stay excited about this movie (like I need
any help!), and bring that excitement back to you, the audience. The bulk
of these scenes were *not* the book's best parts (well, except for one
involving Frodo, Sam and Gollum), and yet even they completely rocked.
From what I've seen, it appears Peter Jackson is truly saving the best
for last.
10/02/03 - The list of theaters participating in the trilogy marathon
on December 16th is now online over at LordoftheRings.net. Tickets go
on sale Thursday, October 9th... contact your local theater for more information! |
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