The NEW Boxoffice King

[Black Breathalizer]

Look out, Titanic. Your reign as the world's boxoffice king will soon be over. Either at the end of TTT's run or at the very beginning of The Return of the King, movie ticket sales will mark LOTR as the most popular story ever seen in cinemas.

Okay, it's true that Titanic was one movie and LOTR is three. Maybe this means LOTR will have to have an astrick. But there is no denying the fact that unlike Star Wars, OO7, Indiana Jones, Terminator, or other movies with follow-up sequels, Lord of the Rings was always designed as ONE STORY told through three movies. So I do believe it is valid to add the revenue from all three movies together when comparing it to Titanic and other movies.

It's just more piece of evidence that Tolkien's story continues to strike a responsive cord with generation after generation. It has been Number 1 with book sales now it's Number 1 in movie ticket sales. Add to the ticket sales, the DVD sales and tape rentals and you have the biggest blockbuster by far of all time.

So move over, Star Wars and Titanic fans. We're No. 1!!! We're No. 1!!!

[Elvellyn]

Yes I agree with you. LotR is one story.
Go LotR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nurvingiel]

LotR is one story, it was written that way, and the movies are designed along the same lines.

I'm just paraphrasing here, but PJ said he wanted the transition from FotR to TTT to be like you went out into the lobby for a 1 year long pop-corn break, and then came back to your seat, and TTT was playing, seamlessly.

So LotR totally deserves to be the Box-office King, not only is it a great movie, but it's ten hours long!

[Andúril]

Uh, isn't Star Wars one story told through six movies?

[Elvedans]

Kind of, but each one has it's own mini saga so I suppose you could say that they just have a common theme. Well actually you're right! I don't know I confused GET ME OUT OF HERE!

[Andúril]

BB:
Look out, Titanic. Your reign as the world's boxoffice king will soon be over.

Why? What film do you think is going to gross more than $1,835,400,000 worldwide?

Oh, and while you think about that, remember that LotR is not a film.

[Insidious Rex]

on a related note: something Ive never understood. How did Titanic manage to make so much money? Did people really go out and see it like 10 times each? I dont remember really.

Anyway, Lord of the Rings is currently the 5th most grossing film of all time and Two Towers could very well pass it when its all said and done (currently its 12th). But it would take quite a finish for it to surpass that incredible Titanic number.

[Black Breathalizer]

Originally posted by Andúril
Why? What film do you think is going to bring in more than $1,835,400,000?

Add the take for FOTR and TTT together. Then add another billion in ticket sales for ROTK. The sum = a new box office king, LOTR.

Regarding SW: Lucas wrote Star Wars. It made alot of money so he decided to expand it into 9 parts (later revised to 6.) But Star Wars was written, produced, and filmed as one single story. If it had bombed, there would have never been an Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi. From the very beginning, LOTR was a totally different deal.

[WallRocker]

Originally posted by Andúril
Oh, and while you think about that, remember that LotR is not a film.

How is LotR not a film? Also, BB I think that the LotR moives should be the box-office king(s), but I don't think the masses will see it that way sigh.

[Black Breathalizer]

I understand that most people won't see it the same way we do, but I still believe it's a very valid way of looking at it. Parts of the Academy Awards evidently agree because some categories have decided not to recognize many of the people who worked on TTT because they were already recognized in FOTR. They view it all as one production.

So I say we should take that view a step further. From now on, LOTR should be viewed as one production when looking at box office totals and DVD sales. This will be especially true when all three are out on DVD and sold as a package. The reason why this won't be accepted (at least right now) is because we've become conditioned to Star Wars II, Nightmare on Elm Street 6, etc, movie sequels and so a lot of film people don't understand how dramatically different LOTR is from a typical hollywood sequel. Am I the only one who was irritated last December to read about "LOTR 2", the sequel to the popular first LOTR film???

