The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.[6][7] It is the third and final installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002), preceding The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014).

Released on 17 December 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King received rave reviews and universal acclaim,[8] and became one of the greatest critical and box-office successes of all time. It was only the second film to gross $1 billion worldwide ($1.12 billion), becoming the highest grossing film released by New Line Cinema, as well as the biggest financial success for Time Warner in general, until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($1.31 billion) surpassed The Return of the King's final gross in 2011. The film was the highest-grossing film of 2003 and, by the end of its theatrical run, the second highest-grossing film in history. As of January 2016, it is the thirteenth highest-grossing film in history.

At the 76th Academy Awards, it won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, therefore holding the record for highest Oscar sweep. The wins included the awards for Best Picture, the first and only time a fantasy film has done so;[9] it was also the second sequel to win a Best Picture Oscar (following The Godfather Part II) and Best Director. The film jointly holds the record for the largest number of Academy Awards won with Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997).

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Comparison with the source material 3.1 Extended sequences 4 Production 4.1 Design 4.2 Principal photography 4.3 Pick-ups 5 Post-production 5.1 Editing 5.2 Visual effects 5.3 Sound effects 5.4 Score 6 Release 6.1 Box office 6.2 Critical response 6.3 Accolades 6.4 Home media 7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 References 10 External links

Plot
Gandalf leads Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and King Théoden to Isengard where they reunite with Merry and Pippin, who helped the Ents destroy Saruman's forces. With Saruman himself defeated, Gandalf retrieves Saruman's palantír. Overcome by curiosity, Pippin steals a glance into the seeing-stone, and suffers an immediate mental attack from Sauron himself. From what Pippin was able to recount, Gandalf deduces Sauron will attack Gondor's capital Minas Tirith, so he rides ahead to warn them, and takes Pippin with him because Sauron thinks Pippin to be the ring bearer. They meet Lord Denethor, steward of Gondor, bitterly grieving the death of his son Boromir. Pippin offers his service to Denethor after confessing Boromir died protecting him.

Meanwhile, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee are led by Gollum to Minas Morgul where they witness the Witch-king of Angmar leading an Orc army to drive Denethor's younger son Faramir and his men from Osgiliath. At Gollum's urging, the three begin climbing a precarious stair carved in the cliff face that will take them into Mordor via a 'secret way'. But having overheard Gollum's plot to regain the Ring, Sam keeps a suspicious eye on him. In Gondor, Pippin follows Gandalf's instructions and secretly lights the beacon to signal Théoden to assemble the Rohirrim and come to Gondor's aid.

While helping Théoden gather his forces, Aragorn is approached by Elrond who says Arwen is dying. After seeing a vision of her son she refused to leave Middle Earth. Elrond then gives Aragorn the sword Andúril, Isildur's sword Narsil reforged, so he can reclaim his birthright while gaining reinforcements from the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Joined by Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn travels to the Paths of the Dead, recruiting the Army of the Dead with the promise to release them from their curse once they fulfil their oath to Isildur.

Faramir is gravely wounded after a futile effort to retake Osgiliath, and believing his son to be dead, Denethor falls into madness. Gandalf is left to command the city defences against the Orc army led by Gothmog. But as Gothmog's forces eventually force their way into the city, Denethor tries to kill himself and Faramir on a pyre. Pippin alerts Gandalf and they save Faramir, but Denethor leaps to his death from the top of Minas Tirith just before Théoden and the Rohirrim arrive. Initially the Rohirrim have the advantage at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, but are eventually overwhelmed by the Oliphaunt-riding Haradrim while the Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden. Though Théoden's niece Éowyn, having posed as a male soldier, battles and slays the Witch-King with Merry's help, Théoden dies of his wounds. Aragorn arrives with the Army of the Dead, they overcome the Orcs and win the battle. The Dead are released from their curse, and the wounded are tended to. In the Houses of Healing Éowyn meets Faramir, and they comfort each other. Aragorn and the other captains of Men decide to lead all who can march upon the Black Gate as a distraction, so Frodo and Sam can get to Mount Doom.

Meanwhile, Gollum manipulates Frodo into leaving Sam behind before they arrive at the tunnel leading to Mordor, and then tricks him into lair of the giant spider Shelob. After a terrible chase, she paralises and binds Frodo. Sam returns and drives Shelob away, but believing his friend to be dead takes Frodo's sword Sting and The One Ring for safekeeping. When he sees Frodo's body being taken by Orcs to Cirith Ungol he realises Frodo's still alive, and gives chase. Sam rescues Frodo from the Orcs, and returns the Ring to him. Aragorn's army draw out Sauron's forces and empty Mordor, allowing the exhausted Hobbits to stagger to the volcano, but they're attacked by Gollum when they reach Mount Doom. Frodo finally succumbs to the Ring's power and claims it as his own, and refuses to destroy it. Gollum attacks Frodo and bites his finger off to reclaim the Ring, but then (while holding the Ring) Gollum falls into the volcano where the Ring was made. Sam manages to save Frodo. The Ring and Sauron are both destroyed, causing a chain-reaction that consumes the mountain, topples Barad-dûr, and kills most of the fleeing Orcs as the ground crumbles beneath them. Gandalf flies in with eagles to rescue the Hobbits, who awaken later in Minas Tirith and are reunited with the surviving Fellowship members.

Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor and takes Arwen as his queen. They, and all others present at his coronation, bow before Frodo and the Hobbits. The Hobbits then return to the Shire where Sam marries Rosie Cotton. Frodo, unable to cope with the traumas of his journey, departs Middle Earth for the Grey Havens with his uncle Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Elves, leaving Sam the Red Book of Westmarch which details their adventures. Though saddened by Frodo's departure, Sam is gladdened by the warm welcome he receives on returning home.

Cast
Further information: Cast of The Lord of the Rings film series

Like the preceding films in the trilogy, The Return of the King has an ensemble cast,[10] and some of the cast and their respective characters include: Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: a young hobbit who continues his quest to destroy the One Ring. Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: an Istari wizard who travels to aid the Men of Gondor, acting as a general at the Siege of Gondor. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: a Dúnedain ranger with claims to the throne of Gondor. Liv Tyler as Arwen: Elrond's daughter and Aragorn's true love. Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee: Frodo's loyal hobbit gardener and companion. Sala Baker as Sauron: the Dark Lord of Mordor and the Ring's true master, who is waging war across Middle-Earth once more. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: the Elven-Queen of Lothlórien who is aware the time of the elves is at an end. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: a dwarf warrior and companion to Aragorn along with Legolas. Rhys-Davies also voices Treebeard: the ent leader. Bernard Hill as Théoden: the King of Rohan who, after triumphing at Helm's Deep, is preparing his troops for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Billy Boyd as Pippin Took: a hobbit who came along with his cousin Frodo and is now caught in the wars. Dominic Monaghan as Merry Brandybuck: another cousin of Frodo's who becomes an esquire of Rohan. Orlando Bloom as Legolas: an elven prince of Mirkwood and skilled archer who aids Aragorn in his quest to reclaim the throne. Hugo Weaving as Elrond: the Elven-King of Rivendell and father of Arwen. Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden's niece, who wishes to prove herself in battle and starts to fall in love with Aragorn. David Wenham as Faramir: a prince of the Stewards of Gondor and Captain of the Rangers defending Osgiliath, who seeks his father's love in vain. Karl Urban as Éomer: Éowyn's brother, who serves as Chief Marshal of the Riders of Rohan and heir to his uncle's throne. John Noble as Denethor: the Steward of Gondor and father of Faramir and Boromir, whose grief over Boromir's death and despair over Mordor's superior numbers drive him into madness during the Siege of Gondor. Andy Serkis as Gollum: a wretched and treacherous hobbit-like creature who kept the Ring for centuries and now guides Frodo and Sam into Mordor. Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo's elderly uncle, who has rapidly aged after giving away the Ring. Marton Csokas as Celeborn: the Elven-King of Lothlórien. Lawrence Makoare as the Witch-King of Angmar: the lord of the Nazgûl, who leads Mordor's assault on Minas Tirith. Makoare also plays Gothmog: an Orc commander, who is voiced by Craig Parker. Thomas Robins as Déagol: Sméagol's cousin. The following appear only in the Extended EditionChristopher Lee as Saruman the White: an Istari wizard, formerly the head of the Istari Order and its White Council, who is now trapped by Treebeard until he is killed by his own servant, Gríma. Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: Saruman's sycophantic, treacherous servant, who is shot by Legolas after stabbing his own master. Bruce Spence as The Mouth of Sauron: Sauron's ambassador at the Black Gate.

There are also cameos from Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Rick Porras and Andrew Lesnie on the Corsair ship, although all of them but Jackson appear only in the Extended Edition. Jackson also has another unofficial cameo, as Sam's hand stepping into view when he confronts Shelob.[11] Sean Astin's daughter played Sam and Rosie's older daughter Elanor in the last scene of the film; in the same scene, Sarah McLeod's daughter plays their younger daughter. Jackson's children also cameo as Gondorian extras, while Christian Rivers played a Gondorian soldier guarding the Beacon Pippin lights, and is later seen wounded. Royd Tolkien cameos as a Ranger in Osgiliath,[12] while in the Extended Edition Howard Shore appears as a celebrating soldier at Edoras. Additionally, four of the designers of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are featured as Rohirrim at the Pelennor.[13] At the end of the film, during the closing credits, each cast member gets a sketched portrait morphed with the real photograph beside their name, which were sketched by Alan Lee, an idea suggested by Ian McKellen.[14]

Comparison with the source material
The film contains major scenes that occurred in the middle portion of the novel The Two Towers but were not included in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, such as Shelob and the palantír subplot, owing to Jackson's realigning events of the film to fit the timeline as described in the book's Appendices, rather than the main prose.[15] Saruman's murder by Gríma (seen only in the Extended Edition) is moved into the Isengard visit because of the cutting of the Scouring of the Shire. In the film, Saruman drops the palantír, whereas in the book Gríma throws it at the Fellowship, unaware of its value. While the parting of Gandalf from Théoden's company in The Two Towers occurs hastily at Dol Baran with the appearance of a Nazgûl on a winged steed, here he leaves from Edoras after the entire company arrives there to recuperate after the Battle of Helm's Deep. The muster of Gondor is absent from the film, and the major captains and generals, including Imrahil and the Knights of Dol Amroth, are not present.

Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, was a more tragic character in the book. The film only focuses on his overwhelming grief over the death of Boromir as to ignore Sauron's threat (in the book he already lights the beacons), and is driven over the edge by Faramir's injury. The film only hints at his use of the palantír which drives him mad, information revealed in the Pyre scene, which is more violent than the book. Jackson also has Denethor jump off the Citadel in addition to burning himself on the Pyre, one of the earliest changes.[16]

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is altered: Faramir never goes on a suicide mission, and the conflict is a simplification of the siege of Osgiliath. With generals such as Forlong and Imrahil absent, Gandalf commands the defence of Minas Tirith owing to Denethor's despair. While Denethor gives command to Gandalf in the book, in this film Gandalf forcibly takes control as Denethor tells the men to flee rather than fight. The Orcs also never get into the city in the book. The Witch-king enters and stands off against Gandalf before the Rohirrim arrive, but in the film Orcs invade the city after Grond breaks the Gate. The confrontation takes place while Gandalf journeys to save Faramir in the Extended Edition, during which Gandalf has his staff broken in the film (but not in the book). A subplot in which the Rohirrim are aided by the primitive Drúedain into entering the besieged Gondor is also excised. The Red Arrow brought by a messenger from Gondor to ask for aid is absent. Éowyn's presence on the battlefield is unknown to the reader until she takes off her helmet, but in the film the audience is aware, as it would have been difficult to have Miranda Otto playing a man.[17] When hope seems lost, Gandalf comforts Pippin with a description of the Undying Lands, which is a descriptive passage in the book's final chapter.[15] The film depicts the Army of the Dead fighting in the Battle, whereas in the book they are released from service prior to this, after helping Aragorn defeat the Corsairs of Umbar at the port city of Pelargir in Lebennin; Aragorn's reinforcements are merely more Gondorians, and the Dúnedain, Aragorn's people (the rangers of the North). An unstoppable and invulnerable force, the Dead wipe out Sauron's forces. The film also cuts out several supporting characters, such as: Halbarad, a friend of Aragorn's, who helps lead the Dúnedain, Beregond, a member of the Citadel Guard of Gondor, whom Pippin befriends, and Elladan and Elrohir, the twin sons of Elrond who deliver Aragorn's banner and accompany him to the Pelennor Fields. Elladan and Elrohir are replaced by Elrond in the film, instead delivering Andúril, and then returning to Rivendell. The film also altered the circumstances of Théoden's death; his death speech, in which he names Éomer the new king in the book, is trimmed and delivered to Éowyn instead, with an earlier scene in the Extended Edition even implying that she is next in line for the throne. Théoden's rallying cries before the initial charge are in fact spoken by Éomer in the book upon his realisation that Éowyn is also apparently dead.[15]

In the film Aragorn leads the entire remaining force of Rohan and Gondor's men to the Black Gate without incident. In the book tactics are discussed, forces divide and fight smaller skirmishes in Anórien and Ithilien before the army (only a fraction of the full remaining strength of the nations of men) reach the Morannon. The romance that develops between Éowyn and Faramir during their recoveries in the Houses of Healing is also largely cut, presumably to keep the focus on Aragorn and Arwen; the subplot is only briefly referenced in the Extended Edition with a scene where the two hold hands.[15] Sam and Frodo's major rift in their friendship, due to Gollum's machinations, never takes place in the book, but was added by the writers in believing that it added drama and more complexity to the character of Frodo. Frodo enters Shelob's lair alone in the film, whereas in the book he and Sam entered together. This was done to make the scene more horrific with Frodo being alone, and Sam's rescue at the last minute more dramatic. Frodo's ordeal in the Tower of Cirith Ungol and subsequent rescue by Sam are also changed; in the book, Frodo is stripped, beaten, and cruelly interrogated by the orcs, while in the film, he is tied up but only briefly threatened by an orc moments before Sam's arrival. The reunion of Frodo and Sam in the film is also shorter and less emotional than in the book; rather than comforting the physically injured and severely traumatized Frodo as in the book, Sam, after killing the orc that was threatening Frodo but had not struck him, briefly accepts his apology for having doubted him and returns the Ring to him before suggesting that they find some orc clothing for Frodo to wear. In the film, Sam also does not experience "delusions of grandeur" about what he could do if he took the Ring for himself, like he does in the book. Sam instead overcomes a very brief moment of temptation which, instead of stemming from thoughts of how he could use the Ring for himself, seems to come from his concern for Frodo and wish to reduce the Ring's harm to his friend by sharing the burden. Also, in the film viewers do not know that Sam has the Ring until he gives it back to Frodo, whereas in the book the reader knows that Sam has the Ring. Gollum's fall into the lava of Mount Doom was also rewritten for the film, as the writers felt Tolkien's original idea (Gollum simply slips and falls off) was anti-climactic. Originally, an even greater deviation was planned: Frodo would heroically push Gollum over the ledge to destroy him and the Ring, but the production team eventually realised that it looked more like Frodo murdering Gollum. As a result, they had Frodo and Gollum struggle for possession of the Ring and both slip over the edge by accident.[15]

