The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954 s The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2001 s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and Andy Serkis.

Continuing the plot of the previous film, it intercuts three storylines. Frodo and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring, meeting and joined by Gollum, the ring s former keeper. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come to the war-torn nation of Rohan and are reunited with the resurrected Gandalf, before fighting against the legions of the treacherous wizard Saruman at the Battle of Helm s Deep. Merry and Pippin escape capture, meet Treebeard the Ent, and help to plan an attack on Isengard, fortress of Saruman.

The Two Towers 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 5 December 2002 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and was theatrically released on 18 December 2002 in the United States, and on 19 December 2002 in New Zealand. The film was acclaimed by both critics and audiences, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It received praise for its direction, action sequences, performances, musical score, and CGI, particularly for Gollum. It grossed $936 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2002 and the third highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, behind Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone. Following subsequent reissues, it has, as of 2021, grossed over $947 million.

Like the other films in the trilogy, The Two Towers is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; at the 75th Academy Awards, it was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. The final instalment of the trilogy, The Return of the King, was released in December 2003.

Plot

Awakening from a dream of Gandalf fighting the Balrog in Moria, Frodo Baggins finds himself, along with Samwise Gamgee, lost in the Emyn Muil near Mordor. They discover that they are being tracked by Gollum, a former bearer of the One Ring. Capturing Gollum, Frodo takes pity and allows him to guide them, reminding Sam that they will need Gollum s help to infiltrate Mordor.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue a band of Uruk-hai to save their companions Merry and Pippin, entering the kingdom of Rohan. The Uruk-hai are ambushed by a group of Rohirrim, allowing the Hobbits to escape into Fangorn Forest. Meeting Aragorn s group, the Rohirrim s leader Éomer explains that he and his men have been exiled by Rohan s king, Théoden, who is under the control of Saruman and his servant Gríma Wormtongue. Éomer believes Merry and Pippin were killed during the raid but leaves the group two horses. Searching for the Hobbits in Fangorn, Aragorn s group encounters Gandalf, who after his fight against the Balrog was resurrected as Gandalf the White to help save Middle-earth.

Gandalf leads the trio to Rohan s capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman s control. Aragorn stops Théoden from executing Wormtongue, who flees. Learning of Saruman s plans to destroy Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden evacuates his citizens to the fortress of The Hornburg at Helm s Deep. Gandalf departs to find Éomer and his followers, hoping they will fight for their restored king. Aragorn befriends Théoden s niece, Éowyn, who becomes infatuated with him. When the refugees travelling to Helm s Deep are attacked by Saruman s Warg-riding Orcs, Aragorn falls from a cliff and is presumed dead. He is found by his horse Brego and rides to Helm s Deep, witnessing Saruman s army marching to the fortress.

In Rivendell, Arwen is told by her father Elrond that Aragorn will not return. He reminds her that if she remains in Middle-earth, she will outlive Aragorn by thousands of years, and she reluctantly departs for Valinor. Elrond is contacted by Galadriel of Lothlórien, who convinces him that the Elves should honour their alliance to men, and they dispatch an army of Elves to Helm s Deep.

In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard, an Ent. Convincing Treebeard that they are allies, they are brought to an Ent Council, where the Ents decide not to take part in the coming war. Pippin asks Treebeard to take them in the direction of Isengard, where they witness the deforestation caused by Saruman s war effort. Enraged, Treebeard and the Ents storm Isengard, trapping Saruman in his tower.

Aragorn arrives at Helm s Deep, bringing word that Saruman s army is close and Théoden must prepare for battle despite being vastly outnumbered. The army of Elves from Lothlórien arrives, as does Saruman s army, and a battle ensues. The Uruk-hai breach the outer wall with explosives and during the ensuing charge kill the Elves commander, Haldir. The defenders retreat into the keep, where Aragorn convinces Théoden to meet the Uruk-hai in one last charge. At dawn, as the defenders are overwhelmed, Gandalf and Éomer arrive with the Rohirrim, turning the tide of the battle. The surviving Uruk-hai flee into Fangorn Forest and are killed by the Ents. Gandalf warns that Sauron will retaliate.

Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate, but recommends they enter Mordor by another route. Frodo and Sam are captured by Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir, brother of the late Boromir. Frodo helps Faramir catch Gollum to save him from being killed by the Rangers. Learning of the One Ring, Faramir takes his captives to Gondor to bring the ring to his father Denethor. Passing through the besieged city of Osgiliath, Frodo tries to explain to Faramir the true nature of the ring, and Sam explains that Boromir was driven mad by its power. A Nazgûl nearly captures Frodo, who falls under the ring s power, but Sam saves him and reminds him that they are fighting for the good still left in Middle-earth. Impressed by Frodo s resolve, Faramir releases them. Gollum decides he will betray Frodo and reclaim the Ring by leading the group to Her upon arriving at Cirith Ungol.

Cast

Like the other films in the series, The Two Towers has an ensemble cast, and the cast and their respective characters include:

• Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A young hobbit sent on a quest to destroy the One Ring, the burden of which is becoming heavier.
• Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: An Istari wizard who fell fighting a Balrog and has now returned, more powerful than ever, to finish his task.
• Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn Elessar: The heir-in-exile to Gondor s throne who has come to Rohan s defence.
• Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, Frodo s loyal hobbit gardener and companion.
• Andy Serkis as Gollum (voice/motion capture): A wretched hobbit-like creature originally known as Sméagol Trahald, who owned the Ring for five centuries and now guides Frodo on his quest.
• Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: Better known as Pippin, a hobbit mistakenly captured by the Uruk-hai.
• Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, a distant cousin of Frodo s who is mistakenly captured along with Pippin by the Uruk-hai.
• John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: A dwarf warrior and one of Aragorn s companions. Also voices Treebeard: The leader of the ents, who is roused to anger after seeing that Saruman had decimated a large part of Fangorn Forest.
• Also voices Treebeard: The leader of the ents, who is roused to anger after seeing that Saruman had decimated a large part of Fangorn Forest.
• Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf: An elven archer and one of Aragorn s companions.
• Bernard Hill as Théoden: The King of Rohan, who is under Saruman s spell until Gandalf heals him so he can lead his people once more. Kevin Conway was offered the role but he declined.
• Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: An Istari wizard waging war upon Rohan and devastating Fangorn Forest, who allied himself with Sauron in the previous film.
• Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven-Lord of Rivendell who expresses doubt over his daughter s love for Aragorn.
• Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden s niece, who is in love with Aragorn. Uma Thurman was offered the role but turned it down and later regretted it.
• David Wenham as Faramir: A prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the Ithilien Rangers, who captures Frodo, Sam and Gollum.
• Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: An agent of Saruman at Edoras, who renders Théoden incapable of decisions, and desires Éowyn.
• Karl Urban as Éomer: Théoden s nephew and previous Chief Marshal of the Riddermark who was exiled by Gríma.
• Liv Tyler as Arwen Undómiel: An elven princess of Rivendell and Aragorn s true love.
• Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: The Elven-Queen of Lothlórien, who discusses Middle-earth s future with Elrond.
• Sean Bean as Boromir: Faramir s older brother and a fallen member of the Fellowship who appears in flashbacks since his death, more prominently in the film s extended edition.
• Craig Parker as Haldir: The leader of the Lórien Elves sent by Elrond and Galadriel to defend Helm s Deep.
• John Leigh as Háma: The loyal doorwarden of the Golden Hall and a majordomo of Théoden.
• Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Théoden s chief lieutenant and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
• John Bach as Madril: Faramir s closest aide, who informs him of battle preparations.
• Nathaniel Lees as Ugluk: The leader of the band of Uruk-hai who kidnapped Merry and Pippin.

• John Noble as Denethor: The Steward of Gondor and Boromir and Faramir s father.

In the Battle of Helm s Deep, Peter Jackson has a cameo appearance as one of the men on top of the gate, throwing a spear at the attacking Uruk-hai. His children and Elijah Wood s sister cameo as young refugees in the caves behind the Hornburg, and Alan Lee and Dan Hennah also cameo as soldiers preparing for the battle. The son of a producer s friend, Hamish Duncan, appears as a reluctant young Rohirrim warrior. Daniel Falconer has a cameo as an Elvish archer at the battle.

Comparison to the source material

The screenwriters did not originally script The Two Towers as its own film: instead, parts of it were the conclusion to The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of two planned films under Miramax. However, as the two films became a trilogy under New Line, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens shuffled their scripts. The Two Towers was the most difficult of the Rings films to make, having neither a clear beginning nor end to focus the script. Nonetheless, they had a clear decision with making the Battle of Helm s Deep the climax, a decision affecting the whole story s moods and style.

