Is the movie a good thing??

[Miríel]

I'm getting second thoughts, the movie is getting more attention than the book. I dont like it!!
Soon there will be lots of LotR fans who haven't even heard of the book. And Tom Bombadil will forever be a stranger to them.
This is maybe a little too late to say, and I'm still going to see it tomorrow!
But I liked it better when we were few!!

[XRogue]

I think "we few" need to point out to the movie fans(and there will be) the popular wisdom about the book being better than the movie every chance we get. You never know where a new LOTR fan can be made.....

[Desdemona]

In all honesty, I think those who would have read the book anyway will still do so, and those who wouldn't have might go out and give it a try as a result of seeing the movie. The way I see it, the movie creates a greater potential audience for the book.

[Rogue]

Desdemona is correct. In The Miami Herald, they gave an interesting stat.

Tolkien book sales for 2000 : 500,000 (pretty constant over the years)

Tolkien book sales 2001: as of today, nearly 5 million!!!

That is a tenfold increase!! We can safely say this would not be happening if it weren't for the films. They are, without a doubt, a good thing.

I don't know if that figure is just for Lord of the Rings or if it also includes other works such as 'The Hobbit' or 'The Silmarillion'. Either way, its great.

[samwise of the shire]

Of course the movie will be getting more attention then the Book! People usually like watching movies then reading books, it's all part of the generation we're growin' up in. I know it's kind of scary but it'll happen but I SERIOUSLY doubt that the movie would want to cause someone NOT to read the book. Let's hope that PJ will put in BIG letters on the screen "ADAPTED FROM THE NOVELS BY J.R.R TOLKIEN" so people will know to read the book.
Sam

[Bacchus]

Originally posted by samwise of the shire
. Let's hope that PJ will put in BIG letters on the screen "ADAPTED FROM THE NOVELS BY J.R.R TOLKIEN" so people will know to read the book.
Sam

He does.

[Ñólendil]

Of course the Lord of the Rings is not 'novels', so I hope those exact words are not used

Nit-picking and being rude,

[ladyisme]

For any of you who still are unsure that the movies will help the books, I would like to say that it is because of the show that my dad (stuborn as a dwarf though he is) has decided to try the books and that I hope to soon report the conversion of yet another LOTR fan.

"The road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began."

[mirrille]

It's taken me this long to realize this, but since the movie ends on such a cliffhanger, anyone who hasn't read the book will be forced to read it to find out what happens, unless they want to wait another year for the next movie to come out. That's a pretty mean trick, inn't it? I'm always happy for a chance to make more converts.

[Steerpike]

Saw an interview with Jackson where he says his goal is to make people interested in the books.

Had a bizarre conversation with a woman at work last night. I mentioned that I had seen the film, and she said, "Oh, I read that in junior high, aren't they on a beach and eventually end up trying to eat each other or something?"

I realized an hour or so later that she thought I meant Lord of the FLIES!

[bropous]

I believe the movies are a GOOD thing and will introduce millions upon millions of new fans to the greatest work of literature of the twentieth century.

I was at Barnes and Nobles this morning buying a new copy of Fellowship of the Ring for a family member, and I saw five people in twenty minutes asking about the books at the Lord of the Rings display table and happily watched an employee, an obvious lover of the books, explain lovingly the sequence of books, including Silmarillion and Hobbit, and it warmed this old Tolkien fan's heart.

This film, and the next two, will do far more to inspire others to join "our" world than did the near-blasphemy which was released by Ralph Bakshi back when I was in high school. I, for one, am always happy to see new readers delve into this masterwork, and I have to disagree with the initial post on the thread. Fewer of "us" does not make me happy. J.R.R. Tolkien getting his PROPER respect as a master of literature, finally, and on a grand scale, brings warmth to my heart. The more who read it, the more who will be drawn in, and the world will be made better for it.

[Miríel]

Well, I do agree!!
It was a good thing after all, I hope more people will discover the great world Middle-Earth!!!

[bropous]

With a 1,000+% increase in sales in 2001 over 2000, and probably another stellar year in 2002 for the sale of the books, many, many more will take that frightening journey with us, Miriel, from the Shire to the very depths of the Cracks of Doom.

The more who read the Lord of the Rings, in my humble Entingish opinion, the better our dreary world will be.

As the snow of the New Year falls on the Rockies, blanketing all in a forgetful coverlet of white...

[Play Girl]

Well may I just say after seeing the end of the FotR many people will be reaching for the novel for no other reason than they are far too impationt to wait for the second and third movies to come out. I know certainly that everyone who goes and sees the TT will read the book if the movie ends on the same cliff hanger.
Play Girl
xxx

[bropous]

Agreed wholeheartedly, Play Girl. The wait for the next two films brought me to pick up the books again, for the twenty-fourth time...and loved them as much as the first time through. That's the mark of quality literature, in this Enting's humble opinion....

James Joyce? Bah humbug. Ulysses WHO?????? [derisive snort]

[Quazar]

I will first state that I have not seen the movie YET!!!!. Am planning to this week. I think that the movie is a good thing, from everything that has been told to me,including my brother who said it came as close to the movie in his head as anything he could have hoped for, this can only help to widen the appeal of LOTR to non fantasy inclined people. The only literary work that comes to mind even remotely comparible in creating an entire world from scratch is Frank Herbert's 'Dune', and he created an entire universe. However both movies made from the first book were bad at best and downright horrible at worst.
I fully expect Fellowship to shortly unseat Titanic as the alltime grosser at the boxoffice and when they are all out the three ring films to blow all others away.

[samwise of the shire]

My friend is reading TTT after she went to the Fellowship with me. She fell head over heels for Orlando Bloom, and she and I are even making and learning new languages and we're even planning on exploring "The Shire"(the valley where I live) in the Spring and Summer and mapping it out and everything. I got her hooked.
The thing I find that's really cool is that the Lord Of The Rings is selling out in all the theaters around here, lines are going out the theater doors. Every time I went and saw the movie after the premiere they sold out of tickets and I had to get mine ahead by half an hour or even 45 minutes. For a kid growing up in the country in Idaho this is a totally unheard of thing. The tickets even sold out in the crummy town near here(also known as Pocatello or Isengard). Even though it reduces MY chance of getting tickets for it it's still cool to see your favorite story on film and selling out like it was the books. I'm glad they did an excellent job.Way to go PJ & CO.!
Sam

[bropous]

Yup, down here in Minas Tirith [Colorado Springs] it is selling out for most showings at the big Cineplexes, although last night at a comfortably small theatre there was maybe 100 people at most in about a 700 seat therter. I certainly enjoyed the film much more in a far less crowded audience!

[ladyisme]

The same is true here. Even the early movies are getting a good crowd and they're usually closer to empty.

"The road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began."

P.S. I am happy to report that not all the songs from the books where totally cut. If you listen carefully you can hear gandalf sing the road song on his way into the shire and Bilbo also sings it when he starts for Rivendell. (But you have to pay close attention to catch this.)

[Kevin McIntyre]

I do not think the movies will ever eclipse the book. Obviously for people who do not like to read, the movie will be their only point of reference. However is the movie the 10 Commandments all people know of Moses, the Bible is still the primary (and best) source.

And think in twenty years or so, there will be the re-make, or the made for television version. All will inspire new readership because I don't know anyone who says the movies are (or will be) superior to the book (although I can't read the FOTR in three hours).