Rings hits $1 bn world box-office mark

ndtv/boxofficemojo ^ | Tuesday, February 24, 2004: (Los Angeles)

[maquiladora]

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, already this year's most nominated Oscar film, has become the second movie ever to break the $1 billion box-office mark worldwide, and did so in record time, distributor New Line Cinema reported.

The conclusion to director Peter Jackson's fantasy trilogy, based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien, now ranks as the second-highest-grossing film of all time after the 1997 sea-going romance Titanic, which cruised to $1.8 billion in global receipts.

But Return of the King crossed the 10-figure threshold in less time, getting there in fewer than 10 weeks from its December 17 opening, compared with the Titanic, which hit the billion-dollar mark as it entered its 11th week of release.

[maquiladora]

Ringping ka-ching! $$$$

[grellis]

Can't wait until it sinks Titanic!

Sorry...it was too easy.

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

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

[Bella_Bru]

Thnaks for the ping! :)

[HairOfTheDog]

Can't wait until it sinks Titanic!

Donate $7-$10 and go see it again!

[grellis]

Before I see it again, I'm going to babysit my niece so my sister and brother-in-law can see it a first time. Sis won't read the book until she sees "ROTK".

[My back yard]

Just wow! That's a 1 and how many zeros?

[Faraday]

It is extremely unlikely that ROTK will surpass the worldwide Titanic gross. FWIW, according to boxofficemojo, LOTR has the highest worldwide gross of all time for film trilogies at $2.802 billion. Second place is Jurassic Park at $1.902 billion. Second place will be assumed by Harry Potter after The Prisoner of Azkaban is released.

[Professional Engineer]

Three or four.

[SamAdams76]

But Harry Potter isn't a true trilogy. I believe seven movies are being planned total.

[Faraday]

True enough. Hollywood will usually continue to milk a theme as long as the franchise is paying off, ala James Bond, Star Trek, Alien, etc. Harry Potter, being based on an actual set of books, will (probably) be restricted to that canon.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Donate $7-$10 and go see it again!

I'll wait to see it at home for the second time. I thought it was too long to see it again at the theater.

[BradyLS]

I'm so happy! This means there'll be another trilogy! And more licensed products! Must... remember... to breath!!!

[BradyLS]

...And spell!

[SuziQ]

Sure hope it continues to haul in the dough and blows right past Titanic!

[SuziQ]

It is extremely unlikely that ROTK will surpass the worldwide Titanic gross

I don't agree. It was only released in Japan on Feb. 14th! I wonder in how many other countries it has only recently been released and how much money will come in from those places?

[Faraday]

There were very few major markets that were held back in the release of ROTK. Japan was one of the few, and it was the last major market (along with Italy, I think) to open. Even if ROTK doubles the take of TTT in Japan, ROTK will still end up with "only" about $1.1 B world wide. This is a huge accomplishment. Peter Jackson has accomplished in the film domain what JRR Tolkien did in the fiction novel.

[Stopislamnow]

Silmarillion would be nice. Maybe a trilogy/trilogy for it.

[BradyLS]

A trilogy of trilogies? Ironically, the Silmarillion would give Hollywood the most lattiude in writing a text (i.e., they can make it as excreable as they want) since little of the Silmarillion contains dialogue between the characters.

The Tale of Beren and Luthien would be obvious. The Fall of Numenor. The Tale of Turin Turambar. The Fall of Gondolin... Lots of material to build a story around.

I think CS Lewis' "Space Trilogy" consisting of _Out of the Silent Planet,_ _Perelandera,_ and _That Hideous Strength_ would make an excellent set of films. If Mel Gobson is familiar with the works, I'd certainly trust him to do it.