In addition to the absent footage from the film are the other major attacks by Sauron on various regions of Middle-earth, referenced only briefly in the main text of The Return of the King,[15] and expanded upon in the Appendices; the invasion of Rohan by the orcs of Moria, the attacks on Lothlórien and the Woodland Realm of Thranduil by the forces of Dol Guldur, and the attack on Dale and the Lonely Mountain by a force of Easterlings.[15] There are several changes in the Battle of the Black Gate: Merry is not present there in the book, Pippin does not kill a troll as he does in the novel, the eagles fight and defeat some of the mounted Nazgûl (while Frodo putting on the One Ring distracted the Nazgûl, who raced away to Mount Doom in the book before a confrontation could occur), and Aragorn kills the Mouth of Sauron in the extended edition of the film but not in the book.[15] There was an even larger change planned: Sauron himself would come out in physical form to battle Aragorn, who would only be saved by the destruction of the Ring. Jackson eventually realised it ignored the point of Aragorn's true bravery in distracting Sauron's army against overwhelming odds, and a computer generated Troll was placed over footage of Sauron in the finished film. The ending is streamlined so as not to include the Scouring of the Shire, which was always seen by the screenwriters as anti-climactic.[15]

Extended sequences

Extra dialogue in Merry and Pippin's first scene at Isengard reuniting them with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli was added. There is also the final confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman, in which Saruman is stabbed to death by Wormtongue, who is killed by Legolas in turn. Saruman lands on a water wheel and drops the palantír. Edoras is extended, with the party containing a drinking game between Legolas and Gimli. Aragorn enters the Great Hall and has a conversation with Éowyn about a dream she had, about a great wave over a green countryside.

At Minas Tirith, Pippin explains to Denethor how Boromir died, and Gandalf explains to Pippin how Gondor fell into ruin. Frodo, Sam and Gollum discover a ruined and defaced statue at the Crossroads. When the Morgul signal for war begins, Sam warns Gollum about betrayal, eventually setting up the separation. When the Orcs cross the river it is shown the Gondorians were surprised, expecting an attack at Cair Andros. To further set up the battle, we also see Merry swearing loyalty to Théoden at Edoras after the lighting of the beacons. After Faramir arrives in Minas Tirith, there is a scene where Denethor confronts him for not taking the Ring, which includes his vision of Boromir. There is a friendly chat between Pippin and Faramir which sets up Pippin's later attempts to rescue him.

The Paths of the Dead sequence is heavily extended. A sequence involving an avalanche of skulls, and Aragorn's emergence from the mountain where the King of the Dead accepts his offer is integrated back into the film. This leads onto Aragorn attacking the Corsair ships, which includes a cameo by Peter Jackson as a character killed by Legolas. During the siege of Minas Tirith, the Orcs use a small battering ram on the gates before Grond arrives, and Gandalf confronts the Witch-king as he comes to rescue Faramir, when his staff is broken. Gothmog also chases Éowyn during the battle, and attempts to finish her off before he is killed by Aragorn and Gimli.

The scenes between the end of the Pelennor battle and Black Gate battle are extended. Pippin's search for Merry is digitally revised for a nighttime environment to give the impression he has been searching for almost the entire day. Éomer also finds Éowyn on the field and mourns when he thinks she is dead. Aragorn heals her and she falls in love with Faramir. Before the march to the Black Gate, Aragorn confronts Sauron in the palantír, however Sauron reveals to Aragorn an image of an unconscious Arwen, which frightens Aragorn into backing away, in which Aragorn drops the Evenstar and it shatters. Sam and Frodo get more time in Mordor: the fight among the orcs in the tower of Cirith Ungol is longer, and after Sam rescues Frodo, a sequence reveals a surviving Uruk sneaking off with Frodo's mithril shirt. Frodo and Sam are also diverted into the Orc march to the Black Gate and escape on a long journey, during which they throw away the last of their gear. Sam also sees a star through the clouds, symbolising hope whilst Frodo merely rests with a burn on his neck. At the Black Gate, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin, Merry, and Éomer are first confronted by the Mouth of Sauron, suggesting that Frodo is dead, providing additional meaning to Aragorn's line "For Frodo". There is a final line of dialogue in which Gollum admits he lied about protecting Frodo.

Production
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is unusual in that it was, up until the release of Jackson's prequel trilogy The Hobbit, the only series whose separate instalments were written and shot simultaneously (excluding pick up shoots). Jackson found The Return of the King the easiest of the films to make, because it contained the climax of the story, unlike the other two films.[18] The Return of the King was originally the second of two planned films under Miramax from January 1997 to August 1998,[19] and more or less in its finished structure as the first film was to end with The Two Towers' Battle of Helm's Deep.[20] Filming took place under multiple units across New Zealand, between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000, with pick up shoots for six weeks in 2003 before the film's release.

