An adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings into three films (directed by Peter Jackson). The movies were filmed together and released one year after the previous for the holiday seasons 2001-2003.

One of the biggest movie projects ever undertaken, the overall budget was around $300 million and principal filming for all three films took place over 18 months in Jackson's native New Zealand. The entire project took eight years, factoring in the early pre-production and the fact that additional pick-ups were filmed in between each film's release. In fact, the very last shot filmed (a few skulls tumbling along the ground), was quickly shot in the studio after the third film was released and included in the extended edition.

The films were remarkably faithful in many respects, though many changes were made due to the many factors involved with adapting such a monumental work. Among the most significant changes include Saruman's last scene, the characterizations of Faramir, Arwen, Denethor, and Gimli, and the removal of various subplots to make the story as a whole more appealing to movie audiences or to streamline their remarkably nuanced events from the books.

The theatrical versions were lengthy epics (all clocking around at 3-ish hours), and the "Extended Editions" (released before the succeeding movies) added at least another half-hour to each film's running timenote . Unusual for such a thing, Peter Jackson has stated that the Extended Editions are not an actual Director's Cut(feeling the term would unfairly imply that he was unsatisfied with the theatrical releases) but merely a fan-friendly extension to enlarge the world of Middle-Earth and see what things they left out of the faster paced Theatrical Versions.

The story concerns peoples such as Hobbits, Elves, Men, Dwarves, Wizards, and Orcs(called goblins in The Hobbit), and centers on the Ring of Power made by the Dark Lord Sauron. Starting from quiet beginnings in The Shire, the story ranges across Middle-earth and follows the courses of the War of the Ring. The main story is followed by six appendices that provide a wealth of historical and linguistic background material,[6] as well as an index listing every character, place, song, and sword. 

Along with Tolkien's other writings, The Lord of the Rings has been subjected to extensive analysis of its literary themes and origins. Although a major work in itself, the story is merely the last movement of a larger mythological cycle, or legendarium, that Tolkien had worked on for many years since 1917.[7] Influences on this earlier work, and on the story of The Lord of the Rings, include philology, mythology and religion, as well as earlier fantasy works and Tolkien's experiences in World War I. The Lord of the Rings in its turn is considered to have had a great impact on modern fantasy, and the impact of Tolkien's works is such that the use of the words "Tolkienian" and "Tolkienesque" have been recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary.[8]