The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood [Hardcover]

Kristin Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0520247744 | ISBN-13: 978-0520247741 | Edition: 1

"Once in a lifetime." The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. The film's seventeen Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood--the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of "infotainment" and the Internet--to satisfy the trilogy's fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight. Kristin Thompson interviewed seventy-six people to examine the movie's scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson's Rings as one the most important films ever made.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Frodo Franchise is the best case study yet written about film as a commodity in the global marketplace."--Film Quarterly

"For any person interested in the role of franchise film making on modern Hollywood, The Frodo Franchise should be considered required reading."--Film International

"A lively and quick read that should appeal to scholars and fans alike."--Tolkien Studies

"It's always more satisfying to follow the art than the money, but in this comprehensive study you can do both."--Metro Newspapers

"Whether you are a film scholar, a student, or a Tolkien enthusiast, you will benefit from her [Thompson's] efforts."--Journal of Popular Culture

From the Inside Flap

"This is the best all-around view of the Tolkien phenomenon. Thompson understands the books, she understands the movies--she also understands the money and the franchising. Best of all, she understands the people. Thompson offers cultural criticism of the highest order, examining one of the most significant shifts in contemporary popular media."--Tom Shippey, author of The Road to Middle-earth

"Reading these chapters has been an absolute pleasure. It's all so complex but so succinct. Thompson has managed to do what so many others have failed to do . . . in chapter one, she has explained how all the rights to LOTR bounced around, and were finally sorted so Peter Jackson could make the movie. I've never understood the complexities of how that worked until now!"--Judy Alley, Merchandising Coordinator, The Lord of the Rings

"I must say that Thompson has written the definitive study of Peter Jackson's work in creating this remarkable production entity."--Alex Funke, ASC, Oscar-winning Visual Effects Director of Photography, miniatures unit, The Lord of the Rings

"I had a wonderful time reading those chapters! There's so much I don't know about what went on--I am in awe of all the research Thompson has done. It is an extremely interesting read! There's so much there that I'd forgotten and I always wished there was a permanent record of many things that happened. Thompson's account of TORN's beginnings and how it functioned gets it absolutely right--more than that, Thompson captures how it felt to us at the time. Nobody else has managed to get enough of an understanding to do that."--Erica Challis ("Tehanu"), co-founder of TheOneRing.net

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 421 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (August 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520247744
• ISBN-13: 978-0520247741
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Frodo Franchise is an utterly fascinating, completely unbiased behind-the-scenes look, August 3, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (Hardcover)

DVDs can be stamped out in seconds, while VHS tapes are slower to produce because they have to be recorded in real time. Time is money, and so the movie industry's movers and shakers acted decisively to all but eliminate the VHS format - by charging video rental stores exorbitantly high fees for the rights to offer VHS rentals and much lower fees for the rights to offer DVD rentals. Author Kristin Thompson (Honorary Fellow in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison) traces how this and numerous other profit-driven directives have permanently changed the modern film industry in The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood. Central to The Frodo Franchise is the story of Peter Jackson's celebrated three-film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", and the lasting impact it has had on cinematic and entertainment culture. "The Lord of the Rings" was utterly groundbreaking in that it was, from Jackson's initial vision, a commitment to three full-length movies to be released over a short period. Yet the success of the film itself is virtually eclipsed by the immense profits of the franchise label - toys, video games, movie-related books, collectibles, and countless other Lord of the Rings licensed merchandise. The Frodo Franchise examines this franchise phenomenon and its repercussions on modern cinema (where the real money to be made lies in a film that will spawn profitable sequels and merchandise, rather than one-shot stories), with especial attention paid to the construction of "The Lord of the Rings" trailblazer trilogy. Accessible to lay readers and cinema scholars alike, and illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs as well as an inset section of color plates, The Frodo Franchise is an utterly fascinating, completely unbiased behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" movies and their effect on both the body of Tolkien's famous mythology and cinema as a whole. Highly recommended.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect book for Rings Fans and Film Buffs, July 28, 2007

By 

James W. Cortada (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (Hardcover)

This book is an intimate look at the creation, filming, and deployment of The Lord of the Rings movies. It discusses all the key participants, the role of New Zeland, how fans influenced the movies over the Internet, and how the film industry is fundamentally changing because of this project. It is well documented and close to the events because the author had access to everyone involved, producers, director, actors, techis, the works. The book is also a great action-packed read. Maybe the best film book we have seen this year!!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks!, October 31, 2007

By 

E. Horikawa - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (Hardcover)

The Frodo Franchise is a MUST-HAVE for anyone who is passionate about: The Lord of the Rings movies, Peter Jackson and how he and his fellow creative geniuses revolutionized the movie industry, New Zealand, the LOTR fan world, etc. It is an engaging, carefully researched and very detailed work about all aspects of the PJ/LOTR phenomenon. It includes great photos, important interviews, fascinating information about the way films are marketed and how LOTR took that to a new level, etc. The title tricked me--for some reason I thought it would be a negative book; however, it is clear Thompson is a Tolkien fan who was at first skeptical about the films but then grew to love them. This book is an in-depth look at all things LOTR and, much to this reviewer's delight, it is clear the LOTR phenomenon is not going away anytime soon. Thank you, Kristin Thompson, for this wonderful and important book!