The most notable difference between the book and the film is the structure. Tolkien s The Two Towers is split into two parts; one follows the war in Rohan, while the other focuses on the journey of Frodo and Sam. The film omits the book s opening, Boromir s death, which was used as a linear climax at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. Also, the film climaxes with the Battle of Helm s Deep, while the book ends with the Fellowship going to Isengard and Frodo s confrontation with Shelob, scenes which were left for the film adaptation of The Return of the King. This was done partly to fit more closely the timeline indicated by the book.

One notable change in plotting is that in the film Théoden is possessed by Saruman, whereas in the book he is simply depressed and deluded by Wormtongue. Afterwards, in the film, Théoden is still unsure of what to do, and flees to Helm s Deep. In the book he rides out to war, only ending up besieged when he considers helping Erkenbrand. Erkenbrand does not exist in the films: his character is combined with Éomer as the Rohirrim general who arrives with Gandalf at the film s end. Éomer himself is present during the entire battle in the book.

On the way to Helm s Deep, the refugees from Edoras are attacked by Wargs. The scene is possibly inspired by one in the book cut from The Fellowship of the Ring where it is the Fellowship who battle them. Here, a new subplot is created where Aragorn falls over a cliff, and is assumed to be dead; Jackson added it to create tension. This scene also resonates with a new subplot regarding Arwen, where she decides to leave Middle-earth after losing hope in the long-term possibilities of her love. In the book, Arwen s role is primarily recorded in the Appendices, and she is never depicted as considering such an act.

A larger change was originally planned: Arwen and Elrond would visit Galadriel, and Arwen would accompany an army of Elves to Helm s Deep to fight alongside Aragorn. During shooting, the script changed, both from writers coming up with better ideas to portray the romance between Aragorn and Arwen, as well as poor fan reaction. The new scene of Arwen leaving for the West was created, and the conversation scene remains, edited to be a flashback to a conversation between them in Rivendell, on the evening before the Fellowship s departure. A conversation between Elrond and Galadriel in Lothlórien was edited to be a telepathic one. Nonetheless, one major change (already filmed) remained that could not be reversed: the Elven warriors fighting at Helm s Deep, although Jackson and Boyens found this romantic and stirring and a reference to how, in the Appendices of The Return of the King, Galadriel and the Elves of Lothlórien, and Thranduil of Mirkwood were first attacked by an army out of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, and then later counter-attacked and assaulted the fortress itself.

Another change is the fact Treebeard does not immediately decide to go to war. This adds to the tension, and Boyens describes it as making Merry and Pippin more than luggage . Here, the Hobbits show Treebeard what Saruman has done to the forest, prompting his decision to act. Another structural change is that the Hobbits meet Gandalf the White early on, explaining why the Hobbits do not react to his return when they meet him again following Isengard s destruction. This was explained in the book by Gandalf arriving at Isengard in the middle of the night to talk to Treebeard.

The filmmakers decision to leave Shelob for the third film meant that Faramir had to become an obstacle for Frodo and Sam. In the book, Faramir (like Aragorn) quickly recognises the Ring as a danger and a temptation, and does not hesitate long before letting Frodo and Sam go. In the film, Faramir first decides that the Ring shall go to Gondor and his father Denethor, as a way to prove his worth. In the film, Faramir takes Frodo, Sam and the Ring to the Battle of Osgiliath—they do not go there in the book. Jackson winks to readers with Sam s line, By all rights we shouldn t even be here, but we are. After seeing how strongly the Ring affects Frodo during the Nazgûl attack, Faramir changes his mind and lets them go. These changes reshape the book s contrast between Faramir and Boromir, who in The Fellowship of the Ring attempted to take the Ring for himself. On the other hand, (which can be seen only in the film s extended version), it is actually their father who wants the Ring and urges Boromir to get it, while Faramir only wants to prove himself to his father. Boyens contends these plot changes were needed to keep the Ring menacing. Wenham commented on the DVD documentaries that he had not read the book prior to reading the script, so the film s version of Faramir was the Faramir he knew. When he later read the book and noticed the major difference, he approached the writers about it, and they explained to him that if he did say I wouldn t pick that thing up even if it lay by the wayside , it would basically strip the One Ring of all corruptive power.

The meaning of the title itself, The Two Towers , was changed. While Tolkien considered several possible sets of towers he eventually created a final cover illustration and wrote a note included at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring which identified them as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Jackson s film names them as Orthanc and Barad-dûr, symbolic of an evil alliance out to destroy Men that forms the film s plot point. The film depicted Saruman openly presenting himself outright as Sauron s servant, whereas this association was not explicitly stated in the novel (and indeed analysis by Gandalf and Aragorn in the chapter The White Rider stated that there was a rivalry instead, as Saruman was afraid of the prospect of being at war with Sauron, if Rohan and Gondor fell).

Production

Production design

When Alan Lee joined the project in late 1997, Helm s Deep was the first structure he was tasked to design. At 1:35 scale, it was one of the first miniatures built for the film, and was part of the 45-minute video that sold the project to New Line. It was primarily drawn from an illustration Lee had once done for the book, though the curved wall featured in the film was proposed by fellow illustrator and designer John Howe. Used in the film for wide shots, Jackson also used this miniature to plan the battle, using 40,000 toy soldiers.

Helm s Deep, a pivotal part of the film s narrative, was built at Dry Creek Quarry with its gate, a ramp, and a wall, which included a removable section as well as the tower on a second level. A 1:4-scale miniature of Helm s Deep that ran 50 feet (15 m) wide was used for forced perspective shots, as well as the major explosion sequence.

The film explores the armies of Middle-earth. John Howe was the basic designer of the evil forces of Middle Earth, with the Uruk-hai being the first army approved by Jackson. Howe also designed a special crossbow for the Uruk-Hai characters, which was significant because it did not require external tools to rearm. This design was the realization of a 16th-century manuscript. Also created were 100 Elven suits of armour, for which emphasis was placed on Autumnal colours due to the theme of Elves leaving Middle-earth. Two hundred and fifty suits were also made for the Rohirrim. The designs for Rohan were based on Germanic and Anglo-Saxon patterns, with most of the weapons designed by John Howe and forged by Peter Lyon. Each sword took 3 to 6 days to make.

The exterior of the Rohirrim s capital of Edoras, including its thatched roofs, took six months to build on Mount Sunday. The interior of the buildings doubled as offices and lunch halls. The interior of the Hall of Edoras was filmed at Stone Street Studios with tapestries designed by Lee, and Théoden s wooden throne was partly created by his daughter. Hill endured heavy make-up for the possession scene where his skin was pulled back and released for increased wrinkles. Dourif shaved off his eyebrows and put potato flakes as dandruff in his hair for unnerving effect.

Through Frodo and Sam s story, the film also provides a look at Mordor and Gondor. Barad-dûr is fully seen in a tracking shot, a design which Howe called a mockery of Gothic Cathedrals. He and Lee created the Black Gate (though a typo in the script made the miniature into two) and Osgiliath, a ruined city reflecting London during the Blitz or Berlin in 1945. The set on a backlot was based around a bridge and reused some of Moria.

Principal photography

The Two Towers shared principal photography with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. The trilogy was filmed between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000. The scenes which take place in Rohan were shot earlier in the production, during which time Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies stunt double Brett Beattie sustained many injuries. Mortensen broke two toes when he kicked an Orc helmet while filming the scene in which he, Legolas, and Gimli find the remains of the Uruk-hai and believing Merry and Pippin to be dead (a shot which is included in the film). Furthermore, during filming Bloom fell off his horse and cracked three ribs, and Beattie dislocated his knee. These injuries led to the actors suffering two days of pain during the running sequence in the first act of the film, leading Jackson to jokingly refer to them as The Walking Wounded.

The filming of the Battle of Helm s Deep took approximately three months, with most of the nighttime shots handled by John Mahaffie. Some injuries were sustained during the filming of the sequence, including Mortensen chipping his tooth, and Bernard Hill s ear getting slashed. The sequence also features 500 extras, who insulted each other in Māori, and improvised scenes such as the Uruk-hai stamping their spears before the beginning of the battle. However, there was alleged annoyance among the film s crew for the strength of the gates, which were claimed to be too reinforced during the Battering Ram scene. Mortensen greatly respected the stunt team, and head butted them often as a sign of that respect.

Wood and Astin were joined by Serkis on 13 April 2000.

Special effects

As with The Fellowship of the Ring, Jim Rygiel served as the visual effects supervisor for The Two Towers, while newcomer Joe Letteri joined the visual effects team to supervise Andy Serkis s motion capture performance in the creation of the character Gollum. During the production of The Two Towers Weta Digital doubled their staff of 260. In total, they would produce 73 minutes of digital effects with 799 shots. The film would feature their first challenge in creating a battle scene, as well as creating two digital characters who needed to act rather than be a set piece, unlike the previous film s Cave Troll and Balrog.

