Lord of the Rings taught Hollywood the wrong fantasy lessons for 25 years

For the past 25 years, Hollywood has used Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy as a blueprint, equating massive spectacle, elaborate mythology and sprawling world-building with great fantasy filmmaking. The piece argues that studios drew the wrong lessons from Jackson's success, prioritising scale and lore over character and emotion. The result, the author contends, is a genre increasingly impressive to look at but diminishing in human impact.

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🎬 Entertainment Sean Astin earned $250K for Lord of the Rings and had to sell his house Variety · 1d ago 🎬 Entertainment Keith David: 400+ roles and still going — the actor on portraying full humanity The Guardian Film · 2d ago 🎬 Entertainment How the 2020s revolutionised cinema — and what comes next The Guardian Film · 5d ago