The Lord of the Rings can still make that precious, precious money. This past weekend, Fathom Events began a three-day marathon of Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, with screenings of the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on Saturday and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on Sunday. Each played just once on each day and both still cracked the top 10 at the U.S. box office.
As pointed out by ERC, Fellowship grossed $2,441,275 on Saturday while Two Towers grossed $1,914,981 on Sunday. Each played on 1,529 screens, according to Box Office Mojo. That put them at number eight and number nine respectively, just behind wide releases Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Fall Guy, and ahead of The Strangers: Chapter One. (Bad Boys for Life was #1 this weekend, grossing $56 million at 3,885 theaters.)
“The fans have come out in force so far to see the Lord Of The Rings trilogy,” Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events, told io9 over email. “We’re happy to be the distributor bringing these iconic films back to the big screen – and in 4DX at select locations – so that they can be experienced by both longtime fans and newcomers, alike!”
The special screenings highlighting the trilogy end Monday night with the four-plus hour extended edition of the 11-time Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
What makes this news so fascinating is it comes as movie fans everywhere discuss the potential failings of the summer box office. Films like Furiosa and Fall Guy have not lived up to expectations and that has many wondering if theatrical filmgoing is dead. Well, two 20-year-old movies grossing about $2 million from a singular showtime is certainly a strong argument against that, it is not? Though, to be fair, one assumes (and I can confirm, having attended both myself at a Los Angeles theater) the audiences are mostly older. People who have always gone to the movies, will always go to the movies, and probably saw the Lord of the Rings films when they first were released. It was a pre-meditated, nostalgic event.
The good news with that though is Hollywood has literally thousands of amazing, older movies fans would surely show up to watch alongside new movies like Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Trap, or Longlegs. Fingers crossed more studios work with theaters or companies like Fathom to get more repertory screenings into the multiplexes.
As for Lord of the Rings, it makes its triumphant return to the big screen later this year with the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim on December 13, followed in 2026 by the next live-action film, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The small screen adaptation, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, returns to Prime Video August 29.
Update 6/10/24, 6:30 p.m.: We updated the story with a quote from the CEO of Fathom.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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