Weta began animating Gollum in late 1998 to convince New Line they could achieve the effect. Andy Serkis played Gollum by providing his voice and movements on set, as well as performing within the motion capture suit later on. His scenes were filmed twice, with and without him. Originally, Gollum was set to solely be a CGI character, but Jackson was so impressed by Serkis audition tape that they used him on set as well.

Gollum s CGI model was also redesigned during 2001 when Serkis was cast as Sméagol, Gollum s former self, so as to give the impression Andy Serkis as Sméagol transforms into the CGI Gollum. The original model can still be glimpsed briefly in the first film. Over Christmas 2001, the crew proceeded to reanimate all the previous shots accordingly within two months. Another problem was that the crew realized that the cast performed better in the takes which physically included Serkis. In the end, the CGI Gollum was rotoscoped and animated on top of these scenes.

Serkis motion capture was generally used to animate Gollum s body, except for some difficult shots such as him crawling upside down. Gollum s face was animated manually, often using recordings of Serkis as a guide. Gino Acevedo supervised realistic skin tones, which took four hours per frame to render.

While the novel alludes to a division within his mind, the film depicts him as having a split personality. The two personas—the childlike Sméagol and the evil Gollum—are established during a scene in which they argue over remaining loyal to Frodo. The two personalities talk to each other, as established by contrasting camera angles and by Serkis altering his voice and physicality for each persona.

Treebeard took between 28 and 48 hours per frame to render. For scenes where he interacts with Merry and Pippin, a 14-foot-tall puppet was built on a wheel. Weta took urethane moulds of tree bark and applied them to the sculpt of Treebeard to create his wooden skin. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd sat on bicycle seats concealed into Treebeard s hands to avoid discomfort and were left alone on set sitting in the puppet s hands during breaks. The puppet was shot against bluescreen.

Score

The musical score for The Two Towers was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore, who also composed the music for the other two films in the series. While the scores for its predecessor and sequel won the Academy Award for Best Score, the soundtrack for The Two Towers was not nominated. Initially there was confusion over the score s eligibility due to a new rule applying to sequels, but the academy did declare it eligible.

The score features The London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Voices, The London Oratory School Schola and several vocal and instrumental soloists, including soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and Irish fiddler and violinist Dermot Crehan, who also performed on the Hardanger fiddle, which is used in this film in conjunction with the various Rohan themes.

The funeral song Éowyn sings during her cousin Théodred s entombment in the extended edition is styled to be a traditional song of the Rohirrim, and has lyrics in their language, Rohirric (represented by Old English). The song does not appear in the book, and the tune is a variation upon a theme of the rímur Icelandic folk tradition; it can be heard as part of track 7 in the 1999 recording of a musical version of the Edda by Sequentia.

The soundtrack was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The soundtrack has a picture of Peter Jackson (barefoot), the composer, and two producers crossing Abbey Road, referencing The Beatles album of the same name.

Release

Marketing

The teaser trailer premiered in theaters on 3 July 2002 with the release of Men in Black II. The theatrical trailer was then released theatrically on 4 October 2002 with the debut of Red Dragon.

Home media

VHS and DVD

The Two Towers was released on VHS and DVD on 26 August 2003 in the United States. The date was originally intended to be a simultaneous worldwide release, but due to a bank holiday weekend in the United Kingdom, some British outlets began selling DVDs as much as four days earlier, much to the ire of the UK distributor, Entertainment in Video, which had threatened to withhold advance supplies of subsequent DVD releases. During its first five days of release, the DVD release sold over 3.5 million units. The film also generated $22.8 million in rentals, breaking The Bourne Identity s record for having the biggest rentals of any DVD release. By December 2003, it was reported that The Two Towers sold 16.4 million copies and earned $305.4 million in sales revenue, becoming the second-highest selling home video release of 2003, after Finding Nemo.

As with Fellowship, an extended edition of Two Towers was released on VHS and DVD on 18 November 2003 with 45 minutes of new material, added special effects and music, plus 11 minutes of fan-club credits. The runtime expanded to 235 minutes. The 4-disc DVD set included four commentaries along with hours of supplementary material.

In August 2006, a limited edition was released on DVD, and included both theatrical and extended editions on a double-sided disc along with all-new bonus material.

Blu-ray

The theatrical Blu-ray version of The Lord of the Rings was released in the United States in April 2010. The individual disc of Two Towers was released in September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, minus digital copy.

The extended Blu-ray editions were released in the US and Canada in June 2011.

Two Towers was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other installments, including both theatrical and extended cuts.

Reception

Box office

The Two Towers opened in theaters on 18 December 2002. During its opening day, the film grossed $26 million, making it the second-highest opening Wednesday, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It earned $62,007,528 in its opening weekend in the US and Canada, becoming the fifth-highest opening weekend of that year, behind Austin Powers in Goldmember, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Spider-Man. The film then made $101.5 million during its five-day Wednesday opening.

Outside the US and Canada, The Two Towers made $99.4 million from 25 territories during its opening weekend, which made it the highest international opening weekend. The combined total opening weekend gross increased to $189.9 million, making it the highest worldwide opening weekend of all time. The film would hold both records until 2003 when they were given to The Matrix Reloaded and its successor The Matrix Revolutions respectively. The Two Towers set opening day records in Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, as well as a single-day record in Denmark. It then made opening weekend records in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and South Korea.

The film went on to gross $339,789,881 in North America and $596,899,854 internationally for a worldwide total of $936,689,735 against a budget of $94 million. The Two Towers was the highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide. Box Office Mojo estimates over 57 million sold tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.

Through re-releases in 2003, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the film has grossed an additional $2,761,484 in the United States and Canada, and $8,043,876 overseas for a combined total of $10,805,360. This brings overall earnings to $342,551,365 domestic and $604,943,730 international for a worldwide total of $947,495,095.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Two Towers holds an approval rating of 95% based on 255 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The website s critics consensus reads, The Two Towers balances spectacular action with emotional storytelling, leaving audiences both wholly satisfied and eager for the final chapter. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, has assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating universal acclaim . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A on an A+ to F scale, a grade up from the A− earned by the previous film.

Like its predecessor, The Two Towers was released to universal critical acclaim. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as one of the most spectacular swashbucklers ever made , and stating It is not faithful to the spirit of Tolkien and misplaces much of the charm and whimsy of the books, but it stands on its own as a visionary thriller . Nev Pierce for the BBC gave the film four stars out of five, and wrote that while it lacked the first film s wow-factor , it surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring in terms of wit, action and narrative drive . Pierce described Gollum as the first believable CG character and the Battle of Helm s Deep as one of the finest, most expansive combat sequences ever filmed . Writing for The Observer, Philip French described The Two Towers as a stunning visual epic . French commended the battle scenes and the visual style of the film, relating it to the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau illustrations for children s books, and the apocalyptic biblical landscapes … of the Victorian visionary John Martin . He concluded the review looking forward to the release of the final chapter, writing This is likely to be happier, more decisive and infinitely more satisfying than anything that will happen to our world in the next 12 months. Joe Morgenstern for The Wall Street Journal lauded the narrative construction of The Two Towers: Elaborate preparations are required for the payoff in this installment — the massing of troops plus much individual struggle as splintered groups of the Fellowship make their separate ways toward the defining battle of Helm s Deep … Yet these preparations count as payoffs too … Seldom has a popular entertainment set its stage so carefully or evocatively, with such lavish respect for its audience. Morgenstern also highlighted the digital effects and the battle scenes, and said of the series The Lord of the Rings continues to stake its singular claim on movie history; it s a gift of epic proportions. In his review for the Evening Standard, Alexander Walker wrote that the Battle of Helm s Deep was probably the greatest battlepiece composed for the screen since Eisenstein s Ivan the Terrible , and that with The Two Towers the trilogy had achieved a majestic proportion, chivalric and quixotic, earthly and magical, an experience that reaches beyond the dimensions of the cinema screen and somehow reflects the global unease of the world in the first years of the 21st century .

