The Lord of the Rings trilogy just turned 20
The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel of the same name. It’s widely considered one of the best cinematic pieces in movie history with the first film grossing nearly $1 billion on a $93 million budget. In total, the trilogy has grossed roughly around $3 billion at the global box office. More importantly, the original trilogy was a critical success, securing as many as 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Part of the reason why The Lord of the Rings trilogy was so big was how “perfect” its casting was. The trilogy featured an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, and Viggo Mortensen, just to name a few. Since then, the trilogy’s director, Peter Jackson, has expanded on the story of the trilogy by leading the spin-off/prequel, The Hobbit trilogy. Having said that, you’d think that there’s been some celebration of sorts for the trilogy’s twentieth birthday. Unfortunately, there isn’t. But, don’t worry, the original cast hasn’t forgotten about the movie at all. Several actors from 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring went ahead and made a rap video with Stephen Colbert. The song, The #1 Trilly, starts with a performance from Colbert and Baptiste before Lord of the Rings alumni Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan all jump in to perform. The music video even included bits from Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, and Andy Serkis. While they couldn’t contribute to the video in person, they each recorded portions from their home. Other guest stars and celebrity rappers all made contributions as well. In other news, the success of the original trilogy, as well as the Hobbit prequels, have spawned spin-offs in other media.
