Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins in LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
© 2001 New Line Cinema

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Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Genre:
Fantasy/Adventure/Sequel.

Studio:
New Line Cinema.


Production Company:
Wingnut Films.

Project Phase:
In the Can.

Who's In It:
Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn); Ian McKellen (Gandalf the White); Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins); Sean Astin (Sam Gamgee); Orlando Bloom (Legolas); Dominic Monaghan (Merry); Billy Boyd (Pippin); John Rhys-Davies (Gimli); Andy Serkis (Gollum/Smeagol); Karl Urban (Eomer); Miranda Otto (Eowyn); Hugo Weaving (Elrond); Liv Tyler (Arwen); John Noble (Dethenor); Cate Blanchett (Galadriel); Lawrence Makoare (The Witchking of Angmar).


Who's Making It:
Peter Jackson (Director); Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh (Screenwriters, Producers); Saul Zaentz, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein (Executive Producers); Alan Lee, John Howe (Conceptual Artists); Weta Digital (Special Visual Effects); Howard Shore (Musical Score); based upon the J.R.R. Tolkien book The Return of the King from the trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

Premise:
The saga draws to a close as battles are fought to distract Sauron from the fact that the One Ring is in Mordor under his very nose...

Release Date:
December 17, 2003.

Comments:

June 27, 2003... New Line Cinema has just unveiled the first poster for the final film in Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy of films, THE RETURN OF THE KING. Click on the image to the left to see Aragorn and his sword, and then count the days remaining until the picture opens on December 17. [Variety.]

July 14, 2003... A source informs Coming Attractions that New Line Cinema is now thinking of releasing the trailer for the final LORD OF THE RINGS film, THE RETURN OF THE KING, on September 26. That's the date the studio is also planning on releasing SECONDHAND LIONS, a comedy/drama starring Haley Joel Osment, Robert Duvall and Michael Caine, on that date. The trailer would probably run in front of showings of SECONDHAND LIONS.

Our source guesses that New Line is hoping the curiousity factor for RINGS fans will translate into additional ticket sales for SECONDHAND LIONS. Makes sense to me.

Officially New Line Cinema hasn't revealed when the trailer for THE RETURN OF THE KING will run. The second RINGS movie, THE TWO TOWERS, arrives on home video August 26. [Name withheld.]

July 22, 2003... Former Eurythmics songstress Annie Lennox has let the cat out of the bag. In an interview with Australian newsman Andrew Denton, Lennox revealed that she will provide the title song for THE RETURN OF THE KING, the third and final LORD OF THE RINGS film.

"I was asked if I would like to sing the title track for the next LORD OF THE RINGS film, which looks like that's going to happen," Lennox told Denton. "I was working in the studio with them a couple of days ago and that's a little different thing for me to do."

We'll probably get to hear Annie's song shortly before THE RETURN OF THE KING arrives in theaters this December. [Sources: TheOneRing.net, Enough Rope.]

Early morning, July 30, 2003... The One Ring either has some revealing photographs of Peter Jackson or else they've cut a deal with the dark lord Sauron. How else to explain how they've landed the trailer for THE RETURN OF THE KING before anyone else (including New Line Cinema) had the chance to show it?

Clocking in at 1:35, click here to download the trailer -- but for how long before New Line sends a cease and desist? [The One Ring has powerful magic.]

Late morning, July 30, 2003... New Line Cinema has asked The One Ring to remove the trailer from their site. The One Ring has agreed to the request.

Over at the official website for THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy, a new question-and-answer article with actor Bernard Hill has just gone live. Hill, who plays King Theoden, answers a dozen questions about his character and his experience working on Peter Jackson's fantasy epic. Among the questions asked was this one:

Q: You've said you think THE RETURN OF THE KING will be the best film of the bunch. What makes you think that?

Hill: "I think the story is the strongest of the trilogy. It has a higher emotional content than the first two films. Plus, Peter's been living with Film Three the longest, and he will take advantage of everything he learned on Films One and Two."

Visit the THE LORD OF THE RINGS website to read the full article. [Official Lord of the Rings website.]

August 20, 2003... New Line Cinema has unveiled five new teaser posters for THE RETURN OF THE KING. The new looks are of Gollum, Gandalf the White, a weary Frodo, Arwen and Sam holding Frodo. Additionally, all five images (plus the earlier teaser poster design featuring Aragorn can be sent to your friends in the form of an e-card.

Want to see what they look like? [New Line Cinema has an office in Middle-earth.]

September 16, 2003... The official website for THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies has been updated and now features a question and answer feature with Miranda Otto (Eowyn). The actress talks about what it was like to train with a sword, share her thoughts on the massive battle sequence we'll see in THE RETURN OF THE KING and describes her preparation for the role of King Theoden's daughter...