Design

Main article: Production design of The Lord of the Rings film series

A wide view of Minas Tirith.

The city of Minas Tirith was built from parts of the set of Helm's Deep, while the wide shots were from miniatures. Middle-earth as envisioned by Jackson was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe, former Tolkien illustrators, and created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics and creatures, as well as the Art Department which built the sets. Richard Taylor headed Weta, while Grant Major and Dan Hennah organised the planning and building respectively.

The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in both the previous two films, is seen fully in this film, and with it the Gondorian civilisation. The enormous soundstage was built at Dry Creek Quarry, outside Wellington, from the Helm's Deep set. That set's gate became Minas Tirith's second, while the Hornburg exterior became that of the Extended Edition's scene where Gandalf confronts the Witch-king. New structures included the 8m tall Gate, with broken and unbroken versions, with a working opening and closing mechanism, with its engravings inspired by the Baptistry of San Giovanni. There were also four levels of streets with heraldic motifs for every house, as inspired by Siena.[21]

There was also the Citadel, the exterior of which was in the Stone Street Studios backlot, using forced perspective. It contains the withered White Tree, built from polystyrene by Brian Massey and the Greens Department with real branches, influenced by ancient and gnarled Lebanese olive trees. The interior was within a three-story former factory in Wellington, and colour wise is influenced by Charlemagne's Chapel, with a throne for Denethor carved from stone and polystyrene statues of past Kings. The Gondorian armour is designed to represent an evolution from the Númenóreans of the first film's prologue, with a simplified sea bird motif. 16th-century Italian and German armour served as inspiration,[22] while civilians wear silver and blacks as designed by Ngila Dickson, continuing an ancient/medieval Mediterranean Basin look.[23]

Minas Morgul, the Staircase and Tower of Cirith Ungol as well as Shelob's Lair were designed by Howe, with the Morgul road using forced perspective into a bluescreened miniature. Howe's design of Minas Morgul was inspired from the experience of having a wisdom tooth pulled out: in the same way, the Orcs have put their twisted designs on to a former Gondorian city.[24] Cirith Ungol was based on Tolkien's design, but when Richard Taylor felt it as "boring", it was redesigned with more tipping angles.[25] The interior set, like Minas Tirith, was built as a few multiple levels that numerous camera takes would suggest a larger structure.[21]

The third film introduces the enormous spider Shelob. Shelob was designed in 1999,[25] with the body based on a tunnelweb spider and the head with numerous growths selected by Peter Jackson's children from one of many sculpts. Jackson himself took great joy in planning the sequence, being an arachnophobe himself.[22] Shelob's Lair was inspired by sandstone and sculpted from the existing Caverns of Isengard set.[21]

The Return of the King also brings into focus the Dead Men of Dunharrow and the evil Haradrim from the south of Middle-earth, men who ride the mûmakil. The Dead Men have a Celtic influence, as well as lines and symmetry to reflect their morbid state,[21] while their underground city is influenced by Petra.[24] The Haradrim were highly influenced by African culture, until Philippa Boyens expressed concern over the possibility of offensiveness, so the finished characters instead bear influence from Kiribati, in terms of weaving armour from bamboo, and the Aztecs, in use of jewellery. Also built was a single dead mûmak.[22] Other minor cultures include the Corsairs, with an exotic, swarthy look, and the Grey Havens, Elven structures adapted to stone, with influence from J. M. W. Turner paintings.[25]

Principal photography

The Return of the King was shot during 2000, though Astin's coverage from Gollum's attempt to separate Frodo and Sam was filmed on 24 November 1999, when floods in Queenstown interrupted the focus on The Fellowship of the Ring.[11] Some of the earliest scenes shot for the film were in fact the last. Hobbiton, home of the Hobbits, was shot in January 2000 with early scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, with the exterior shot at a Matamata farm, while interior scenes shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington,[26] shared with the Grey Havens sequence. Due to the high emotions of filming the scene, the cast were in despair when they were required to shoot it three times, due to a continuity flaw in Sean Astin's costume, and then negatives producing out-of-focus reels.[11] Also shared with the previous films was the Rivendell interior in May.

The Battle of the Black Gate was filmed in April[27] at the Rangipo Desert, a former minefield.[28][29] New Zealand soldiers were hired as extras while guides were on the lookout for unexploded mines. Also a cause for concern were Monaghan and Boyd's scale doubles during a charge sequence. In the meantime, Wood, Astin and Serkis filmed at Mount Ruapehu for the Mount Doom exteriors. In particular, they spent two hours shooting Sam lifting Frodo on to his back with cross-camera coverage.[11]

Scenes shot in June were the Paths of the Dead across various locations, including Pinnacles.[27] In July the crew shot some Shelob scenes, and in August and September time was spent on the scenes in Isengard. Monaghan and Boyd tried numerous takes of their entrance, stressing the word "weed" as they smoked pipe-weed. Christopher Lee spent his part of his scene mostly alone, though McKellen and Hill arrived on the first day for a few lines to help.[11]

