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Poster for The Lord of the Rings
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Released
1978 · FILM

The Lord of the Rings

When humble hobbit Frodo inherits a cursed ring that can enslave all of Middle‑earth, he must journey across perilous lands to destroy it before the Dark Lord Sauron’s forces reclaim it.

“Fantasy...beyond your imagination.”

Directed by
Ralph Bakshi
Written by
Chris Conkling, Peter S Beagle
Rated
MPA · PG
Runtime
132 min
AdventureAnimationFantasy
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

Young hobbit Frodo Baggins is thrust into an extraordinary adventure when he is entrusted with the task of destroying the One Ring, a powerful artifact created by the dark lord Sauron. Accompanied by a small fellowship of nine companions, Frodo embarks on a perilous journey. The Fellowship of the Ring faces numerous challenges on their ultimate quest to rid Middle-earth of evil.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 75+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Donald W ErnstShot by Timothy GalfasScored by Leonard Rosenman

Box Office

1978 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 7.6× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$30.5M

Budget$4.0M
Worldwide gross$30.5M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $30.5M — 100% of worldwide · International: $6K (0%)

Opening weekend: $627K — 2% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Peak 31 theaters

Also known as

  • Der Herr der Ringede
  • El Señor de los Anilloses
  • Le Seigneur des anneauxfr
  • (Flemish)In de Ban van de Ring
  • Il Signore degli Anelliit
  • (French)Le seigneur des anneaux
Release dates around the world5 countries · show
  • United StatesNov 15, 1978
  • CanadaFeb 19, 1979
  • United KingdomJul 5, 1979
  • JapanJul 21, 1979
  • SpainJul 31, 1979

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