User:Uthanc/Adaptations of The Lord of the Rings
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The Lord of the Rings, a epic high fantasy novel by the British author J. R. R. Tolkien, set in his world of Middle-earth (a fictional past version of our Earth), has been adapted for various media multiple times.
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[edit] Films
Three film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings have been made. The first was The Lord of the Rings (1978), by animator Ralph Bakshi, the first part of what was originally intended to be a two-part adaptation of the story. The second, The Return of the King (1980), was a television special by Rankin-Bass. The third was director Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, released in three installments as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
[edit] Early efforts
The rights to The Lord of the Rings were held by Walt Disney for ten years, but the Disney company was unable to put together a film production. There were plans for the Beatles to do a version of The Lord of the Rings but those plans came to nothing.[1] It was even said that Stanley Kubrick had looked into the possibility of filming the story, but he abandoned the idea as too "immense" to be made into a movie.[2] In the mid-1970s, film director John Boorman collaborated with current film rights holder and producer Saul Zaentz to do a live action picture, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time; he ended up making Excalibur instead.[3]
In 1977, Rankin-Bass studios produced the first real film adaptation of any of Tolkien's works with an animated television version of The Hobbit.[4]
[edit] Animated films
In 1978, shortly after the Rankin-Bass animated television film of The Hobbit, Saul Zaentz produced an animated adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring and part of The Two Towers.[5] The Lord of the Rings Part 1 (later J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings), originally released by United Artists was directed by Ralph Bakshi and used an animation technique called rotoscoping in which footage of live actors was filmed and then traced over.[6]
The film was part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of Tolkien's story, Part I ending after the battle of Helm's Deep, but before Sam, Frodo and Gollum traverse the Dead Marshes, and Part II picking up from where the first left off. Made for a minimal budget of US$8 million, the film made over US$30 million dollars at the box office.[7] However, United Artists viewed the film as a flop, and refused to fund a Part II (covering the rest of the story), leaving the door open for Rankin-Bass to do the work for him with the 1980 animated television version of The Return of the King.[8]
[edit] New Line Cinema films
Miramax Films developed a full-fledged live action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, with Peter Jackson as director. Eventually, with Miramax owner Disney becoming increasingly uneasy with the sheer scope of the proposed project, Jackson was given the opportunity to find another studio to take over. In 1998, New Line Cinema assumed production responsibility (while Miramax executives Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein retained on-screen credits as executive producers). The three films were shot simultaneously. They featured extensive computer-generated imagery, including major battle scenes utilising the "Massive" software program. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released on December 19, 2001, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on December 18, 2002 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King worldwide on December 17, 2003. All three won the Hugo Award for Best (Long-form) Dramatic Presentation in their respective years.
The films were met with both critical and commercial success. Jackson's adaptations garnered seventeen Oscars, four for The Fellowship of the Ring, two for The Two Towers, and eleven for The Return of the King; these covered many of the award categories. The Return of the King in fact won all of the eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture. With a total of 30 nominations, the trilogy also became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the Godfather series' 28. Its 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards tied it for most awards won for one film with Titanic six years earlier and the 1959 version of Ben-Hur. It also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating Gigi and The Last Emperor (which each took 9 out of 9). The Return of the King also made movie history as the highest grossing film opening on a Wednesday and was the second film after Titanic to earn over US$1 billion worldwide.
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy itself has currently become one of the most popular and highest grossing[9] motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time, evidenced by its earning close to 3 billion dollars (US), besting other notables such as the original Star Wars trilogy.
However, certain changes made in the adaptation, including the deletion of the next to the last chapter of Tolkien's work, the thematically necessary "The Scouring of the Shire," offended some readers of the books. Others feel that it is a worthy interpretation of the book, most changes stemming from the filmmakers putting the book into a modern context, [citation needed] rearranging the events into a chronologically linear narrative (as opposed to Tolkien separating the two main story threads into two separate parts for The Two Towers and most of The Return of the King), and their perceived need for developing characters further or for sheer timing issues. In any case, the films proved popular with general audiences (i.e. non-readers).
[edit] Dramatic productions
Three original full-length stage adaptations of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003) were staged in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first production unfortunately suffered from poor funding and no clear artistic vision from the producing company. The sequels, however, were well received by audiences and critics alike. All three adaptations were written by Blake Bowden, scored with a full orchestra by Grammy nominee Steve Goers and graphically produced by Jay Nungesser (inspired by Tolkien's original artwork). Aretta Baumgartner directed the puppetry work and was awarded a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for her portrayal of Gollum. Bowden portrayed Sam to Joe Sofranko, playing Frodo. The latter two productions were directed by actor, director, and fight choreographer Gina Cerimele-Mechley. The Return of the King was produced as the inaugural production of Clear Stage Cincinnati, and was presented at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. All three productions were endorsed by The American Hobbit Association and approved by Tolkien Enterprises.
London-based theatre producer Kevin Wallace and his partner, Saul Zaentz—stage and film rights-holder and producer of the animated film version of 1978—in association with Toronto theatre-owner David Mirvish and concert promoter Michael Cohl, have also produced a three-hour stage musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings that has a cast of 65 actors and cost approximately C$30 million (US$26.9 million). The show was written by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus, with music by A. R. Rahman and Värttinä, collaborating with Christopher Nightingale. The director is Matthew Warchus; choreography is by Peter Darling; set and costume design are by Rob Howell. The production began performances on February 4, 2006, had its press opening on March 23, 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, the day before its gala premiere. The production received mostly mixed to poor notices from the press.[10][11] It was announced on June 23, 2006, that a shortened and re-written version of the show would have its European premiere on June 19, 2007, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, after beginning previews on May 9, one of the longest previewing spans ever. On June 28, 2006, Kevin Wallace announced that the Toronto production would close, much earlier than originally hoped, on Sept. 3, 2006, and that it would be unable to fully repay its investors.