In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen commended Jackson s direction of the battle scenes, writing Few people can stage a battle — and the eyepopping siege of Helms Deep is one of the most spectacular you ll ever see — with such sweep and clarity that the carnage doesn t seem an oppressive end in itself . Ansen also praised the complexity of the character of Gollum, commenting While everyone else in Tolkien s myth falls neatly into the camps of Good and Evil, the self-lacerating Gollum is at war with himself. In an epic drenched in medievalism, he s the dangerously ambiguous voice of the modern. Caroline Westbrook, for Empire, gave the film five stars out of five, and wrote It may lack the first-view-thrill and natural dramatic shape of Fellowship, but this is both funnier and darker than the first film, and certainly more action-packed. An essential component of what is now destined to be among the best film franchises of all time. Westbrook lauded Jackson s ability to temper the spectacular scenes with some heartstring-tugging moments – peasants despondent as they are forced to abandon their villages, Aragorn and Arwen s troubled relationship, and, of course, the return of Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen, superb as ever), one of the film s most powerful, memorable images that may well leave Ring devotees a little misty-eyed. A less enthusiastic review was written in The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw, who had already written a mixed review of The Fellowship of the Ring. Bradshaw gave The Two Towers three stars out of five, appreciating it as a very watchable, distinctive, if over-extended FX spectacle . However, he commented that the film could not be taken as a serious evocation of good and evil , and dismissed the subject as lots and lots of interminable nerdish nonsense .

The Battle of Helm s Deep has been named by CNN as one of the greatest screen battles of all time, while Gollum was named as the third favourite computer-generated film character by Entertainment Weekly in 2007.

Accolades

• Academy AwardsWinner: Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke) and Best Sound Editing (Ethan Van der Ryn and Michael Hopkins). Nominee: Best Picture (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson, producers), Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee), Best Film Editing (Michael J. Horton) and Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek).
• Winner: Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke) and Best Sound Editing (Ethan Van der Ryn and Michael Hopkins).
• Nominee: Best Picture (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson, producers), Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee), Best Film Editing (Michael J. Horton) and Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek).
• British Academy Film Awards: Best Costume Design, Best Special Visual Effects, Orange Film of the Year (voted on by the public)
• Empire Awards: Best Picture
• Grammy Awards: Best Score (Howard Shore)
• Hugo Awards (World Science Fiction Society): Best Dramatic Presentation — Long Form
• 2003 MTV Movie Awards: Best virtual performance (Gollum)
• Saturn Awards: Best Fantasy Film, Best Costume (Ngila Dickson), Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis)

American Film Institute Recognition

• AFI s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes: My precious. – #85
• My precious. – #85

Award	Category	Recipient/Nominee	Result
Academy Awards	Best Picture	Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Grant Major, Dan Hennah and Alan Lee	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Michael J. Horton	Nominated
	Best Sound	Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek	Nominated
	Best Sound Editing	Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins	Won
	Best Visual Effects	Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke	Won
British Academy Film Awards	Best Film	Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson	Nominated
	Best Direction	Peter Jackson	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Andrew Lesnie	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor	Won
	Best Editing	Michael J. Horton	Nominated
	Best Makeup and Hair	Peter Owen, Peter King and Richard Taylor	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Grant Major	Nominated
	Best Sound	Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, Mike Hopkins, Hammond Peek, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick and Michael Hedges	Nominated
	Best Special Visual Effects	Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke	Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Nominated
	Best Director	Peter Jackson	Nominated
Saturn Awards	Best Fantasy Film	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Won
	Best Director	Peter Jackson	Nominated
	Best Actor	Viggo Mortensen	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Andy Serkis	Won
	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Elijah Wood	Nominated
	Best Writing	Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor	Won
	Best Make-up	Peter Owen and Peter King	Won
	Best Music	Howard Shore	Nominated
	Best Special Effects	Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke	Nominated

