Today in History, December 10: How Lord of the Rings changed cinema — and New Zealand

There was a time, of course, when Sir Peter Jackson wasn't one of the most famous directors on the planet.

That time is some point prior to the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which took place on this day 24 years ago at the Odeon in London's West End.

Before this, Jackson was the man behind one art-house gem (Heavenly Creatures), one supernatural flop (The Frighteners), and three cult video nasties (Bad Taste, Meet The Feebles, and Braindead). He wasn't even the best-known director from New Zealand at that point (that was Jane Campion or Martin Campbell).

His life wouldn't be the same after that red carpet event on December 10, 2001, but it's fair to say cinema, and New Zealand, wouldn't be the same either.

The ring goes south

With any movie, the journey to the premiere is a long one, but it was exceptionally long for The Fellowship of the Ring and its two very necessary sequels.

First published in 1954, JRR Tolkien's tale of a very small person's attempt to rid his world of an incredibly powerful and addictive weapon had been adapted into animated versions and Russian and Scandinavian telemovies.

But the list of people loosely and seriously connected to a possible proper big screen version is lengthy and bizarre — Walt Disney, The Beatles, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Boorman, Ridley Scott and Michael Antonioni were all either approached, rumoured to have been approached or seriously thinking about being involved in an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings at various points in history.

Only Jackson, along with his life partner/screenwriting accomplice Fran Walsh and fellow writer Philippa Boyens, persisted and prevailed where others had failed.

Their pitch to Bob and Harvey Weinstein's production company Miramax yielded a deal for two films, which was eventually whittled down to one two-hour-long adaptation of Tolkien's massive tome as the budget ballooned.

Sensing history slipping from his grasp, Jackson got an agreement from the Weinsteins — he had one week to find a new studio to bankroll his project (of which the Weinsteins would still get a cut of the box office) or they would find someone else who could turn the epic saga into a single two-hour film.

In one of the most important meetings in Hollywood history, Jackson sat down with New Line Cinema CEO Bob Shaye and pitched his Tolkien vision, using a VHS tape to demonstrate how he would achieve the special effects and a series of enlarged photos to show how he was going to turn Aotearoa into Middle Earth over the course of two films.

When Jackson finished his pitch, Shaye said "no", and after what was presumably a gut-wrenching dramatic pause, added: "It should be three films."

Tinsel Town broadsheet Deadline called New Line Cinema's bankrolling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy "one of the ballsiest executive decisions in Hollywood history".

The relatively tiny studio, best known for Nightmare On Elm Street and Austin Powers, was on the hook initially for $US60 million ($90 million) a film (that grew to between $US90-$US120 million), and if the first movie tanked, they were locked into two more.

If Fellowship of the Ring bombed, it would probably ruin Jackson's career, but it would almost certainly destroy New Line Cinema.

But Jackson's vision was spot-on and his execution true. Following the lead of Robert Zemeckis on Back To The Future II and III, Jackson shot the films back-to-back to cut costs, effectively living in Middle Earth for seven years through pre-production, 14 months of principal filming, annual reshoots, edits and post-production.

A long-expected party

After long bouts of "what have we done?!?" nervousness, New Line Cinema realised it had a sure-fire hit on its hands well before the December 10, 2001, premiere.

The Hollywood press had been pot-stirring about how the fate of an entire studio was in the hands of an unknown Kiwi, but when a featurette-style trailer for Fellowship set a then-record for downloads a full 18 months before release, the speculation died down.

Then, in May 2001, Shaye spent $US2 million on a "premiere-style launch" of 26 minutes of unfinished footage at the Cannes Film Festival in what proved to be a masterstroke of promotion.

"If you were there that night in Cannes, it would be something you'd always remember," he told Deadline many years later.

By the time the December 10 premiere rolled around, the buzz was at levels akin to that of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace two and a half years earlier.

As Sir Ian McKellen, iconic as Gandalf, recalled in his blog of the day, he "heard the fans before [I] saw them, in their thousands lining Leicester Square behind police barriers" outside the Odeon.

"I know of one 40-year-old who flew from the States just to stand outside the cinema, the occasion was so momentous for him," he wrote.

"Momentous for me too, who made the same journey."

Antipodean audiences had to wait until Boxing Day for their own momentous occasion, but as the film rolled out globally, the world changed.

The Fellowship of the Ring won four Oscars from 12 nominations, made close to $US900 million at the box office, and drew near-unanimous praise for its beautiful, exhilarating and reverential treatment of Tolkien's work. Its sequels would do the same again, and then some.

But that London premiere was the first time the public got to see the ground-breaking achievements of Jackson and his effects company Weta, which would help create everything from Avatar to The Avengers.

The cave troll scene alone merged several new technologies, including motion-capture, paving the way for Andy Serkis's remarkable performance as Gollum in the sequel The Two Towers, and a kind of "virtual camera" that has become commonplace in FX-heavy blockbusters. Weta also created a battle simulation software called Massive for the film that has been used in everything from Black Panther to a Carlton Draught ad.

But perhaps the biggest impact was on New Zealand. A Tourism New Zealand representative told Forbes in 2012, there had been "a 50 per cent increase in arrivals to New Zealand since Lord of the Rings", which was estimated to be worth close to $40 million in today's money.

And by employing locals as cast and crew, the trilogy did wonders for its film industry, as well as ensuring that every New Zealander had a Lord of the Rings anecdote to share.

The Fellowship of the Ring was New Zealand's not-so-secret school project, and it was only on December 10, 2001, that it finally got to show it to the world and blow everyone's mind.