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Home / Lifestyle

'Return of the King' breaks NZ, US box office records

19 Dec, 2003 06:37 AM2 mins to read

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The final instalment in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy has trilogy broken New Zealand's opening day box office record with $919,500 yesterday.

The previous record of $757,887 was held by Return of the King's predecessor Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, Roadshow Film Distributors general manager Lisa Hubbard said in a statement today.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King" also set a new US box-office record for a Wednesday launch and posted the third highest opening-day gross of all time, its distributor says.

"The Return of The King" sold about US$34.1 million ($NZ53.41m) worth of tickets in movie theatres across North America on Wednesday, a figure that includes US$8 million from midnight Tuesday screenings.

The previous record for a Wednesday opening was held by "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," which bowed with US$28.5 million in 1999. The all-time one-day opening record of US$39.4 million is held by last year's "Spider-Man," followed by "The Matrix Reloaded" earlier this year with US$37.5 million.

Among its "Lord of the Rings" predecessors, "The Fellowship of the Ring" grossed US$18.2 million during its first day in December 2001, while "The Two Towers" kicked off with US$26.1 million last year, a figure that now ranks No. 3 among Wednesday openings.

The new film should surpass the US$102 million that "The Two Towers" racked up during its first five days, said Rolf Mittweg, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at New Line Cinema, which released the trilogy.

Given the film's near unanimous praise from critics and moviegoers alike, "I don't think anything can go wrong actually," he said in an interview.

Additionally, the movie grossed US$23.5 million from 19 countries, setting opening-day records in at least 12 of them, Mittweg said. Day-one totals included US$5.2 million from Britain, US$5 million from Germany and US$3 million from France.

The three "Lord of the Rings" movies, based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, were directed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand. Together, the first two films have grossed about US$655 million in North America alone.

Earlier today, the film picked up four Golden Globe nominations for best picture, director, score, and song.

- NZPA, REUTERS

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings

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