The sad thing is that Jackson and New Line have TOTALLY REDEFINED the concept of the sequel but no one seems to have noticed or paid any media attention to it.

[Nurvingiel]

I can see your point there BB, and I think it sucks too. But if you make a movie and it's huge, and it gets talked about in the media, eventually, it will get Hollywoodified. It just something we have to accept, like gravity. This doesn't take away from the fact that LotR is a better movie than Titanic, IMO.

Besides, how much movie a movie makes doesn't reflect on its quality - partly because of vastly inflated ticket prices. The true box office king, over the course of history, is Gone With the Wind. But it's hard to compare movies of different eras, which is why LotR is the King today.

To help out the masses, tell people to think of TTT not as a sequel, but as part 2. Because that's what it is.

[Lollypopgurl]

I agree too. Didn't Tolkien want it all to be one book???

[BeardofPants]

Star Wars is one story as well. That is why they're called episodes.

[Nurvingiel]

Could an episode be considered a sequel? I really enjoyed the original Star Wars, and it flowed easily between episodes, but I still thought of them as sequels.

[BeardofPants]

ep·i·sode Audio pronunciation of episode ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-sd)
n.

1. An incident or event that is part of a progression or a larger sequence: “South Africa may remain one of history's most tragic episodes” (Bayard Rustin).
2. One of a series of related events in the course of a continuous account. See Synonyms at occurrence.
3. A portion of a narrative that relates an event or a series of connected events and forms a coherent story in itself; an incident.

[Nurvingiel]

Okay, so Star Wars is one movie too then, even longer than LotR! Except... would the first three be considered a set, and a prequel to the last three?

[Huan]

This box office record thing is what has all but killed movies. Okay, the original Star Wars flicks are my favorite movies, but in terms of box office, they have contributed to the studios' fixation on the idea that setting some record is more important than letting a good quality film gather its own following. No film today gets the chance to survive past its first couple weekends. And the box office records are meaningless anyway, since one blockbuster begets more. It's just a big arms race. First there was Jaws, then Star Wars, then The Empire Strikes Back, then ET, then Return of the Jedi, and years later people are still yapping about how big a deal it is that Jurassic Park beat the previous contender, then it's Titanic, and soon it will be Lord of the Rings, maybe. This particular factor has ceased to mean a thing, but the studios will keep churning out utter ca-rap while they still believe box office records mean something.
And yes, Insidious Rex, Titanic did that kind of repeat business, believe it or not. The guys liked the special effects, and the girls just kept buying tickets. My ex dragged me to that thing like nine times in the theaters (of course, I dragged her to the Star Wars re-releases thirty times, so I win!).

[Black Breathalizer]

Star Wars (the first movie) was a self-contained story with a beginning, middle, and end. Lucas realized he had a blockbuster on his hands and evolved it into a larger story with with a more episode-like nature with the Empire Strikes Back. At the time, one of the negative comments about the film was the way the audience was left hanging regarding Han Solo's fate.

The LOTR movies were always designed - like the books - to be one continuous story. One of the reasons that Rouper of Siskel and Rouper panned FOTR when it first came out is because he complained the movie didn't have an ending. (duh) But even when it was explained to him that it was one of three parts, he said at the time that a movie should always have a beginning, middle, and end, no matter what. The funny thing is, Rouper changed his tune this time around with TTT. I guess he decided he didn't want to continue looking like a complete idiot.

[Aranwe]

LOTR can't be considered as one movie, because if you want to see the full story you have to pay for 3 movie tickets. That'd be like someone having to pay 3x as much to go and see titanic.

I think LOTR is way better but the only thing you can compare it with is Star Wars eps. 1-3. Episodes 4-6 were made years ago - they've had longer to make money but they were also released when cinema tickets didn't cost the same as they do now.

If ONE of the LOTR movies beats Titanic thats different, but I doubt any will. Titanic was crappy tho

[Elf.Freak]

Originally posted by Aranwe
Titanic was crappy tho

i agree!