“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
Getting the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s books was not easy. In the 1960s The Beatles wanted to make the film with Paul as Frodo, Ringo as Sam, George as Gandalf and John as Gollum– but Tolkien refused. Then in 1968 he signed away the film rights for $15,000. So although his estate didn’t like Peter Jackson’s adaptation, Tolkien’s grandson approved it. (As a consequence his relatives disowned him.) Miramax was the first studio interested in Jackson’s interpretation of the books, but insisted on doing them all as one film. He refused, wanting to shoot them as two films. Mark Ordesky, an executive at New Line Cinema set up a pitch with their President Robert Shaye. He liked Jackson’s presentation a lot, but felt because there were three books, there should be three films. And to shoot them all as one production to save money. Delighted, Jackson rewrote his script as three films. The New Zealand government created a Minister for the Lord of the Rings to capitalize on the economic opportunities. Their army was cast as extras for the large battle scenes – but they later had to back out to serve as peacekeepers in East Timor. Shooting the trilogy there pumped $200 million into their economy. The overall budget for all three films was $300 million, plus $200 million for marketing. The Trilogy grossed $6 billion wordwide. Tolkien’s estate is suing New Line Cinema for $150 million in compensatory plus punitive damages, and the right to terminate any rights New Line may have to make films based on other works by the author, including The Hobbit.
