Saw ROTK Today *SPOILERS*

No Mouth Of Sauron.

Grrrr.

Aragorn never looked into the Palantir

Grrrrrrrr.

Otherwise it was absolutely incredible. The Siege of Gondor was breathtaking. Although I think they should have done a little slow motion when Eowyn slew the Witch King. It seemed to go by to fast. Maybe just because it was cool.

Also I think they should have delved a little bit into the Eowyn/Faramir relationship as it's kind of symbolic of the coming together of man under the King of Men.

Also the end seemed kind of short, I expected to see Gandalf explain that this would now be a time for men, magic is leaving Middle Earth, etc. etc. etc.

But absolutely worth every penny of admission. Can't wait for the extended DVD.

[Micheleh]

I want to know if they have the whole Shire rebellion part. It can't be the same without it.

Nope, no shire rebellion.

[Micheleh]

Figures.

[Starbuck]

I'm going to see it on Sunday.

[lordpenquin]

http://www.theonering.net/movie/char/mouth.html

This person is listed as being cast as the mouth of sauron. I wonder if they wrote the part out, or if they actually filmed it and it will be in the extended edition. Another odd thing was that orc captain. They kept focusing in on his hand at least 3 times that I can remember. Have we seen him before? Was there some flashback scene cut out to establish why his hand was so important?

Lots of missed things will make the extended editions. I've seen footage from The houses of healing and Marry pledging his service to Theoden. What it comes to is length. Even with all they cut out the film is still the longest of the trilogy. Expect the EE to include : Saruman, Aragorn and the Palantir, Marry and Theoden, The Mouth of Sauron, Houses of Healing, Frodo and Sam marching with Orcs, and I'm sure extensions to and deviations from scenes that appeared in the theatrical cut.

I can't wait for the EE

[BST]

Well, my family and I finally went to see ROTK! We purposely waited until after the holidays, to let the crowds die down a bit and it turned out great. There were about 30 people in the whole theatre and it had the feel of a "private showing".

OMG, to quote my daughter's "review": IT WAS AWESOME!!

I have quite literally never been so "glued to the seat" as I was with this movie. I've been on a cloud for the last 3 years since the trilogy began just by the fact that the stories were being brought to life and I was not disappointed. Well, let me say that there was only 1 area of disappointment about the movie and that was seeing the words: "The End". The knowledge that there are no more chapters to the story is the only thing that makes seeing ROTK bittersweet.

I won't critique it, much, except to say that the movies served their primary purpose, for me, which was to entertain. I agree with JJ, about the siege at Gondor, it was breathtaking!! The final battle scene, the fall of the "Eye", and Mount Doom's eruption scenes were also incredible!

I could go on and on about this but, suffice it to say that this movie, for me, was not only worth the price of admission but, I would have paid DOUBLE the price. I was that blown away!!




BST

[BST]

Some numbers that I pulled off imdb, for perspective --

Fellowship Of The Ring -

• $313M gross (to date),
  $93M budget,
  $205M gross as of 010602

The Two Towers -

• $340M gross (to date),
  $94M budget,
  $261M gross as of 010503, $200M as of 122902

Return Of The King -

• $242M gross (to date),
  $94M budget,
  $242M gross as of 010104

If Return of the King continues on its course, it should surpass The Two Towers, in terms of gross receipts. If it reaches $347M, the trilogy will have accounted for a staggering $1,000,000,000 in revenue!!

In-credible!!!

[jewels]

BST: are those just ticket sales figures, without dvd sales?

RotK was awesome. Loved it. I understand both why there was no Dead Marshes and no scouring of the Shire. They lacked the dramatic intensity visually between the fight with Shelob, the confrontation in the (place name escapes me) land inside the mountain of the dead, and the siege of Minas Tirith. Eowyn ROCKED! Excellent! I was so glad they kept Arwen in and finished that part right. And that they kept the part where Aragorn bows to the 4 Hobbits, and all of Gondor and their guests bow too.

Oh, and if it doesn't get best picture: The Academy should be marginalized into unimportance forever. (I so hate when they seem to avoid a wonderful creative project, just because it was overwhelmingly popular.)

2 questions as it's been 15 yrs since I read the trilogy:
Did Elrond not have Ilsildur's sword reforged before the fellowship set out from Rivendell and present it to Aragorn then rather than at the Encampement of the Rhorrihm (sp?--Rohan)?

Weren't Elrond and Legolas on the same ship with Gandalf, Celeborn, and Galadriel--they remarked about the 3 rings time being past in the harbor: but those were held by Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel. Could have sworn they all left Grey Havens at the same time.....?

Jewels

[Dawg]

If memory serves, jewels, the answer to both questions is "yes."

I'm pretty certain about the sword, but I really don't remember clearly if all the elves were on the ship.

I am
Dawg

[jewels]

Dawg: do you know what my signature is about? the part of the poem that I didn't write out was in ROTK.

[Dawg]

I recognize the poem, of course, but I can't nail it down - it's been a couple of years since I read LOTR.

I am
Dawg

[Starbuck]

Originally posted by jewels
Weren't Elrond and Legolas on the same ship with Gandalf, Celeborn, and Galadriel--they remarked about the 3 rings time being past in the harbor: but those were held by Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel. Could have sworn they all left Grey Havens at the same time.....?

It's been awhile since I read the books, but I'm quite sure Legolas went to the Grey Havens much later than the other elves, after Aragon's death. He took Gimli with him.

[BST]

Originally posted by Jewels

BST: are those just ticket sales figures, without dvd sales?

Jewels,

Those are just box-office receipts and only for the USA. I didn't factor in the worldwide box-office receipts due to them being in terms of the other countries' currencies. (I would have needed the exchange rates for the other currencies vs. the US dollar for that period of time to give an accurate portrayal.)

FYI: the 'general link' that I used was:

www.imdb.com

Then, I did a search on 'Lord of the Rings'. That way enabled me to jump back and forth from FOTR to TTT to ROTK and so forth.


BST

[BST]

Update:

IMDB finally updated the box-office receipts for ROTK, which are below. I've also added the 'similar time period' totals for TTT and FOTR, for comparison:

• $329,040,393 (USA) (18 January 2004) Return of the King
  
  
• $300,122,052 (USA) (19 January 2003) The Two Towers
  
  
• $248,212,887 (USA) (20 January 2002) Fellowship of the Ring