That's the first indication LOTR's first installment will win the Oscars in the spring. The Academy usually goes for epics and if its commercially successful that's even better. I predict LOTR will sweep most if not all of the nominations on Oscar night.
I haven't yet read the trilogy; am reading
The Hobbit now, but I have read synopses of the three books and have seen FotR twice. ;-) Having read the synopses, I predict the Academy and other film awards groups are going to have a more and more difficult time blessing these movies as the themes -- and Tolkien's faith in Christ -- become more widely known and understood. But I think by the time the third installment comes out, the movies will have taken on a life of their own and will be rather difficult not to honor. That is my hope, anyway, and Tolkien certainly handed the filmmakers some fine material to make into movies.
There is another facet to how the trilogy could encounter some significant resistance, and that is our national fear that if we give too much honor to one soul or one thing, it might somehow seem to be taking too much power from the people to overcome us. I put forth Tom Hanks as an example. Having won back-to-back Oscars for best actor, Hanks could have put in the performance of 15 lifetimes and not gotten it again, consecutively. We Americans also have this thing about not honoring something so highly that it becomes an artificial standard against which all other attempts at excellence must fall short. So I'm hoping if any of the trilogy has to get somewhat less honor, it will be the second movie, so that the final one can sweep everything in sight.