'Return of the King' Rakes in $8 Million From Midnight Showings

Associated Press ^ | Dec 17, 2003 | David Germain

[BenLurkin]

The midnight hour proved profitable for Frodo and the gang. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in an estimated $8 million domestically from 2,100 midnight screenings Wednesday, according to distributor New Line Cinema.

That was about double the haul for midnight screenings of last year's middle chapter, "The Two Towers." That film played in about half as many theaters for those midnight showings.

Results from the midnight screenings alone were almost half the $18.2 million that part one, "The Fellowship of the Ring," took in over its entire first day two years ago. The midnight showings rang up nearly a third of the $26.2 million total first-day grosses for "The Two Towers."

New Line executives hope the fast start for "Return of the King" will propel it beyond the worldwide totals for "Fellowship of the Ring" ($861 million) and "Two Towers" ($921 million"). The movie could become the second to surpass $1 billion worldwide, following "Titanic," which grossed $1.8 billion.

"This thing is so gigantic, we really don't know where we're going," said New Line head of domestic distribution David Tuckerman. "We finally have a movie with an ending, and it ties everything together. This movie emotionally is far more satisfying than the other two, and the battle scenes are better. But there's a finite group of people who will go to see movies, so who knows how high it will go?"

After the midnight debut, "The Return of the King" widened to 3,702 theaters for daytime and evening screenings Wednesday, and New Line reported strong ticket sales for those later showings.

New Line said box-office results for the full first day would be available Thursday.

Directed by Peter Jackson, the three films are adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic about pint-sized hobbit Frodo Baggins' quest to destroy a ring of ultimate evil, whose power threatens the mythical land of Middle-earth.

The trilogy's ensemble cast includes Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies as allies in his mission.

[Charles Henrickson]

I saw the movie this morning at a special 10:15 time. Theatre was mostly full, but not sold out. When I got out, people were lined up down the block for the 2:30 showing.

The movie was terrific! I hated for the story to finally end.

[PMCarey]

Our local theatre was completely sold out today.

Every screen.

Every showing.

[Stephen Ritter]

"I hated for the story to finally end."

There's always "The Hobbit" ... ah, yes, a PREQUEL! ... and "The Silmarillion"!

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

There and Back Again: The Journeys of Flat Frodo

Anyone wishing to be added to or removed from the Ring-Ping list, please don't hesitate to let me know.

[Cap'n Crunch]

saw the movie last night. wow... gonna go again...

[StrictTime]

I'm jealous. We are waiting until the whole family can go (Fri. afternoon after school). We saw FOTR twice in the theaters and TTT three times in the theaters. ROTK will get us four times??? I expect A LOT of fans will pay to see this movie several times; I wonder if the studio people have a projection for multiple viewing $$.

We have been prepping by watching the EE of both of the first movies for the last month. Yes, we're GEEKS :)

[Marie Antoinette]

We waited in line for over half an hour and the movie sold out before we got our tickets :-( Small towns, no advance tix or online ordering :-( With 6 kids, hectic schedule, and limited babysitting around the holidays that was our only chance this week.

Whine whine whine!

[StrictTime]

Good luck! I'm still trying to decide which theater; I do know enough to avoid the malls at all costs...:)

[Cap'n Crunch]

We're terrible here too, I don't know how many times we've watched the extended versions of the first two movies.

I'm thrilled that my kids love the series and have read the books, my youngest is 10 and oldest is 19 (of 5). And they came out of the movie very excited.

There is so much action in this movie you have to see it a couple of times to catch it all, I think every time I go I'll see something that I hadn't seen before.

It was great and I can't wait to go again.

[Cap'n Crunch]

I hope hollyweird sees how much people enjoy seeing a film with heroes defeating evil instead of mindless hedonism du jour.

[StrictTime]

Well, we went to see it after school yesterday (Fri). It only made my tear up in three places:^) I am a big fan of the books,too; I've even read the Simarillion twice and am trying to get through the "Unfinished Tales" book (yikes). That said, I would have done things differently in places--in fact, I think that this is my least favorite of the Rings movies because they had to condense the story way too much. I think they could have added 1 1/2 hours and filled it out a little (haha!). But that doesn't mean I didn't love the movie.

I agree that the message the sucess of this movie sends to the studio chiefs is an important one. That "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" is now being made is proof that the worm might be turning...

[StrictTime]

And by the way, my kids (all boys, 11, 8, and 4! oops, Bad Mom Alert) thought the movie was GREAT. They were just disappointed to see it all end :)

[Cap'n Crunch]

I would have liked to see a couple more movies also, too bad they couldn't have stretched it to 5 movies.

Maybe they'll make The Hobbit. Now I'm looking forward to Mel Gibson's "The Passion." I'll be crying like a baby during that one.

[sweetliberty]

"I hated for the story to finally end."

That was how I felt when I first read the books. I have seen Return of the King twice now, but still don't quite have the feeling of finality of the books. I think it's because I'm holding out for the extended version next year and also hope that PJ will secure the rights to do the Hobbit.