Year	2002
ReleaseDate	2002-12-18
RuntimeMins	179
RuntimeStr	2h 59min
Plot	While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.
Awards	Top rated movie #14 , Won 2 Oscars, 126 wins & 138 nominations total
Directors	Peter Jackson
Writers	J.R.R. Tolkien, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
Stars	Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Produced by	Peter Jackson,Michael Lynne,Eric Monette,Mark Ordesky,Barrie M. Osborne,Rick Porras,Jamie Selkirk,Robert Shaye,Fran Walsh,Bob Weinstein,Harvey Weinstein
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography by	Andrew Lesnie
Film Editing by	Michael Horton
Casting By	Victoria Burrows,Amy Hubbard,John Hubbard,Liz Mullane,Ann Robinson
Production Design by	Grant Major
Art Direction by	Joe Bleakley,Dan Hennah,Philip Ivey,Rob Outterside,Mark Robins
Set Decoration by	Dan Hennah,Alan Lee
Costume Design by	Ngila Dickson,Richard Taylor
Makeup Department	Margaret Aston,Rick Findlater,Debbie Fitzpatrick,Kerryn Flewell-Smith,Vance Hartwell,Steve Hopgood,Mark Kinaston-Smith,Peter Swords King,Jessica Lalande,Davina Lamont,Tami Lane,Louise Leonard,Vivienne MacGillicuddy,Catherine Maguire,Emma Moncrieff,Angela Mooar,Peter Owen,Elizabeth Pick,José Luis Pérez,Allie Rutherford,Janine Schneider,Lenore Stewart,Gail Taylor,Richard Taylor,Tanya Travis,Tera Treanor,Caroline Turner,Nancy Vincent,Noreen Wilkie,Gail Wilson,Jeremy Woodhead,Melisa Mitchell-Bridle,Sarah Weatherburn,Laurelle Ziento
Production Management	Bridget Bourke,Rosemary Dority,Carla Fry,Fiona Fry,Erik Holmberg,Rua Howe,Carol Kim,Nikolas Korda,Kevin Magill,Peta Sinclair,Fridtjof Stechmann,Jonas Thaler,Mike Turner,Zane Weiner
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Marc Ashton,Richard A. Barker,Guy Campbell,Emma Cross,Carolynne Cunningham,Louise Harness,Zo Hartley,Belindalee Hope,Eric Houghton,Chris Husson,Marcus Levy,John Mahaffie,Richard Matthews,Geoff Murphy,Dave Norris,Joanne Pearce,Rick Porras,Liz Tan,Skot Thomas,Edith Thompson,Martin Walsh,Simon Warnock,Stephanie Weststrate,Guy Norris
Art Department	Tim Abbot,Daniel Aird,Jacqui Allen,Judy Alley,Stan Alley,Karl Anton,Andrew Baguley,Michael Baker,Ben Beemsterboer,Stephen Belsten,Brett Blenkin,Michael J. Bonnar,Kevin Bradshaw,John Brien,Simon Bright,Rob Brown,Sam Brown,Jason Browning,Pete Butters,Anton Buys,Brian Campbell,Paula Carswell,Paul Carvell,Stephen ‘Casey’ Casey,Tanea Chapman,Jeff Clark,Jules Cook,Stephen Crene,Neil Cromie,Alan Davie,Henry Davies,Huia Davies,Selwyn Davies,Antonio De Gregorio,P.M. de Rijk,Joel Douglas,Tony Drawbridge,Matt Duncan,Rei Duncan,Kerry Dunn,Matthew Easton,Grant Fahey,Daniel Falconer,Semi Feite,Garrick Ferguson,Duncan Field,Adam Fisher,Martin Ford,Andrew Fraser,Coleman Fraser,Alistair Fyfe,Roxane Gajadhar,Clayton Gearry,Andy Gee,Sam Genet,Mike Gibson,Chris Gifford,Trevor Gillan,Charles Goodwin,Geoff Goss,Don Graham,Clarke Gregory,James Griffin,David Guerin,Paul Halton,Simon Hames,Troy Hannett,Wade Hannett,Andrew Harding,Simon Harper,Andrew Hastings,Wendy Hatfield,Paul Hay-Chapman,Michael Heerey,Mike Heffernan,David Hegglun,Chris Hennah,Vaughan Hickson,Peter Hill,Ross Hoby,Nick Hoddinot,Jason Holland,Roger Houston,John Howe,Gary Hunt,Murray Hunter,Amos Kane Ibell,Gareth Jensen,Mark Jephson,Daniel Kelly,Archie Kennedy,Heather Kilgour,P.E. Kilpatrick,Green Kim,Dan King,Gareth King,Robert King,Jeff Kingsford-Brown,Dallas Selwyn Tengore Kipa,Thomas Kipa,Erwin Koedijk,Andrew Kolfe,David Kolff,Andre La Borde,Saunoaga Lafai,Jon Lambert,Brett Larsen,Bill Lawton,Christopher Lawton,Alan Lee,Virginia Lee,Tristan Leniston-Mahoney,Setu Lio,Andrew Lloyd,Richard Lomas,Douglas Lotoaso,Paul Lovato,Peter Loveridge,Simon Lowe,Alastair Maher,Troy Major,Steve Manning,Anthony Marrow,Jim Marsden,Alan Marshall,John Marshall,Simon Marshall,Brian Massey,Graeme Massey,Fiona McDonald,Sam McDougall,Basil McGahan,Ross McGarva,Robert McGovern,Victoria McKenzie,Andrew McLay,Brian McMillin,William McPhedron,Chris Meder,Matthew Mellor,Gareth Mills,Gerome Mills,Derek Misseldine,Dave Moore,Chris Morrison,Andrew Moyes,Ed Mulholand,Ian Murray,Russell Murray,Graeme Neal,Shanon Newson,Kirk Nicholls,Daena Nichols,Reece Nicol,Anthony Norris,Mark O’Shea,Matthew C. Oliver,Richard Orrick,Michael Paterson,Josh Patterson,Leon Pehi,Scott Peters,Raynia Pikari,Jeerapong Pitakkul,Ivan Poa,Tim Priest,Ben Pringle,Manu Pullyn,Chris Purdy,Trace Quinn,Hamish Quinney,Chris Ramsay,Duncan J. Randall,Robert Reedy,Daniel Reeve,Jack Reid,Mark Relph,Amber Richards,Andrew Richardson,Scott Richardson,Nick Riera,Warren Robb,Quinn Roberts,Tony Roberts,Wayne Roberts,Murray Robinson,Jonathan Rodgers,Dave Roy,Bill Ryalls,Solomon Saalmon,John Shearman,Mark Sheridan,Kevin Silvester,Vic Singe,Stepan Skala,Dean Smith,Fraser Smith,Giles Smith,Warren Dion Smith,Troy Stephens,Russell Stoupe,Chris Streeter,Helen Strevens,Nigel Sturgeon,Richard Sturkenboom,John Suddaby,Brent Sutton,Ricky Sweeney,Hokio Tarawhiti,Brent Tasker,Wayne Tawhara,Lesley Earle Templeton,Rod Tervoort,Kevin Thian,Nigel Thomas,Philip Thomas,Kate Thurston,Joel Toruragi Tomokino,Cathy Tracey,Mike Travers,James Tuapai,Ken Turner,Lisa Twort,Hans John Uivel,Phillip Unuia,Janice Van Rooijen,Dave Vernon,Ra Vincent,Hamish Wain,Duncan Wait,Rob Wait,Axel Wakelin,Bryan Wakelin,Hakota James Walker,Patrick Walker,Timothy Ward,Graham Watkins,Nick Weir,Gillian West-Walker,Ben Whale,James Whetu-Waten,David White,Norman Willerton,Dominic Williams,Mark Cameron Williams,Nick Williams,Paul Williams,Phil Williams,Alan Wilson,Shane Wood,Matt Wratten,Brigitte Wuest,Alan Wyllie,Joseph Wynward,Brigitte Yorke,Kirsty Patterson,Christian Rivers,Alexander Still,Richard Taylor,Michael White
Sound Department	Narelle Ahrens,Ray Beentjes,Christopher Boyes,Brent Burge,Jason Canovas,Hayden Collow,Eoin Cox,Malcolm Cromie,Matt Cuirc,Corrin Ellingford,David Farmer,Les Fiddess,Lisa K. Fowle,Mark Franken,Luke Goodwin,Michael Hedges,Phil Heywood,Mike Hopkins,Paul Huntingford,Grant Johnson,Mike Jones,Martin Kwok,Kyrsten Mate,Robyn McFarlane,John McKay,Polly McKinnon,Carolyn McLaughlin,Peter Mills,Leon Minas,John Neill,Martin Oswin,Hammond Peek,Ken Saville,Michael Semanick,Nigel Stone,Gary Summers,Holger M. Thiele,Craig Tomlinson,Ethan Van der Ryn,Chris Ward,Dave Whitehead,Chris Winter,Katy Wood,David Abrahamsen,Michael Brigman,Gethin Creagh,Wendy Czajkowsky,Chris Hiles,Sonal Joshi,Jo Mion,Fabian Sanjurjo,Michael Semanick,Sam Spicer,Mike Stewart,Matt Stutter,Kathy Turco,Chris Ward
