'Lord of the Rings' Tops AFI Awards

Daily News Yahoo ^ | Saturday January 5 11:48 PM ET | DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer

[LenS]

Most cool.

[soundsolutions]

I saw LOTR again this evening it was really great. I can’t wait for the next movie to come out. This is one of the best films ever made. The theater was packed tonight as well.

[LenS]

I have to agree. I loved it even more on the second viewing and felt it had an even greater emotional impact the second time around. I'll definitely see it several more times over the coming months.

[Cascadians]

A great movie; an even greater story; the more who read it will want to see all 3 movies. In 15 years another new wildly talented director will make 6 movies of TLOTR and blow everybody away following the books, and also make The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.

LOTR is such a deeply spiritually inspiring story that it will generate creative visions forever.

Life is good! :-)

[Long Cut]

Awww, I was hoping Peter Jackson would tackle those for his followups. Especially "the Silmarillion".

[LenS]

Making The Silmarillion will not be possible so soon. The movie rights were only sold for The Hobbit and LOTR. Considering the current hostility of the Tolkien estate's board towards any movies (understandable, Tolkien sold the rights in the late 60's for about $20,000 -- about $250,000 in today's money -- so that his heirs could afford the death taxes that would be due when he and his wife died), we'll have to wait longer. Also, there's too much material to do all of the Silmarillion. But turning the Lay of Beren and Luthien or the Tale of the Children of Hurin into movies would seem possible if the board ever changed it's mind.

[Swordmaker]

It has always seemed strange to me that the winner of the Best Picture Award's Director does not win Best Director... if he made the Best Picture, shouldn't that make him the Best Director????

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

It has always seemed strange to me that the winner of the Best Picture Award's Director does not win Best Director...

In the academy awards this happens about 75% of the time. But the Best Picture award goes to the Producer, and is concerned with the totality of the picture, not the direction of the actors alone. Motion pictures is a collaboratory art form, like Opera. The old auteur doctrine of the 1960's, which is that the picture is solely the director's product has pretty well gone by the boards.

[ambrose]

Hollyweird is good at "honoring" the most putrid garbage.

[John Farson]

ping!

[GretchenEE]

Superiorly delightful report! I saw parts of the awards. It has a much nicer ambience than the Academy Awards.

[goldstategop]

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.

[Paul C. Jesup]

FotR might break the billion dollar mark alone before it is finished in the theators. That is NOT counting the other two movies, the video/DVD release of the three movies and merchandise from the three movies.

Trust me. Just give it time. They will find a way to talk the Tolken family into let them make the other books into movies. A couple of hundred million dollars, a percent of the gross and/or profit of the movies might do the trick.

[Paul C. Jesup]

FotR might break the billion dollar mark alone before it is finished in the theators. That is NOT counting the other two movies, the video/DVD release of the three movies and merchandise from the three movies.

Trust me. Just give it time. They will find a way to talk the Tolken family into let them make the other books into movies. A couple of hundred million dollars, a percent of the gross and/or profit of the movies might do the trick.

[spycatcher]

This movie has legs, with little competition over the next few months, word of mouth buzz and awards boosting it.

[GretchenEE]

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.

[ecurbh]

ping

[dogbyte12]

add me to the ring ping list please :)

I was in theonering.net chat room last night during the awards. We were all in there booing last night when Moulin Rouge won best score. Twas alot of fun.

[HairOfTheDog]

OH Ambrose.... The more people like this story, the crabbier you get about it. I will be reminded of the nasty side of all good creatures while I am cleaning up horse[poo} in the barn. I'm off... :~)

[ecurbh]

add me to the ring ping list please :)

No problem.