Edoras exteriors were shot in October. The Ride of the Rohirrim, where Théoden leads the charge into the Orc army, was filmed in Twizel with 150 extras on horseback. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields has more extensive use of computer-generated imagery, in contrast to the more extensive use of live action in the Battle of Helm's Deep in the second film. Also filmed were the attempts by Faramir to recapture Osgiliath,[30] as were scenes in the city itself.[31] At this point production was very hectic, with Jackson moving around ten units per day, and production finally wrapped on the Minas Tirith sets, as well as second units shooting parts of the siege. Just as the Hobbit actors' first scene was hiding from a Ringwraith under a tree, their last scene was the bluescreened reaction shot of the inhabitants of Minas Tirith bowing to them.[11]

Pick-ups

The 2003 pick-ups were filmed in the Wellington studio car park, with many parts of sets and blue-screens used to finish off scenes, which the design team had to work 24 hours to get the right sets ready for a particular day.[21] The shoot continued for two months, and became an emotional time of farewells for the cast and crew. The film has the most extensive list of re-shoots given for the trilogy. Jackson took his time to re-shoot Aragorn's coronation, rushed into a single day under second unit director Geoff Murphy on 21 December 2000. Jackson also re-shot scenes in and around Mount Doom,[11] and Théoden's death, right after Bernard Hill was meant to wrap.[17]

There was also the new character of Gothmog. This was a major new design addition for the film, as Jackson felt the Mordor Orcs were "pathetic" compared to the Uruk-hai of the second film after watching assembly cuts, and thus Weta created grotesque new "über Orcs" as antagonists for the audience to focus on. Christian Rivers also redesigned the Witch-king and all of his scenes were re-shot, because of confusion from non-readers over whether or not Sauron was on the battlefield.[22]

With the positive response to Bloom, Legolas was given a fight with a mûmak,[32] and Howard Shore also appeared in a cameo during Legolas and Gimli's drinking game at Edoras.[33] The final scenes shot were Aragorn escaping the Skull avalanche, and Frodo finishing his book. The cast also received various props associated with their characters, although John Rhys-Davies burned his final Gimli prosthetic. Viggo Mortensen headbutted the stunt team goodbye.[11] Pick-ups ended on 27 June 2003.[32]

Scenes shot afterwards included various live-action shots of Riders for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and a reaction shot of Serkis as Gollum finally realises Frodo intends to destroy the Ring, shot in Jackson's house.[34] For the Extended DVD, in March 2004 Jackson created a few shots of skulls rolling over for the avalanche scene; this was the final piece of footage ever shot for the trilogy, and Jackson noted that it must be the first time a director had shot scenes for a film after it had already won the Oscar.[35]

Post-production
Editing

Post-production began in November 2002, with the completion of the 4½ hour assembly cut of the film that Annie Collins had been completing over 2001 and 2002, from 4-hour dailies. For example, Théoden leading the charge went from 150 minutes of takes to a finished 90 seconds.[36] Jackson reunited with longtime collaborator Jamie Selkirk to edit the final film. Like The Two Towers, they would have to deal with multiple storylines, and Jackson paid attention to each storyline at a time before deciding where to intercut. Most importantly they spent three weeks working on the last 45 minutes of the film,[34] for appropriate intercutting and leaving out scenes such as the Mouth of Sauron, and the fates of characters like Legolas, Gimli, Éowyn and Faramir.[15] The film inherited scenes originally planned to go into the second film, including the reforging of Narsil, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's exit. But the Saruman scene posed a structural problem: killing off the second film's villain when the plot has Sauron as the main villain.[34] Despite pick-ups and dubs, the scene was cut, causing controversy with fans and Saruman actor Christopher Lee, as well as a petition to restore the scene.[37] Lee nonetheless contributed to the DVDs and was at the Copenhagen premiere, although on the other hand he says he will never understand the reason for the cut and his relationship with Jackson is chilly.[38] They would, however, later reconcile upon Lee's casting in Jackson's Hobbit films. Jackson only had a lock on 5 out of 10 reels, and had to churn out 3 reels in 3 weeks to help finish the film. It was finally completed on 12 November 2003.[39] Jackson never had a chance to view the film in full due to the hectic schedule, and only saw the film from beginning to end on 1 December at the Wellington premiere; according to Elijah Wood, his response was "yup, it's good, pretty good".[35]

Visual effects Main article: Special effects of The Lord of the Rings film series

The Return of the King contains 1,488 visual effect shots, nearly three times the number from the first film and almost twice that of the second. Visual effects work began with Alan Lee and Mark Lewis compositing various photographs of New Zealand landscape to create the digital arena of the Pelennor Fields in November 2002. Gary Horsfield also created a digital version of the Barad-dûr during his Christmas break at home by himself, for the film's climax. In the meantime, Jackson and Christian Rivers used computers to plan the enormous battle up until February 2003, when the shots were shown to Weta Digital. To their astonishment, 60 planned shots had gone up to 250, and 50,000 characters were now 200,000.[40] Nevertheless, they pressed on, soon delivering 100 shots a week, 20 a day, and as the deadline neared within the last two months, often working until 2 am.[39]