Special Effects by	Gudrun Abbott,Michael Abott,Gino Acevedo,Greg Allison,Erica Anderson,Matt Appleton,Michael Asquith,Rebecca Asquith,Keith Barclay,Jeremy Barr,Gordon Barrell,David Barson,John Baster,Mike H.G. Bates,Warren Beaton,Andrew Beattie,Gary Bennett,Tama Berkeljon,Jamie Beswarick,Hannah Bianchini,Megan Bint,Freya Blackwood,Morgan Boehringer,Shaun Bolton,David Booth,Matt Brebner,Carola Broekhoff,Jonathon Brough,Angela Brown,Duncan Brown,Hamish Brown,Michelle Bryant,Lyndon Burford,Lesley Burkes-Harding,Bob Burns,Jacq Burrell,John Caldwell,Glyn Carter,Tim Castelow,Norman Cates,Sourisak Chanpaseuth,Karl Chisholm,Woody Clayton,Hil Cook,Rich E. Cordobes,Chris Covich,John Craney,Geoff Curtis,Jorkos Damen,Bryon Darling,Jason Docherty,Joe Dunckley,Liam Dunstan,Andrew Durno,Sarah Durno,Susan Durno,Alex Dyer,Jon Ewen,Tony Ferrier,Gilly Fiford,Blair Foord,Sean Foot,Rodney Ford,Xander Forterie,Ryk Fortuna,Rob Gillies,Darin Gordine,Michael Grealish,Savannah Green,Warren Green,Brad Greenwood,Chris Guise,Paul Hambleton,Marjory Hamlin,John Harding,Sue Hardy,Scott Harens,Brett Harman,Vance Hartwell,John Harvey,Ben Hawker,Luke Hawker,Darran Holmes,Nori Honda,Kayne Horsham,Keith Huggins,Michael Hughes,Bill Hunt,Iain Hutton,Steve Ingram,Simon Jay,Stu Johnson,Karen Kelly,Gary Kingsman,Jan Kofzler,Simon Lamason,Tami Lane,Sukhita Langford,Sacha Lee,Roger Lewis,Nicci Lock,Darian Lumsden,Peter Lyon,Gary Mackay,Mary MacLachlan,Alastair Maher,Warren Mahy,Pietro Marson,Ross Martindale,Tim Marwick,Ray Massa,Richard Maybery,Clare McCutcheon,Fiona McDonald,Mike McDonald,Gareth McGhie,Robynne McIntyre,Pranee McKinlay,Phil McLaren,Bruce McNaught,Kerry McSaveney,Valerie Metin,Kenny Miller,Nardeen Mitchell,John Mowat,Gayle Munro,Brad Murphy,Paul Murphy,Les Nairn,Megumi Ogo,Kent Parker,Carl Payne,Dan Perry,Bill Perryman,Graham Piddington,Dean Powell,Ben Price,Fenella Probert,Karen Purvis,Shane Rangi,Pip Reisch,Roman Reyes,Darryl Richards,Tania Rodger,Tich Rowney,Ian Ruxton,Jeremy Ryder,Kym Sainsbury,Rogier Samuels,Scott Schneider,Neil Schrader,Mike Seddon,Gareth Selwood,Heidi Skeet,Gavin Skudder,Carlos Slater,Chris Smith,Fiona Sole,Ben Stenbeck,Mike Stringer,Emily Sturrock,Suzanne Sturrock,Dominic Taylor,Richard Taylor,Neil Testa,Janet Thomas,Sharon Thomas,Bill Thomson,Dominie Till,Greg Tozer,Tim Tozer,David Tremont,Rob Uivel,Steve Unwin,Wineke Van’thof,Ben Vere-Jones,Mark Viniello,Adrian Walker,Michael Wallace,Lynne Walsh,Paul Walton,Simon Ward,Deb Watson,Carlos Wedde,Annemiek Weterings,Tim Wigmore,Lisa Wildermoth,Jamie Wilson,Ben Wootten,Annette Wullems,Warwick Yin,Petar Zivkovic,Alain de Zilva,Doug de Zilva,Doug Falconer,Tomek Piatek
Visual Effects by	Dan Abrams,Holly Acton,Cathy Adams,Richard Addison-Wood,Malcolm Aitchison,Matt Aitken,Robin Akin,Jon Allitt,Colin Alway,Svend Andersen,Grant Anderson,Malcolm Angell,Hillary Yeo Tze Ann,Elisabeth Arko,Kyle Ashley,Mia Askew,Felix Balbas,Richard Baneham,Jay Banks,Jeremy Barr,Peter Baustaedter,Kelly Bechtle-Woods,Cory Bedwell,Darren Bedwell,Paula Bell,Laurent Ben-Mimoun,Kyla Bendall,Jeremy Bennett,Jill Berger,Patrick Bergeron,Jim Berney,Brad Booker,Nick Booth,Alfred Borg,Jacob Botting,Naomi Bowden,Jon Bowen,Lee Bramwell,Ben Britton,Loren Brookes,Max Bruce,David Brunette,Julian Bryant,Stephen A. Buckley,Sam Bui,Delphine Buratti,Chris Burn,Greg Butler,Hans Butler,Julian R. Butler,Andrew Calder,Laura Callaghan,Sonia Calvert,Andrew Camenisch,Scott Camera-Smith,Grady Campbell,Marie Campbell,Paul Campion,Dave Cardwell,Aaron Caskey,Norman Cates,Bernard O. Ceguerra,Alan Chan,Paul Charisse,Glen Christie,Benjamin Cinelli,Eduardo Cisneros,Brad W. Clark,Craig Clarke,Hannah Clarke,John Clinton,Ann Cloet,Dan Cobbett,Tony Cole,Katherine C. Concepcion,Paul Conway,Alexandra Cook,Randall William Cook,Shane Cooper,Melanie Cordan,Stephen Coren,Nicolle Cornute,J.C. Cornwell,Aaron Cowan,Jessica Cowley,Frank Cowlrick,Doug Creel,Jim Croasdale,Martyn ‘Moose’ Culpitt,Christian Cunningham,John Curtis,Kevin Cushing,Susan Cuthbert,Marion Davey,Chris Davison,Bradford deCaussin,Steve Demers,Graeme Demmocks,Max Dennison,Richard Dexter,Colin Doncaster,Adam Dotson,Rebecca Downes,Nika Dunne,Yanick Dusseault,Alexandre Ethier,Paul Everitt,Oliver Exmundo,Campbell Taylor Fairweather,Mark Fattibene,John Feather,Eric Fernandes,Kelly Fischer,Shine Fitzner,Erina Fon,Fiona Foster,Richard Frances-Moore,Kiki Francoise,Evan Fraser,Paul Freeman,Dimitri Frost,Quentin Frost,Jenny Fulle,Alex Funke,Roman Gadner,Eric Gambini,Chris George,David Gilligan,Moritz Glaesle,Andrew Goldstein,Avi Goodman,David Gould,Jason Greenblum,Kyle Gudsell,Rachel Guidera,Mike Gunn,Paul Gunn,Wayne John Haag,Bassim Haddad,Geoff Hadfield,Mikael Hakansson,John Haley,Monica Singh Haley,Ben Hall,Martin Hall,Jeff Hameluck,Briana Hamilton,Laura Hanigan,Patricia A. Hannaway,David R. Hardberger,Sven Harens,Harry Harrison,Geoffrey Harvey,Todd Harvey,Christopher Hatala,Libby Hazell,G.G. Heitmann Demers,Quentin Hema,Matt ‘Chief’ Hightower,Jep Hill,Matt Holmes,Scott Holmes,Mark Hopkins,Richard Hopkins,Steven Hornby,Gray Horsfield,Kathryn Horton,David Houghton-Williams,Ian House,Scott Houston,Jason Howden,Dave R. Howe,Keith Huggins,Bret Hughes,Jennifer Hunt,Gus Hunter,Philip Hunter,Katherine Hurst,Roger Huynh,Claire Inglis,Robyn Isaacs,Mel James,Sven Jensen,Jeff A. Johnson,Linda Johnson,Kevin J. Jolly,Penelope M. Jones,Verena Jonker,Lisa Josephs,Chris Juen,Sandip Kalsy,Mel Kangleon,Matt Kelly,Mike Kelly,Cheryl Kerr,Ken Keys,Jennifer Jung Kim,Ken Satchel King,Paul Kirwan,Susie Kleis,Tom Kluyskens,Heather Knight,MacDuff Knox,Jonny Kofoed,Sergei Koudriautsev,Alex Kramer,Dmitri Krasnokoutski,Jan Kruse,Roger Kupelian,Joosten Kuypers,Jon Labrie,Suzanne Labrie,Laure Lacroix,Lea Lambert,Kirsty Lancaster,Paul Lasaine,Jeanette Lask,Karin Last,Jacob Leaf,Jake Lee,Louis Lefebvre,Alex Lemke,Dan Lemmon,Mike Lemmon,Joe Letteri,Eric Leven,Letia Lewis,Mark Tait Lewis,Sean Lewkiw,Shanna C. Lim,Seth Lippman,Ross Littlejohn,Xiaohong Liu,Michael Lloyd,Matt Logue,Jade Lorier,Jacob Luamanuvae,Stephen Lunn,Darren Lurie,Dean Lyon,Keith MacGowan,Alastair Macleod,Tibor Madjar,Alastair Maher,Matt Majers,Michael Manza,Campbell March,Nic Marrison,Florian Martin,Jeffrey Martin,Albert Mason,Sean Mathiesen,Sharon Maxwell,Jolene McCaffrey,Timothy McCallum,Charlie McClellan,Damian McDonnell,Shane McEwan,Ken McGaugh,Samantha McGovern,Steven McKendry,Nick McKenzie,Jim ‘Big Dog’ McLean,Genevieve McMahon,Tristan McMahon,Brian McMillin,Michelle Meeker,Alex Mein Smith,Matthias Menz,Andrea Merlo,Barry Metin,Justin Mettam,Michael Miller,James L. Millington,Saki Mitchell,David Miya,Chad Moffitt,Elizabeth Moore,Richard Moore,Sarah Moore,Eileen Moran,Sébastien Moreau,Lauren Morimoto,Jake Morrison,Matt Mueller,Hiroaki Muramoto,Mike L. Murphy,Alfred Mürrle,Sergei Nevshupov,Milton Ngan,Betsy Nofsinger,Jens Normann,John P. Nugent,Murray Nuttall,Jane O’Callaghan,Mike O’Neill,Robert O’Neill,Cyndi Ochs,James Ogle,George Oliver,Leslie