"I went back to the books continually and photocopied every page she was in," explains Otto. "I cut it all out, every line of dialogue or description or movement. Then I did another thing about how other people saw her or felt about her. I just wanted to know everything about how Tolkien perceived her."

THE RETURN OF THE KING opens in theaters on December 17.

September 29, 2003... It's finally arrived. New Line Cinema has placed the first and only trailer for THE RETURN OF THE KING on the official LORD OF THE RINGS movies website. The final film in Peter Jackson's impressive trilogy is set to open in theaters on December 17. Preview the film and see scenes of Shelob the spider, Sam and Frodo at Mount Doom and Aragorn leading the last charge of men against the armies of Sauron. It looks grand indeed.

This link will take you directly to the trailer which is available in small, medium and large viewing sizes. [Official RINGS website.]

October 15, 2003... Even though work continues on filming THE RETURN OF THE KING, LORD OF THE RINGS executive producer Mark Ordesky swears that the film will be complete and ready for its scheduled world premiere in Wellington, New Zealand on December 1. Ordesky spoke with the Stuff website and told them that the reshoots on KING involving the actors were complete and the work that remains involves miniatures and visual effects. Interestingly, the producer also revealed that additional filming will be required next year, with the material to be included in the extended version that will be released on DVD. Ordesky said that it's unlikely the 2004 filming will require any of the principal cast members from the film although he wouldn't rule out that they may need to record additional dialogue.

The world premiere of THE RETURN OF THE KING will be held at Wellington's Embassy Theatre, which is in the process of receiving a $7 million dollar refurbishing. It's expected that the majority of the picture's cast members will attend the premiere.

November 5, 2003... New Line Cinema has unveiled the final theatrical poster design for THE RETURN OF THE KING. As was the case with the final one-sheets for FELLOWSHIP and TWO TOWERS, the KING poster places images of several of the trilogy's main characters on the sheet.

December 17th, kids. Still a month and a couple of weeks away. Deep breaths...stay calm... [New Line Cinema.]

November 8, 2003... ** WARNING ** : Slight story spoilers for THE RETURN OF THE KING are contained in the following news story

According to a contact made directly to Ain't It Cool News by LORD OF THE RINGS director Peter Jackson, all scenes featuring Christopher Lee's Saurman character will not be included in THE RETURN OF THE KING. Tolkien fans know that the evil wizard Saruman's last appearance was in The Two Towers novel, but Jackson had hoped on including the character in his third and final RINGS movie. It doesn't look like it's to be, as Jackson explained to the website:

"The problem is that the sequence was originally shot for THE TWO TOWERS, as it is in the book. Since THE TWO TOWERS couldn't sustain a 7 min 'wrap' after Helm's Deep, we thought it would be a good idea to save it for the beginning of THE RETURN OF THE KING. The trouble is, when we viewed various ROTK cuts over the last few weeks, it feels like the first scenes are wrapping last year's movie, instead of starting the new one. We felt it got ROTK off to an uncertain beginning, since Saruman plays no role in the events of ROTK (we don't have the Scouring later, as the book does), yet we dwell in Isengard for quite a long time before our new story kicks off."

Jackson reliefs fans by also mentioning that the excised Saruman scenes will be included in the eventual extended DVD edition of THE RETURN OF THE KING to be made available next November. [Ain't It Cool News.]

November 21, 2003... New Line has updated the LORD OF THE RINGS website with a video and text interview with star Miranda Otto (Eowyn). Otto and her co-stars discuss their thoughts on her character, how she relates to Tolkien's story and where Eowyn is heading in THE RETURN OF THE KING, such as the massive battle at Pelennor Fields...

"I believe it was 10,000 Uruk-Hai at Helm's Deep and this is going to be 200,000 new and improved Orcs at Pelennor Fields," says Otto. "The new Orcs are a bit taller and more scary. There are also huge amounts of horses and stuff that we hadn't really seen before. I've seen bits of it, and it's fantastic."

Click here to be taken to the Miranda Otto interview. THE RETURN OF THE KING opens in theaters December 17. [The official Lord of the Rings website.]

December 18, 2003... December 18, 2003... THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING has shattered the record for the biggest Wednesday opening day ever, defeating STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE. New Line Cinema estimates the final film in
Peter Jackson's fantasy trilogy took in $34.1 million on its opening day, with $8 M of that figure coming from midnight screenings alone. KING's gross stands over the 1999 opening day figure of $28.5 M that PHANTOM MENACE took in. It's also nearly ten million dollars more than the $26.1 M that THE TWO TOWERS took in on its opening day last year.

How much the film will take over the next four days -- its first weekend in release -- vary but it's almost certainly going to beat FELLOWSHIP and TOWERS' inaugural performances. THE RETURN OF THE KING may also prove to be the highest grossing film of the series and the one that could conceivably take in over $1 billion at the box office. [CNN.]

Official Web Site: www.lordoftherings.net

www.herrderringe-film.de