For the battle, they recorded 450 motions for the MASSIVE digital horses (though deaths were animated), and also had to deal with late additions in the film, such as Trolls bursting through Minas Tirith's gates as well as the creatures that pull Grond to the gate,[22] and redoing a shot of two mûmakil Éomer takes down that had originally taken six months in two days. On a similar note of digital creatures, Shelob's head sculpture was scanned by a Canadian company for 10 times more detail than Weta had previously been able to capture.[40]

Like the previous films, there are also extensive morphs between digital doubles for the actors. This time, there was Sam falling off Shelob, where the morph takes place as Astin hits the ground. Legolas attacking a mûmak required numerous transitions to and fro, and Gollum's shots of him having recovered the One Ring and falling into the Crack of Doom were fully animated.[40] The King of the Dead is played by an actor in prosthetics, and his head occasionally morphs to a more skull-like digital version, depending on the character's mood. The Mouth of Sauron also had his mouth enlarged 200% for unsettling effect.[21]

The Return of the King also has practical effects. In the Pyre of Denethor sequence, as the Steward of Gondor throws Pippin out of the Tomb, John Noble threw a size double named Fon onto a prostrate Billy Boyd, who immediately pushed his head into camera to complete the illusion. A few burning torches were also reflected off a plate of glass and into the camera for when Gandalf's horse Shadowfax kicks Denethor onto the pyre. Because of Jackson's requirement for complete representation of his fantasy world, numerous miniatures were built, such as 1:72 scale miniature of Minas Tirith, which rises 7m high and is 6.5m in diameter. 1:14 scale sections of the city were also required, and the Extended Edition scene of the collapsing City of the Dead has 80,000 small skulls, amounting in total to a single cubic meter.[24] The miniatures team concluded in November with the Black Gate, after 1000 days of shooting, and the final digital effects shot done was the Ring's destruction, on 25 November.[39]

Sound effects

The Sound department spent the early part of the year searching for the right sounds. A Tasmanian devil was Shelob's shriek, which in turn gave inspiration for Weta's animators, while the mûmakil is the beginning and end of a lion roar. Human screams and a donkey screech were mixed into Sauron's fall and broken glass was used for the collapsing sounds. For missile trading during Minas Tirith's siege, construction workers dropped actual 2 ton stone blocks previously lifted by a construction crane. Mixing began at a new studio on 15 August, although unfinished building work caused some annoyances.[41] The mixers finished on 15 November, after three months of non-stop work.[39]

Score

Main article: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (soundtrack)

See also: Music of The Lord of the Rings film series

"Into the West" (performed by Annie Lennox)

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Written by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, and Annie Lennox, this selected song won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 76th Academy Awards. It also won a Grammy for Best Film Song.

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The music was composed by Howard Shore, who previously composed the first two parts of the trilogy. Shore watched the assembly cut of the film,[33] and had to write seven minutes of music per day to keep up with the schedule.[39] The score sees the full introduction of the Gondor theme, originally heard during Boromir's speeches at the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring and at Osgiliath in The Two Towers' Extended Edition. Actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler also contributed to the film's music. Boyd sings on screen as Faramir charges towards Osgiliath, Mortensen sings on screen as he is crowned King, and in the Extended Edition Tyler sings as Aragorn heals Éowyn.

Renée Fleming, Ben Del Maestro and James Galway also contribute to the soundtrack. Fleming sings as Arwen has a vision of her son and when Gollum recovers the One Ring. Del Maestro sings when Gandalf lights his staff to save fleeing Gondorian soldiers from Osgiliath as the Nazgûl attack. Galway plays the flute as Frodo and Sam climb Mount Doom. 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 who had befriended Peter Jackson.[33]

Release
After two years of attention and acclaim since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, audience and critical anticipation for the final instalment was extremely high. The world premiere was held in Wellington's Embassy Theatre, on 1 December 2003, and was attended by the director and many of the stars. It was estimated that over 100,000 people lined the streets, more than a quarter of the city's population.[42]

Box office

The film earned $377,845,905 in the United States and Canada and $742,083,616 in other countries for a worldwide total of $1,119,929,521. Worldwide, it is the thirteenth highest-grossing film when not adjusted for inflation,[43] the highest-grossing 2003 film[44] and the highest-grossing instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.[45] It was the second film in history to earn over $1 billion, making it the second highest grossing film at the time.

In the US and Canada, it is the twenty-sixth highest-grossing film,[46] the highest-grossing 2003 film,[47] and the highest-grossing instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.[45] The film set an opening Wednesday record with $34.5 million.[48] This record was first surpassed by Spider-Man 2 and ranks as the seventh largest Wednesday opening.[49] The film opened a day earlier for a midnight showing and it accounted for about $8 million. This was nearly twice the first-day total of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (which earned $18.2 million on its opening day in 2001), and a significant increase over The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as well (which earned $26.1 million on its debut in 2002). Part of the grosses came from the Trilogy Tuesday event, in which the Extended Editions of the first two films were played on 16 December before the first midnight screening. It went on to make an opening weekend of $72.6 million ($124.1 million with weekday previews).[50] Its Friday-to-Sunday opening weekend was a record-high for December (first surpassed by I Am Legend).[51] The film also set single-day records for Christmas Day and New Year's Day (both first surpassed by Meet the Fockers).[52][53]