Oliver,Tor-Bjorn Olsson,Andrea Lackey Pace,Annabel Page,Helen Paul,Patricia Pawlak,Michael Pecchia,Bob Peitzman,Mike Perry,Todd Sheridan Perry,Dana Peters,Alan Pilkington,Fred Place,Emrys Plaisted,Ema Pomare,Lance Powell,Steve Preeg,Martin Preston,Niklas Preston,James E. Price,Jo Priest,Shane Prigmore,Henk Prins,Thomas Proctor,Jean-Colas Prunier,Dale Pugh,Lucas Putnam,Bay Raitt,Mohan Ramachandran,Troy Ramsey,Ollie Rankin,Donny Rausch,Sarah Rausch,Mathieu Raynault,Stephen Regelous,Stephan Remstedt,Kim Rickard,Marc D. Rienzo,Lauren Ritchie,Frank Ritlop,Christian Rivers,Carlos M. Rosas,Campbell Rose,Tim Rowlandson,Luaan Ruaine,Patrick Runyon,Jim Rygiel,Theresa Ellis Rygiel,Karim Sahai,Eric Saindon,Rosendo Salazar,Nicole Samarron,Adrian Samuels,Brian Samuels,Mahria Sangster,Atsushi Sato,Robin Saxen,Mark Schaefer,Iwan Peter Scheer,Katie Scheid,Jason Schleifer,Sean Schur,Lopsie Schwartz,David Scott,Remington Scott,Shaun Scott,Brad Selkirk,Glen Sharah,John Sheils,Kevin L. Sherwood,Tomoko Shin,Roger Shortt,Chuck Shuman,Martin Simcock,Dan Smiczek,Hugh Smith,Kevin Andrew Smith,Craig Speakman,Holger Spill,Wayne Stables,Brett Stapleton-French,Albrecht Steinmetz,David Stephens,Mark Stetson,Mike Stevens,Daniel Story,Paul Story,Baudouin Struye,Lee F. Sullivan,David Swift,Eric Tablada,Charles Tait,Mark Tait,Chu Tang,Jon Tanimoto,Anne Taunga,Sandy Taylor,Rod Tervoort,Carrie Thiel,Lisa Thomas,Gerald Thompson,Rachel Thompson,Geoff Tobin,Remy Torre,Rob Townshend,Peter G. Travers,Guerdon Trueblood,Zachary Tucker,Edward Twiss,Stephen Unterfranz,Adam Valdez,James Van Der Reyden,Phil Van Der Reyden,Paul Van Ommen,Brian Van’t Hul,Kara Vandeleur,Lila Vesely,Jenny Vial,Mary Victoria,Marco Vidaurre,Deborah Wagner,Mike Wallis,Tim Ward,Sandra Warren,Morris Wassman,Christine Watkins,Imery Watson,Roland Watson,Barry Weiss,Matt Welford,Craig Wentworth,Lisa Wild,Ed Wilkie,Guy Williams,Pete Williams,Erik Winquist,Robert Winter,Jedrzej Wojtowicz,David Worman,Dean Wright,Doug Wright,Klaus Wuchta,Annette Wullems,Billy Wychgel,Joyce Young,Marvyn Young,John B. Anderson,Cheryl Bainum,Miles Bellas,Rob Blue,Aimee Campbell,Yvonne Cuthbert,Greg Ellis,Deak Ferrand,Keith Foston,Phil Greig,Erica Hornung,Adrian Iler,Arnon Manor,Tanya Marriott,Rob Marsh,Mike Morasky,David Parrish,Gerard Benjamin Pierre,Jamie Pilgrim,Don Schmeichel,David Scott,Joe Stevano,Rainer Stolle,Imery Watson,Jeremie Winslow
Stunts	Daniel Andrews,Sala Baker,Jeff Barber,Daniel W. Barringer,Trevor Bau,Brett Beattie,Shane Blakey,Matthew Breen,Sean Button,Shaughan Campbell,Samuel Capiccioni,Ryan Carey,Justin B. Carter,Rodney Cook,Robert Cooper,Gareth Courtney,Augie Davis,Mana Hira Davis,Branko Dordevich,Steve Drage,Duncan Dwight,Neill Dwight,Clint Elvy,Morgan Evans,Sebastian Foxx,Gary Fry,Winham Hammond,Albert Heimuli,Shelley Hodder,Lani Jackson,Are Manea Karati,Thomas Kiwi,Gregory Paul Lane,Slade Leef,Lance Louez,Aaron Lupton,Kirk Maxwell,Tim McLachlan,Steve McQuillan,Greg ‘Danger’ Morrison,David J. Muzzerall,Casey O’Neill,Nooroa Poa,Joshua Randall,Bob Reinsfield,Ken Reinsfield,Steve Reinsfield,Barrie Rice,Markos Rounthwaite,Vincent Roxburgh,George Marshall Ruge,Gene Sadler,Jeremy Sciascia,Paul Shapcott,Allan Smith,Bronson Steel,Andrew Stehlin,Billy ‘Roy’ Taylor,Marcus Thorne,Stuart Thorp,Jacob Tomuri,Marcello Vuljan,James Waterhouse-Brown,Tim Wong,Brendan Young,Robert Young,Saeed Zamiri,Adam Campbell,Clint Carleton,Ben Cooke,Jonathan Costelloe,Clare Cunningham,Tack Daniel,Shane Dawson,Peter Dillon,Aron Eastwood,Marcus Goldfinch,Tony Marsh,Kirk Maxwell,Sharon Maxwell,Allan Poppleton,Shane Rangi,Campbell Rousselle,Tim Wong
Camera and Electrical Department	Steve Allanson,Dave Anderson,Kane Asher,Andrew Ayrton,Julian Baier,Alan Baird-Smith,Ollivier Ballister,Brian Bansgrove,Jon Barltrop,James Barr,George Binnersley,Jessica Bluck,Nigel Bluck,Richard Bluck,Alun Bollinger,Lucy Bowey,Jacob Bridge,David Brown,Craig Bryant,Jenny Bundellu,Nigel Burton,Ross Butler,John Cavill,Colin Chase,Adam Clark,Chris Coad,Giles Coburn,Olly Coleman,Jamie Couper,Alex Cross,Simon Currie,Where Jason Davis,John Day,Henrik de Jong,Colin Deane,Matt Denton,Charles Edwards,Ants Farrell,Jac Fitzgerald,Annie Frear,Jock Fyfe,Gerry Ganger,Callan Green,Huw Griffiths,Allen Guilford,Rewa Harre,Harry Harrison,Dion Hartley,Grant Harvey,Stephen Head,Richard ‘Poss’ Hogan,Stacey Hoggard,Michael Hughes,Regan Jones,Terry Joosten,Tony Keddy,Sean Kelly,James Kennedy,Rob Kerr,Peter Kruk,Damien Kwocksun,Murray Love,Simon Lythgoe,Nigel Maclaurin,Craig Madoc,Michaela Maguire,Keri Manuel,Brent Marsden,Sam Marshal,Henare Mato,Chris Matthews,Dean Maxted,Peter McCaffrey,Dean McCarroll,Ian McCarroll,Kylie McConnell,Andrew McGeorge,Hamish McIntyre,Cameron McLean,Sam McLean,Joel McQueen,Rob Mita,Tony Monk,Doug Monte,Louise Moore,Reuben Morrison,Miles Murphy,Paul Murphy,Greg Nalder,Jamie Nevill,David B. Nowell,Chris Palmer,Matthew Parsons,Phil Pastuhov,Warrick Peace,Nigel Percy,Guy Pottinger,Craig Potton,Dan Rabarts,Simon Raby,Aaron Rangi,Mathew Ranginui,Simon Ranginui,Ulric Raymond,Andy Reid,Fernando Reyes Allendes,Melissa Ririnui,Jason Robertson,Ben Rowsell,Chris Ruane,Aniko Safran,Paul Samuels,Paul Sawtell,Damon Selkirk,Richard Shaw,Marc Sim,Peter Smith,Philip A.T. Smith,Stewart Sorby,Byron Sparrow,Alfie Speight,Anthony Stehr,Joe Stick,Andrew Stroud,Anthony Sumich,Geoff Tait,Luke Thomas,Justin Topzand,Richard Turton,Edward Tyrie,Gerry Vasbenter,Pierre Vinet,Angus Ward,Keith Watkins,Tam Webster,Jason White,Jonathan Woolf,Malcolm York,Wayne Zubritzky,Tim Dallas,Roger Feenstra,Rob Marsh,Mark Olsen
Animation Department	Shane Prigmore,Mike Wallis
Casting Department	Tina Cleary,Amanda Duncan,Amy Hubbard,John Hubbard,Cynthia Morahan,Abdul-Majeed Moulvi,Liz Mullane,Miranda Rivers,Ann Robinson,Louis Elman
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Catherine Anderton,Martine Bijker,Liza Bishop,Anna Bosley,Chantelle Bowkett,Sam Brown,Tom Caddy,Susan Casey,Miriam Christie,Monique Cornes,Libby Dempster,Tracy Duffy,Jasmin Easterbrook,Sian Evans,Carolyn M. Fenton,Sue Franklin,Paula Goodall,Sally Gray,Erica Hackell,Joy Hanson,Cilla Harnett,Emma Harre,Alison Hill,Jessica Joe,Francesca King,Simone Knight,Pauline Laws,Pip Lingard,Emma Lumley,Janis MacEwan,Paula MacEwan,Hayley May,Lachlan Mayclair,Ylona McGinty,Liz McGregor,Sophie Mills,Samantha Morley,Amanda Neale,Mirinda Penny,Andrea Plested,Kristelle Plummer,Kerry Robinson,Julie Zavala Ron,Sheree Roud,Silvana Sacco,Kirsten Sach,Sarah Shepherd,Jackie Speedy,Annie Tatton,Jasmine Watson,Jane Wilson,Stephanie Chung,Silvana Sacco