[edit] Audio
In 1955 and 1956, the BBC broadcast The Lord of the Rings, a 12-part radio adaptation of the story. A 6-part version of The Hobbit was broadcast in 1966. In The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien Tolkien disparages the radio dramatization of The Lord of the Rings, referring to the portrayal of Tom Bombadil as "Dreadful" and complaining bitterly about several other aspects of the dramatisation. No recording of the 1956 series is known to exist, but The Hobbit has survived. It is a very faithful adaptation, incorporating some passing references to The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion.
A 1979 dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings was broadcast in the USA and subsequently issued on tape and CD. No cast or credits appear on the audio packaging. Each of the actors was apparently recorded separately and then the various parts were edited together. Thus, unlike a BBC recording session where the actors are recorded together, none of the cast are actually interacting with each other and the performances suffer badly as a result.
In 1981 the BBC broadcast The Lord of the Rings, a new, ambitious dramatisation in 26 half-hour instalments.
In addition many songs in The Lord of the Rings have also given inspiration to many musicians to set them to music. Most notable is the music of Donald Swann in The Road Goes Ever On, because it was approved by Tolkien himself, and the music of The Tolkien Ensemble, because they, with backing from the Tolkien Estate, have set all the songs and poems from The Lord of the Rings to music.
[edit] Art
Many illustrators have rendered their vision of Middle-earth in various media, and some have used their Tolkien illustration as a stepping-stone to larger careers. Two of the most notable of these are John Howe and Alan Lee. Both began their career illustrating various editions of The Lord of the Rings. Due to this Peter Jackson chose the two as lead artists for his movies based on the books. In 2004, as a result, Lee won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King.[12] Both have since gone on to do conceptual design for various other films, including King Kong and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is also an accomplished and critically-acclaimed painter, and has held many art shows over the years. It is often said that were she not the Queen, she could easily make a living as a professional artist. Her illustrations were used for the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings published in 1977 and the re-issue in 2002.[13]
Other notable The Lord of the Rings artists include Jimmy Cauty, Ted Nasmith, Tove Jansson, Jenny Dolfen, and The Brothers Hildebrandt. The Tudor Mint company produces silver plate pewter models of all of the main characters of the series.
[edit] Games
There are multiple real-world and video games that take place in Middle-earth, most depicting scenes and characters from The Lord of the Rings.
[edit] Real-world games
Several games have been based directly on The Lord of the Rings and related works, including, amongst many, Iron Crown Enterprises' Middle-earth Role Playing game (1982-1999) and Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (1995-1999), as well as The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game (2001) made by Decipher. All of these predate Jackson's film trilogy except for Decipher's card game, which is part of the latter's merchandise.
There is also a Games Workshop miniature wargame called The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, which, while part of the film trilogy's merchandise, combines elements from both the books and films. Many of Games Workshop's other battle games that are not directly related to the books have had some key background based on it.
[edit] Video games
The books have been reproduced in video game form a number of times over the last two decades, including Melbourne House's Lord of the Rings, Shadows of Mordor, War in Middle-earth; Interplay's Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 and Lord of the Rings Vol. 2.; Electronic Arts' action platformer adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King, real-time strategy games The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, and the role-playing game The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, all based on the Jackson films; and Sierra Entertainment's action platformer based on The Fellowship of the Ring, and the real-time strategy game.There is also a PSP Game titled The Lord of the Rings Tactics based on the Jackson films.
Games in development include Turbine Inc's massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, and Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings: The White Council.
[edit] References
- ^ Beatles plan for Rings film. Retrieved on 14 June 2006.
- ^ If the Beatles had made a Lord of the Rings movie.... Retrieved on 14 June 2006.
- ^ "The One Ring" forum thread "John Boorman's LOTR Screenplay". Retrieved on 9 January 2006.
- ^ The Hobbit. Retrieved on 16 June 2006.
- ^ Saul Zaentz. Retrieved on 16 June 2006.
- ^ The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version). Retrieved on 16 June 2006.
- ^ IMDB box office data. Retrieved on 9 January 2006.
- ^ The Return of the King. Retrieved on 16 June 2006.
- ^ TOP TRILOGIES - WORLDWIDE. www.boxofficemojo.com (September 21, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Brantly, Ben (March 24, 2006). Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings,' Staged by Matthew Warchus in Toronto. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
- ^ Mixed reviews for 'Lord of the Rings' musical. CBC (March 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
- ^ 76th Academy Awards. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
- ^ Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Hello Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
[edit] External links
- Official sites
- Ralph Bakshi's official site
- Official site of the New Line Cinema films
- Official site of the Lord of the Rings stage production
- News and fan sites
- The One Ring.net - Fan and news site relating to The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and books.
- The One Ring.com - Fan and news site relating to Tolkien's works, the New Line films and related matters. Not to be confsed with the above. Formerly known as Tolkien Online.com.
- Tolkien News - News relating to The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other works.
- Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza - online Tolkien fan community with role-playing games, lore discussions, debates, and much more
- Ringbearer - Tolkien fan community with all the latest Tolkien related news, book and movie discussions, and an active fan community.
- Informational
- The Lord of the Rings film trilogy at the Arts & Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films list
- Boorman and Pallenberg's plans for an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, from the theonering.com message board
| Published during his lifetime: | The Hobbit • The Lord of the Rings • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil • The Road Goes Ever On |
| Posthumous publications: | The Silmarillion • Unfinished Tales • The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes) • Bilbo's Last Song • The Children of Húrin |
|---|---|
| Lists of articles: | By category • By name • Writings • Characters • Peoples • Rivers • Realms • Ages |