Outside the US and Canada, it is the seventh highest-grossing film,[54] the highest-grossing 2003 film[55] and the highest-grossing film of the trilogy.[45] On its first day (Wednesday, 17 December 2003), the film earned $23.5 million from 19 countries[48] and, during the 5-day weekend as a whole, it set an opening-weekend record outside the US and Canada with $125.9 million.[56] It set opening-day records in 13 of them, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Scandinavia (as well as separately in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark), Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico.[48][56] It set opening-weekend records in the United Kingdom ($26.5 million in five days), Germany, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. In New Zealand, where filming took place, the film set opening day, opening weekend, single-day, Friday gross, Saturday gross and Sunday gross records with $1.7 million in four days.[56]

The substantial increase in initial box office totals caused optimistic studio executives to forecast that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King would surpass The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in total earnings. If this proved to be true, then this would be the first blockbuster movie trilogy for each successive film to earn more at the box office than its predecessor, when all three films were blockbuster successes. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has helped The Lord of the Rings franchise to become the highest-grossing motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time with $2,917,506,956, beating other notable ones such as the Star Wars trilogies,[57] and surviving from being out-grossed by subsequent trilogies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter, despite ticket price inflation.

These figures do not include income from DVD sales, TV rights, etc. It has been estimated[58] 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 following an investment of $300 million ($426 million including marketing costs).

Critical response

The Return of the King holds a 95% "Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 261 reviews, with an average score of 8.7. The site's main consensus reads "Visually breathtaking and emotionally powerful, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a moving and satisfying conclusion to a great trilogy".[59] The film holds a score of 94 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[60]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave three and a half stars out of four saying, ""Return of the King" is such a crowning achievement, such a visionary use of all the tools of special effects, such a pure spectacle, that it can be enjoyed even by those who have not seen the first two films."[61] Richard Corliss of Time named it the best film of the year.[62] The main criticism of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was its running time, particularly the epilogue; even rave reviews for the film commented on its length. Joel Siegel of Good Morning America said in his review for the film (which he gave an 'A'): "If it didn't take forty-five minutes to end, it'd be my best picture of the year. As it is, it's just one of the great achievements in film history."[63] There was also criticism regarding the Army of the Dead's appearance, rapidly ending the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.[64]

In February 2004, a few months following release, the film was voted as No. 8 on Empire's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, compiled from readers' top 10 lists. This forced the magazine to abandon its policy of only allowing films being older than 12 months to be eligible.[65] In 2007, Total Film named The Return of the King the third best film of the past decade (Total Film's publication time), behind The Matrix and Fight Club.[66]

In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.[67]

Accolades

Academy Awards

1. Best Picture 2. Best Director 3. Best Adapted Screenplay 4. Best Original Score 5. Best Original Song 6. Best Visual Effects 7. Best Art Direction 8. Best Costume Design 9. Best Make-up 10. Best Sound Mixing 11. Best Film Editing

Main article: List of accolades received by The Lord of the Rings film series

The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. At the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, the film won all the categories for which it was nominated and it holds the record for highest Academy Award totals along with Titanic and Ben Hur.[68]

The film also won four Golden Globes (including Best Picture for Drama and Best Director),[69][70][71] five BAFTAs, two MTV Movie Awards, two Grammy Awards, nine Saturn Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Picture, the Nebula Award for Best Script, and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

The film was nominated for the 10th Anniversary Edition of AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies.[72]

Home media

The theatrical edition of the film was released on VHS and DVD on 25 May 2004. The DVD was a 2-disc set with extras on the second disc. The theatrical DVD sets for the two previous films 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). However, it contained a seven-minute trailer of the entire trilogy.

The Return of the King followed the precedent set by its predecessors by releasing an Extended Edition (251 minutes) with new editing and added special effects and music, along with four commentaries and six hours of supplementary material, plus 10 minutes of fan-club credits. However, this set took longer to produce than the others because the cast and crew, no longer based in New Zealand for the trilogy, were spread all over the world working on other projects.[73] The set was finally released on 10 December 2004 in the UK and 14 December in the US 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. The DVD has a DTS-ES soundtrack. The DVD also features two humorous Easter Eggs, one where Dominic Monaghan plays a German interviewer with Elijah Wood via satellite and another where Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller attempt to convince Jackson to make a sequel, originally shown at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards. Both can be accessed via a Ring icon on the last page of both Disc 1 and 2's scene indexes. On 29 August 2006, a Limited Edition of The Return of the King was released. This Limited Edition contains two discs; the first is a two-sided DVD containing both the Theatrical and Extended editions of the film. The second disc is a bonus disc that contains a new behind-the-scenes documentary.

The theatrical Blu-ray release was released in the United States on 6 April 2010.[74] The individual Blu-ray disc of The Return of the King was released on 14 September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, except there was no digital copy.[75] The Extended Edition was released in the United States on 28 June 2011.[76] It has a runtime of 263 minutes.[77]