Editorial Department	Annie Collins,Jack Deutchman,Matthew Diezel,Megan Doneman,Meredith Dooley,Bob Doyle,Peter Doyle,Mark Hawthorne,Brent Kaviar,Jody Levin,Warren Lynch,Patrick C Miller,Shanon Moratti,Jon Newell,Jabez Olssen,Megan Powlds,Lynne Reed,Michelle Robertson,Jamie Selkirk,Peter Skarratt,Brett Skinner,Loren Squires,Judy Strazzera,Judith Babcock,Victoria Chu,D. Todd Deeken,S. Scott Farrar,Michael Hatzer,Jim Passon,Kent Pritchett,Royce Smith
Location Management	David Comer,Jared Connon,Matthew Cooper,Mathew Gordon,Robin Murphy,Nick Oliver,Richard Sharkey,Peter Tonks,Melanie Turner,Harry Whitehurst,Alicia Williams,Emily Ireland
Music Department	Roger Argente,Ann Barnard,Jacqueline Barron,James Bellamy,Simone Benyacar,Richard Bissill,Leon Bosch,Andy Bradfield,Mark Brooks,Paul Broucek,Steve Browell,Jim Bruening,Heather Cairncross,Edward Cervenka,Chris Clark,Peter Cobbin,Ruth Cornes,Mike Cox,Chris Cozens,Andrew Crowley,Peter Davies,Christopher Dee,David Donaldson,Andrew Dudman,Richard Edwards,Terry Edwards,Karen Elliott,Sarah Eyden,Rob Fardell,Malcolm Fife,Andrew Findon,Bill Foley,Vic Fraser,Becca Gatrell,David Gill,David Gleeson,Haley Glennie-Smith,Paul Golding,Jeff Grace,Mark Graham,Isobel Griffiths,Ian Hayter,Jan Hendrickse,Andrew Hewitt,Mike Hext,Mike Hornett,Jake Jackson,Nadia Jeddaoui,Erik Jordan,John Kurlander,Richard Lancaster,Greg Laporta,Gabrielle Lester,Alex Letts,Peter Lewis,Roger Linley,The London Oratory School Schola,London Philharmonic Orchestra,London Voices,David Long,Kevin Mahonchak,Steve Mair,Veigar Margeirsson,Michael McCarthy,Ollie Moira,Perry Montague-Mason,Raphaël Mouterde,Maurice Murphy,Everton Nelson,Dan Newell,Daniel Nielsen,Anna Noakes,Charles Portney,Jason Poss,Michael Price,Steven Price,James Rhodes,Steve Roche,Matt Rocker,Janet Roddick,Edmund Sanders,Gaby Santinelli,Jonathan Schultz,Nigel Scott,Lindsay Shilling,Howard Shore,Lori Silfen,Peter Snipp,Tim Starnes,Dave Stewart,Mirek Stiles,Jill Streater,Tim Stritmater,Alex Swift,Mike Thompson,Bill Thwaites,Helen Tunstall,Lawrence Wallington,Hugo Ward,Rachel Weston,Robert White,Mark Willsher,Rolf Wilson,Toby Wood,John Wriggle,Warren Zielinski,Rachel Bolt,Danny Bramson,Jason Cienkus,Nathan Lanier,Jason Poss,Patrick Savage,Howard Shore,Allen Walley
Script and Continuity Department	Helen McNamara,Dianne Moffatt,Pat Robins,Oksana Sokol,Victoria Sullivan
Transportation Department	Bruce Bartley,Caleb Dempsey,Ravi Dube,Spencer Faulkner,Arthur ‘Art’ Fell,Reg Gibson,Betty Graham,Kent Greenwood,Vicky Hancock,Alistair Howden,Stuart Karena,Isaac Lane,Jim Martin,Arthur Matthews,Carl McHugh,Jerram Murray,Murray O’Neil,Brent Ormsby,Karen Russell,Glenn Shaw,Michael Strickland,Tamsin Webber,Georgina Wells,Swampy Marsh
Additional Crew	Jane Abbott,Janine Abery,Jonathan Aitken,Ruben Allen,Bob Anderson,Lauren Anderson,Elena Azuola,Rick Baer,Stephen Bayliss,Len Baynes,Ferenc Bechtold,Emma Bendell,Jarl Benzon,Andrew Black,Kelly Black,Jan Blenkin,Melissa Booth,Jake Botting,Harald Brendel,Kristie Breslin,Jed Brophy,Tanya Buchanan,Bob Buck,Andy Buckley,Tim Burrell,Elaine Burt,Steve Butler,Philip Capil,Alice Capper-Starr,Briar Carter,Laurie Cartwright,Linda Cartwright,Roisin Carty,Praphaphorn ‘Fon’ Chansantor,Dion Church,Basil Clapham,Peter Clarke,Andrew Cochrane,Sean Connell,Andy Cooper,Lindsay Cope,James Couling,Natalie Crane,Mathew Cutfield,Anne-Marie Davenport,Fran Davey,Jon Davidson,Penny Dean,Matthew Dravitzki,Lyle W. Edge,Jeff Egan,Dean Evans,Gábor Forgács,Deborah Fox,François Frey,Dominique Fromont,Jason Frost-Evans,Andrew Funk,Carla Gammons,Richard Gardner,Reece Geraghty,Emily Glatter,Frank Goldingham,Pon Swamy Gounder,Martin Leniston Gray,Simpson Grierson,Jonathan Roy Grindlay,Chris Guise,Robert Halcrow,Jonathan Harding,Cilla Harnett,Niki Harris,Lee Harrison,Vance Hartwell,Mike Hayden,Christina Hazard,Donyale Hema,Liz Hewson,Jason Hill,Jessica Hogan,Olivia Holmes,Jason Hood,Belindalee Hope,Brian Hotter,Pania Howe,Katie Hutchinson,Jaunnie Ilolahia,Pino Insegno,H. Matthew Israel,Andrew Jack,Craig Jackson,Marcus James,Dave Johnson,Dean Johnston,Márk Jászberényi,Cindy Kahu,Bhoja ‘BK’ Kannada,Scott Kanyuck,Jocelyn Karaitiana,Kate Kennedy,Heather Kinaston-Smith,Mark Kinaston-Smith,Kenny King,Chris Kirkham,Karl ‘Payne’ Kite-Rangi,Linda Klein-Nixon,Rob Koch,Jake Koroi,Stephanie Kuttner,Grace Lan,Emily Lascelles,Veronique Lawrence,Josie Leckie,Ray Lenaghan,Troyon Lil,Nigel Loughnan,Caroline MacKay,Sebastian Marr,Hamish Matheson,Andrew Matthews,Averil Mawhinney,Marty McCormack,Wayne McCormack,Brent McIntyre,Alyson McRae,Hirini Melbourne,Victoria Mielewska,Robbie Miller,Eric Monette,Jenny Morgan,Kerrie Morgan,Kivani Moriarty,Blair Morton,Jennifer Mount,Diane Moynagh,Tristan Murdoch,Linus Murphy,Blair Muschamp,Nigel Nally,Duncan Nimmo,Carter Nixon,Ford Northfield,Richard Nunns,Casey O’Neill,Steve Old,Leslie Oliver,Star Olson,Danielle Osborne,Basia Ozerski,Bruce Phillips,Wesley Priest,Gyula Priskin,Paul Prokop,Jacqui Pryor,Philippa Race,Troy Ramsey,Paul Randall,Claire Raskind,Don Reynolds,Paul ‘Sled’ Reynolds,Missy Rika,Brent Robb,Suzanne Rosencrans,Mark Ross,Merrin Ruck,Christopher Rutten,David Salo,Niccola Sanderson,Paulina Saxton,John Scott,John Scott,Julianna Selfridge,Kiran Shah,Phil Shaw,Emma Simmers,Adam Slade,Heather Small,Andrew Smith,Lee Sommerville,Jill Soper,Andy South,Matthew Spicer,Holger Spill,Denise Steele,Jeanne Stuart,Dianne Sugden,Hana Sullivan,Fa Suluvave,Nutjaporn ‘Bow’ Swasdiprom,Liz Taege,Helene Takacs,Dion Tamihana,Carl Taylor,Sonya Thompsen,Sue Thompson,Barry Thomson,Will Tonge,Penny Towns,Aubrey Tredget,Roland Tuck,Gary Tudor,Dave Turnbull,Neville Turner,Michelle Twigden,Marc Tyron,Angela van de Weerdhof,Kosta Vatselias,Winston Walker,James Wallace,Angela Waller,Julia Walshaw,Graham Ware Jr.,Tam Webster,Andy Wickens,Wayne ‘Red’ Wickman,David Williams,Hughie Williams-Karaitiana,Joseph Winiata,Alan Woodruff,Tony Woolf,Damon Wyman,Will Yonge,Helen Young,Victor Aguirre,Bianca Bezdek-Goodloe,Sophie Brewster,Bob Bridges,Ronald C. Briggs Jr.,Andrew Calder,Gina Deakin,Matthew Dravitzki,Michael Elsworth,Ben Fransham,Rod Fransham,Niki Harris,Peter Hassall,Fraser Hesketh,Sean Jordan,Francel Diaz Leñero,Ian Murray,Jimmy James Nielsen,Janice F. Sperling,Ken Stratton,Andy Surry,Damon J. Taylor,Robbie Titchener,Daniel Villagomez,Karl Zohrab
Thanks	Andreas Ahlmann,Brian Bansgrove,Jordan Christian,Carla Fry,Ryan J. Gilmer,Richard Glenn,Ken Kamins,Aine Leicht,Hamish McHardy,Peter Nelson,Phillip Prior,Richard Reiner,Scott Reynolds,Brent Robb,Tom Shippey,Lars Johan Steinsvik,Bill Welden
Genres	Action, Adventure, Drama
Companies	New Line Cinema, WingNut Films, The Saul Zaentz Company
Countries	New Zealand, USA
Languages	English, Sindarin, Old English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	8.8
ImDbRatingVotes	1639800
MetacriticRating	87
Keywords	middle earth,hobbit,epic,wizard,mission