The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy

The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy consists of three "live action" films, directed by Peter Jackson and written by Fran Walsh. Principal photography for all three movies took place in New Zealand over a continuous eighteen-month period &mdash; the first time that three films had ever been shot together in this way, although some pairs of movies had. There were several later "pick-up" shoots over the following months and years as the movies were edited, special effects were added and the script was honed and revised.


 * The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in December 2001, and won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation of 2001.
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released in December 2002
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released in December 2003, and won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2003.