The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The 2002 middle film: Gollum, Helm's Deep and the highest gross of its year.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the 2002 second film of Peter Jackson's trilogy, written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Jackson from the second volume of Tolkien's novel.

Quick Facts

Director

Peter Jackson

Screenplay

Fran Walsh
Philippa Boyens
Stephen Sinclair
Peter Jackson

Based on

The Two Towers, J. R. R. Tolkien

Producer

Barrie M. Osborne
Fran Walsh
Peter Jackson

Cinematography

Andrew Lesnie

Editing

Michael J. Horton

Music

Howard Shore

Production companies

WingNut Films; New Line Cinema

Facts from the source article.

Background

Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif and Karl Urban join the returning cast. Three storylines intercut: Frodo and Sam head for Mordor with Gollum, the Ring's untrustworthy former bearer, as their guide; Merry and Pippin escape their orc captors, meet Treebeard the Ent and help plan the attack on Saruman's fortress of Isengard; and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli reach war-torn Rohan, find Gandalf resurrected, and fight beside King Théoden at the Battle of Helm's Deep.

Filmed in New Zealand with the rest of the trilogy and released by New Line Cinema, it premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York on 5 December 2002 and opened in the United States on 18 December. Gollum's visual effects, the performances, action sequences and score drew particular praise. It grossed $923 million in its first run, the most of any 2002 film and at the time the third-highest ever behind Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and has since reached $944 million.

At the 75th Academy Awards it won Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects from six nominations, including Best Picture. The Return of the King completed the trilogy in 2003.