The Fellowship of the Ring Turns 25, and Peter Jackson's Gamble Still Looks Like a Miracle

Illustration: AI-generated with Pollinations (FLUX), free to use

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring opened on December 19, 2001, so it is now 25 years old. I remember the feeling of that year, when nobody was sure a big, serious fantasy film could work. The books were considered close to unfilmable, and the studio was putting a lot of trust in a New Zealand director whose best-known earlier work was a splatter comedy and a small crime drama.

Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The production itself was the bold part. Peter Jackson shot all three films back to back in New Zealand over roughly 15 months, starting in 1999, rather than one after another. That meant the cast spent a very long time together, and it is part of why the Fellowship feels like a real group. Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Sean Bean and the rest were living inside this story for years.

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The craft was impressive. Weta Workshop built armour, weapons and miniatures, the landscapes of New Zealand became Middle-earth, and Howard Shore wrote a score that still gets played in concert halls. The film earned 13 Academy Award nominations and won four, for cinematography, makeup, visual effects and original score.

Photo: Sam Santos, Canadian Film Centre, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What I admire most is how much patience it has. It spends time in the Shire, lets the quiet scenes breathe, and trusts the audience to care about the ring before the big battles arrive. Fantasy films since then have often copied the scale without copying that confidence.

Illustration: AI-generated with Pollinations (FLUX), free to use

Do you prefer the theatrical cut or the longer extended edition? I am firmly on the side of the extended version, but I know people who think the shorter one moves better.