The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy consists of three live action fantasy epic films: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and Return of the King (2003) (often abbreviated to LotR for the trilogy, and FotR, TTT, and RotK for the individual films).[1] The trilogy is based on the three-volume book The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. While they follow the book's general storyline, the films also feature some additions to and deviations from the source material.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the three films follow the young hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, and thus ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship becomes divided and Frodo continues the quest together with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, the wizard Gandalf and Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, unite and rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, who are ultimately victorious in the War of the Ring.

The films were directed by Peter Jackson and distributed by New Line Cinema. Considered to be one of the biggest movie projects ever undertaken, with an overall budget of $280 million, the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand. Each film in the trilogy also had Special Extended Editions, released on DVD a year after the theatrical releases.

The trilogy was a great financial success, with the films being the 15th, 8th, and 2nd highest-grossing films of all time, respectively, unadjusted for inflation. The films were critically acclaimed, winning 17 out of 30 Academy Awards nominated in total, and received wide praise for the cast and for the innovative practical and digital special effects.[2][3][4]

Jackson is collaborating with Guillermo del Toro on two prequels, one of which will be an adaptation of The Hobbit, for release in 2011 and 2012.

Production design

Jackson began storyboarding the trilogy with Christian Rivers in August 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time.^[15] Jackson hired long-time collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetics/make-up, creatures, and miniatures. In November 1997,^[10] famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project. Most of the imagery in the films is based on their various illustrations.^[16] Grant Major was charged with the task of converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, whilst Dan Hennah worked as art director, scouting locations and organizing the building of sets.

Jackson's vision of Middle-earth was described as being "Ray Harryhausen meets David Lean" by Randy Cook.^[17] Jackson wanted a gritty realism and historical regard for the fantasy, and attempted to make the world rational and believable. For example, the New Zealand Army helped build Hobbiton months before filming began so the plants could really grow.^[18] Creatures were designed to be biologically believable, such as the enormous wings of the Fell beast to help it fly.^[19] In total, 48,000 pieces of armour, 500 bows, and 10,000 arrows were created by Weta Workshop.^[20] They also created many prosthetics, such as 1,800 pairs of Hobbit feet for the lead actors,^[10] as well as many ears, noses, and heads for the cast, and around 19,000 costumes were woven and aged.^[10] Every prop was specially designed by the Art Department, taking the different scales into account.[10



Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_film_trilogy