The Lord of the Rings filming locations are many, and thus, here we will discuss each of the three films in the franchise. The movies follow the elements of fantasy as well as adventure and, no doubt, have scenic locations where the crew filmed. The story has been taken from the novels penned by J.R.R. Tolkien. These films were a success at the box office. The trio was made on a collective budget of just 281 million dollars. Well, at the box office, it grossed near to 3 billion dollars. The story starts in a fictional world. The main character is a hobbit named Frodo Baggins.
He, along with the Fellowship, set on an adventure to find out about the One Ring. They are trying to destroy the artifact along with its maker named Sauron. The Fellowship is split into different groups throughout the films. Although, the three characters who remain constant are Frodo himself Sam, his friend, and Gollum, who is a wizard. The trio is helped by Aragon, who is in line to the throne of Gondor. He has raised a powerful army in order to distract the forces of Sauron as the trio tries to kill the Dark creature.
The ring is a dangerous artifact. It can lure the people who wear it or even hold it into its dark powers, and they are compelled to do bad things and have a false sense of power. Lord of the Rings can be considered as one of the biggest projects to be ever taken, and the film is still relevant among the fans even after years of its release. There were many special effects done with the film, and was appreciated by the critics for the sense of direction and creativity.
The first film out of the trio has even been preserved by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. It has a wonderful sense of battle and the will as we see the armies leading up against each other while the suspense of whether or not Frodo will succeed. Well, let us now discuss the filming location for each film.
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The Lord of the Rings Filming Locations
1. Fellowship of the Ring
The primary location of filming was New Zealand itself. Although, there are specific parts of the country where the film was shot. The Hobbiton is located in the Matamata area in Waikato. Then the Gardens of Isengard are actually the Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt. The Shire of woods is Otaki Gorge Road on the Kapiti Coast District. Rivendell was also shot in Upper Hutt, but the location was specific to the Kaitoke Regional Park. Scenes from River Anduin were taken in various shots. It is actually at two locations, that is Upper Waiau River and the Rangitikei River.
2. The Two Towers
Filming for The Two Towers took place in a similar location as we saw in the first film at. The Forest near the Bree was at Takaka Hill in Nelson. The Trollshows depicted in the movie are actually Waitarere Forest in Horowhenua. The flight to the Ford was at Tarras in Central Otago. Ford of Bruinen is at the Arrow river in Skippers Canyon. The area is known as Queenstown and Arrowtown. As for the Eregion, it was actually Mount Olympus at Nelson. Nelson had other filming locations as well, such as Dimrill Dale at Mount Owen. The Dimrill Dale was also shot at Lake Alta at The Remarkables.
3. Return of the King
With most of the scenes shot at locations from the previous films, there were only a few changes throughout the whole film. The Hobbiton was again at the Matamata Farm. The interior scenes of the place were shot at the Stone Street Studios located in Wellington. This procedure was also mixed with the Stone Street Studios in Wellington. Sharing its legacy with the previous films, the third tale also saw the Rivendell river at the same locations as discussed above. The Battle of the Black Gate was filmed at a minefield that is now closed. A batch of soldiers was hired in order to look for unexploded mines in the area before shooting could start.
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