The Lord of the Rings trilogy - they are going to be the biggest films of all time.

[ak]

Having researched this area quite a lot recently it has only just become apparent to me how massive the cult following for the books is. I have also spoken to many people who have read the books and absolutely love them.
By some i have been accused of over-hyping the films, this will die-down in time, until the release, but i can see, through pictures alone, the quality of these films is going to be immense.
Peter Jackson is the perfect director having made some very good films, his use of cinematography is amazing, and can only be matched by Tim Burton and Ridley Scott. His choice of actors is only a good thing, casting Ian McKellan as Gandalf was a stroke of genius and the rest of the cast is very strong and may carry the story well.

What more could you want from modern cinema?
-great story
-excellent cast
-great actors
-potential for the most visually stunning scenes in film
-great action
-real emotion
-the story is sad, exciting, emotional, tense, conflicting, passionate and many other things, appealing to many people for what it may be and to what issues it may deal with. The story of the Hobbits taken on a daring and dangerous mission from their almost perfect, no-worries kinda life into the darkest, deepest shit possible is amazing. I won't spoil it for anyone who wishes to see the films without reading the books, or who haven't read the books but want to, but what i'm saying is, your in for one emotional ride.

When Peter Jackson said the films should be neither childish or too dark confirmed my confidence in these films, and they may well turn out to be movie masterpieces of the highest order. We shall see with the upcoming Fellowship of the Ring, and if that is critically adored and massive at the box office, watch out Matrix II!




[This message has been edited by ak (edited 03-10-2001).]

[Snert]

This will be big, but not the biggest of all time..

[Tuukka]

There is nothing wrong of being psyched about LOTR films... Personally I have never expected any film as much as I wait for Fellowship of the ring. Of course it can all go wrong and the final film will be just average or even worse than that.

But this is the first time that anyone has ever even attempted to make anything like LOTR films. A budget that is already north of 300$ million and the final three films will be at least 350$ million. Reportedly it's so much cheaper to shoot in New Zealand that it equals a 700$ million american located film...

Peter Jackson is and has always been a true visionary. Check out Heavenly Creatures, which is an expectional, original film and a visual masterpiece. LOTR films have been a matter of heart for him since he started making movies.

Mainly a great cast... And Jackson has always been very good with actors... He knows how to get the best out of them.

...And most importantly a great story to tell. LOTR is a true epic by it's nature and I will love to see those 300+ million translated to screen with Jackson's inventive visual approach.

And a very important point is that it's not a kiddie film. Jackson has made clear that the films will be just as dark and adult as the book is. Quite often these kind of big fantasy / scifi tales are afraid of taking themselves seriously. It's the Terminator syndrome; First Terminator was dark, scary and low-budget. It's sequel cost ten times as much and was mainly a light and funny action film with some violent scenes. It for sure wasn't scary. Studios are afraid of scaring the mainstream audiences away if they make their film too downbeat and that's why we don't usually see dark and exciting stuff in big films.

LOTR + Peter Jackson + 350$ million + stellar cast + adult approach = The most anticipated film ever (Well, for me anyway).

The rumours are telling that they will show quite a lot of the actual film footage at Cannes this year, so I think that by then we will be better informed if the films are going to work or not.



[This message has been edited by Tuukka (edited 03-09-2001).]

[Gore 4 All]

I love Peter Jackson and think that the guy can do no wrong. Still, I wonder how the bulk of the U.S. will handle if his interpretation of Toliken's fantastic novels are a little, shall we say, obscure. The box office may suffer if the movies aren't particularly family-friendly. Still I could care less about a massive take for the films if they are quality, which I expect them to be.

[Tuukka]

I just recently read an interview from Jackson and he said that while he has promised a PG-13 rating for New Line, he could easily cut an R-rated version of the material they have.

Personally I would be more interested in seeing an R-rated LOTR than a more mainstream friendly PG-13 version. But of course New Line wants to reach the kids also, since it's such an extremely expensive project. So don't expect lots of gore from LOTR.

Happily Jackson has hinted that they might cut R-rated versions of battle scenes when the films are released on DVD. Now that would be extremely cool...

[ak]

...that is excellent news, would those battles be alternative or an actual part of the final edited film on dvd?

[Tuukka]

I wouldn't be surprised if New Line would first release the Pg-13 version and then after one year an R rated version. That way the fans would buy the film twice... Studios will do anything to get as much money as possible...

Personally I hope that they would release the alternative R-rated scenes already in the first DVD release.

[MrWhite]

I WUD RATHER C AN R RATED VERSION THAN A PG-13 KID FRIENDLY FILM! Im not 2 thrilled by the LOTD but I am curious!

[ak]

Well, i wouldn't say that LOTR is going to be kid friendly anyways. The content is just not for kids alone, but personally i wouldn't like to see a lot of violence in the LOTR cause the story doesn't really balance on it and its generally un-needed.

[Tuukka]

When I think about violence in LOTR, I think mainly about the big battle scenes. Jackson has intended to take a sort of Braveheart approach to them, so a bit of realistic gore wouldn't hurt it. But I'm not really that much into violence so it doesn't really mean anything to mean if it's PG-13 or R.

[ak]

I can imagine the fight and battle scenes being very dramatic, i also, in the interent trailer saw i think it was Aragorn fighting some huge git, can someone tell me who he was fighting?