Days of trial before settling on a trilogy structure
Although ``The Lord of the Rings'' is now a historical series, it is said that many hardships were involved in its production. Director Peter Jackson has been a big fan of the original work since he was a child (his dreams were to make a live-action version of "The Lord of the Rings" and a remake of "King Kong"). As expected, things didn't progress smoothly.
To begin with, his career as a film director was all about horror works until ``The Lord of the Rings''. His 1994 directorial work ``The Maiden's Prayer'' won the Silver Lion Award (Best Director) at the Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.However, it is more of an art-oriented work. Therefore, the route to a blockbuster work would not have been guaranteed (though nowadays, it is quite possible that he will be selected for a Marvel movie).
After that, director Robert Zemeckis, who liked ``The Maiden's Prayer,'' sent him a love call and produced the horror comedy ``Wandering Souls'' (1996) starring Michael J. Fox. This film marked Jackson's Hollywood debut.
It can be said that the aesthetic visual expression shown in ``The Maiden's Prayer'' and the use of CG in ``Wandering Souls'' have been inherited in the ``Lord of the Rings'' series, but ``Wandering Souls'' Although the production cost was estimated to be $30 million, the box office revenue was approximately $29 million, which was a rather poor result. Even though his skills are undeniable, it still seems too risky for the studio to shake his head and give him the go-ahead Signs.
However, director Jackson has teamed up with Harvey Weinstein, the founder of the film company Miramax, with whom he had developed a relationship through ``The Maiden'', and has begun negotiations to make ``The Lord of the Rings'' into a film. There seemed to be some ups and downs along the way, with director Jackson receiving an offer from Universal to direct the new King Kong, but in the end they settled on adapting The Lord of the Rings into a two-part movie.
However, the hardships continue from here. Even though CG technology has advanced, "The Lord of the Rings" is still an epic story. The production costs were expected to be higher than planned, and the studio decided to compress the two-film project into one.
If we go to this point, no matter how we try, it will end up being nothing more than a digest version of "The Lord of the Rings," and the whole point of making it into a movie could be undermined. Director Jackson was dissatisfied with this decision and reportedly spent four weeks touring the studio. As a result, they ended up with New Line Cinema, and it was a true revelation that they would make the film into a trilogy based on the original work.
“The Lord of the Rings” followed the unusual route of two parts, then a single work, then a trilogy, and this is how it arrived at its current form. As mentioned at the beginning, the trilogy = 9 hours was not enough, and the extended edition = 10 hours, making it a blockbuster (and this version has been highly praised), but this story has been shortened. It won't work if you do that. As a result, it was a huge success both in terms of box office and ratings, and I can't help but take my hat off to New Line Cinema for their wise decision.
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