Eh, don't let 'em rattle you. I haven't read the books either. I tried to read The Hobbit once, but I was too old, and put it down after a few pages.
My husband, the delightful Bear in RoseBear, had to drag me to the first movie --- based on my bad experience with The Hobbit, I wasn't expecting much. Of course, by Bilbo's birthday bash, I was entranced; by the time the Fellowship formed, I was asking questions every few seconds (yeah, I'm like that in movies --- my husband is a furry saint); by the end of the movie, I was ready for the next installment ... right then and there!
The movie trilogy, which is based on the Lord of the Rings book trilogy, takes place many years after The Hobbit. The hero of The Hobbit is Frodo's uncle, Bilbo. The adventures of Gandalf and Bilbo and the others will stretch over two movies nicely --- from what I'm told, there's huge chunks of good stuff that was left out of the Lord of the Rings movies.
I'm looking forward to it!
What led you to the Lord of the Rings movies?
No doubt, they wanted to be found.
You asked “What led you to the Lord of the Rings movies?”
Media hype and peer pressure :)
It’s like “Star Wars is so over” (reaction to “Phantom Menace” and Jar-Jar-Hatred) and this was the next “cool” thing.
Once I saw the first one though I had to go back for more. Especially since there was so much it was like I was supposed to know already, like “2001 A Space Odyssey”. I think I saw it four weekends straight and then borrowed the DVD right before going to the second one.