The Lord of the Rings (film series)

The Lord of the Rings
The poster for the series is a montage that features a range of characters and scenes from all three films
Directed by	Peter Jackson
Produced by	Peter Jackson Barrie M. Osborne Fran Walsh
Screenplay by	Peter Jackson Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens Stephen Sinclair (The Two Towers)
Based on	The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Starring	Elijah Wood Ian McKellen Liv Tyler Viggo Mortensen Sean Astin Cate Blanchett John Rhys-Davies Bernard Hill Billy Boyd Dominic Monaghan Orlando Bloom Christopher Lee Hugo Weaving Miranda Otto David Wenham Brad Dourif Karl Urban John Noble Sean Bean Ian Holm Andy Serkis (See below)
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Andrew Lesnie
Edited by	John Gilbert (The Fellowship of the Ring) Michael J. Horton Jabez Olssen (The Two Towers) Jamie Selkirk (The Return of the King)
Production company	WingNut Films The Saul Zaentz Company
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	19 December 2001 (2001-12-19) (The Fellowship of the Ring) 18 December 2002 (2002-12-18) (The Two Towers) 17 December 2003 (2003-12-17) (The Return of the King)
Running time	558 minutes (Theatrical edition length) 682 minutes (Extended edition length) 726 (Extended Blu-Ray edition)
Country	New Zealand United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$281 million
Box office	$3.0 billion (aprox.)

The Lord of the Rings (also promoted as The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy) is a film series consisting of three high fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. They are based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). They were distributed by New Line Cinema.

Considered to be one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with an overall budget of $281 million (some sources say $310-$330 million), the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in New Zealand, Jackson's native country. Each film in the series also had special extended editions released on DVD a year after their respective theatrical releases. While the films follow the book's general storyline, they do omit some of the novel's plot elements and include some additions to and deviations from the source material.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) 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 (Sala Baker). The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest together with his loyal companion Sam (Sean Astin) and the treacherous Gollum (Andy Serkis). Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin, and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) unite to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the War of the Ring.