Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
- Won 11 Oscars
- 215 wins & 124 nominations total
- Elanor Gamgee
- (as Alexandra Astin)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSince John Rhys-Davies suffered constant rashes from wearing the Gimli make-up, the make-up department gave him the opportunity to throw his Gimli mask into the fire on his last day of pick-up photography. He didn't hesitate a moment to grab and burn it.
- GoofsWhen Denethor catches fire, he is in the Hallows of Minas Tirith, yet he plummets off the prow of the city, which is "... about a mile..." away. Peter Jackson admitted this in the DVD commentary.
- Quotes
Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*
- Crazy creditsPeter Jackson's and Fran Walsh's children are listed in the credits as 'Cute Gondor children'. In the Fellowship of the Ring, they were 'Cute Hobbit children' and in The Two Towers, they were 'Cute Rohan children'.
- Alternate versionsThere are four versions available. Runtimes are: 1) "3h 21m (201 min)"--the original theatrical release; 2) "4h 23m (263 min) (Blu-Ray Extended Edition)"; 3) "4h 14m (254 min) (Special DVD Extended Edition)"; 4) "3h 12m (192 min) (DVD Widescreen Edition)".
- ConnectionsEdited from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- SoundtracksInto the West
Words and Music by Howard Shore, Fran Walsh, and Annie Lennox
Performed by Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox appears courtesy of BMG Ariola Munchen GmbH
"Return of the King" is 4 hours of payoff, a third act in a gigantic epic rather than a mere film of its own. As such it is intensely dramatic and dynamic and you can very much sense that though peter Jackson spared no effort on the previous episodes, this is clearly his favorite. the film floats by at a thunderous pace, taking us through unforgettable moments such as the battle of Minas Tirith itself, a marvel of seamless animation and epic film-making, it demands to be seen, as it has too many jaw-dropping moments to choose from. The quieter character moments keep gaining in potency and the full weight of the stakes and their heartbreaking consequences is never in doubt.
The cast of these films have played their parts to perfection and again Jackson deserves overall credit for choosing actors that so perfectly match Tlolkien's creations: Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee are their own usually excellent selves, and the hobbits remain endearing, but of all the uniformly great cast, the true standouts are Viggo Mortensen and David Wenham as the tragic Faramir, whose relationship with his brutish father is the most traumatic of the film. Jackson pushes them even further by having them sing at a few key moments (a practice employed to powerful effect by Tolkien in the books), a daring undertaking that works wonders. And though he may offer one ending too many, he does have the decency to show off each surviving character with the appropriate screen time and respect.
Now that the trilogy is complete, it can be viewed as one big film, as it should be. After 8 years, Jackson has done the impossible: he has taken Tolkien's huge legend and made films that stand on their own and have revolutionized film-making, setting the new benchmark for cinematic epics. Changes have been made to Tolkien's source novels, but they make for better, more fluid films, more faithful in spirit to Tolkien's myth than anyone had the right to hope for.
A masterpiece, whether as part of a bigger whole or on its own. Well deserving of all the high praise thrown at it, and then some...
- OttoVonB
- Nov 21, 2006
Everything New on Prime Video in August
Everything New on Prime Video in August
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $94,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $381,878,219
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $72,629,713
- Dec 21, 2003
- Gross worldwide
- $1,151,462,071
- Runtime3 hours 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1