The Lord of the Rings has already earned more than $5 million in ticket pre-sales ahead of the trilogy’s new theatrical re-release this weekend.
Peter Jackson’s classic fantasy films will return to theaters from tomorrow, with showings of Fellowship of the Ring’s Extended Edition — originally released on home media. Subsequent days this weekend will see The Two Towers and Return of the King’s Extended Editions shown in theaters nationwide, before the trilogy’s standard editions are shown over a similar schedule next weekend.
Fan interest in reconnecting with the Fellowship has been high, with ticket pre-sales up 65% on those for Lord of the Rings’ last theatrical outings, back in 2024. But perhaps this is to be expected, as the movies have likely benefited from a big 25th anniversary marketing push — and word of new introductions to each film from Jackon himself.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. and re-release production company Fathom Entertainment revealed that Jackson has recorded new messages to fans set to be played ahead of each of the trilogy’s titles. In one clip posted online by Entertainment Weekly, Jackson recalled filming the cave troll battle sequence in Fellowship, and having to hide the fact that Aragorn actor Viggo Mortensen had gained a black eye over the weekend.
“The Lord of the Rings trilogy re-release is off to record start for the franchise at Fathom,” said the company’s CEO Ray Nutt. “We could not be more pleased that the large Lord of the Rings fanbase will have the benefit of hearing in-depth and exclusively in theatre from Peter Jackson himself prior to each of these three remarkable films.”
The Lord of the Rings Movies in (Chronological) Order
Variety has reported that roughly 407,000 tickets have been sold so far, which will add on to the $3 billion in worldwide revenue earned by the trilogy to date.
And, of course, the Middle-earth movie franchise is far from over. Jackson is currently working as a producer on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequel The Hunt for Gollum, due for release next year on December 17, 2027. Frodo actor Elijah Wood — who looks likely to reprise his role on the project — previously praised the movie for reuniting Jackson Jackson with his Middle-earth scriptwriting team Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who is set to both star in and direct the film.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social