The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson, based on the third volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The film is the final instalment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Jackson and Fran Walsh, and written by Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson. Continuing the plot of The Two Towers, Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their final way toward Mount Doom in Mordor in order to destroy the One Ring, unaware of Gollum's true intentions, while Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the rest are joining forces together against Sauron and his legions in Minas Tirith. It was preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002).
The film features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Sean Bean. The Return of the King was financed and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy. It premiered on 1 December 2003 at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington and was theatrically released on 17 December 2003 in the United States, and on 18 December 2003 in New Zealand. The film was highly acclaimed by both critics and audiences, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and the fantasy film genre. It grossed $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2003 and the second highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, as well as the highest-grossing film released by New Line Cinema.[5] It was also the highest-grossing film released by parent company Time Warner until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 in 2011.
The Return of the King is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.[citation needed] The film received numerous accolades; it won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 76th Academy Awards, where it also won all eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Visual Effects. This remains the most Academy Awards won by a single film, and is the current record for the highest clean sweep at the Oscars. It also became the second sequel to win Best Picture, the first being The Godfather: Part II, and the second film series whose installments have all won Best Visual Effects, after the original Star Wars Trilogy.
