Lord Of The Rings Video Reimagines Fellowship Of The Ring As A 1980s Fantasy Movie Only4Media.com

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring becomes a 1980s fantasy adventure in a new video. Based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, the first installment in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy was released in 2001, introducing audiences to Frodo (Elijah Wood) as he embarks on a quest across the land of Middle-earth to destroy the One Ring. The Fellowship of the Ring was a hit critically and commercially, and Jackson’s two subsequent installments were released in 2002 and 2003.

An AI-generated video shared by @demonflyingfox on X, formerly Twitter, now imagines what Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring would look like if it was filmed and released in the 1980s. Check it out below:

The video recasts all the main characters, giving warriors like Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli some major physique changes in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian. Some locations from the first installment remain recognizable, however, and the video also includes a stop-motion-inspired puppet version of the Balrog.

Would A 1980s Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Have Worked?

Why Peter Jackson’s Trilogy Happened At The Right Time

Jackson’s trilogy arguably came out at the perfect time in Hollywood history. Lord of the Rings was able to take advantage of some impressive advancements in the world of visual effects and CGI, but Jackson also kept his adaptation grounded with the use of on-location filming in New Zealand and epic practical sets and effects. When Jackson returned to the world of Middle-earth in 2012 with his more divisive Hobbit trilogy, he more heavily relied on visual effects over practical elements, much to the new trilogy’s detriment.

If Lord of the Rings were made in the 1980s, there are definitely some elements that would suffer. The cave-troll and Balrog, for example, among other creatures, would probably have looked a lot less convincing. It’s likely that stop-motion animation would have been used for these monsters and, while stop-motion can certainly be effectively deployed, the creatures just wouldn’t have looked as formidable as they ended up being in Jackson’s movie.

Related

Lord of the Rings Cast: Where Are They Now?

Two decades after the conclusion of the epic trilogy of movies, what is the cast of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings up to today?

Of course, a 1980s Lord of the Rings is only a questionable proposition now because Jackson’s version already exists, but audiences at the time would obviously have no modern version with which to compare it. The only exploration of the franchise that had been done at that point was a 1978 animated movie, which wasn’t particularly well-received. While it’s certainly interesting to imagine how Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring would be different if it had been made in the ’80s, it’s evidently for the best that it was made when it was.

Source: @demonflyingfox

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first film in Peter Jackson’s critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie follows Frodo Baggins (Elijah Woods) as he is tasked with destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom after he inherits the ring.

Release Date

December 19, 2001

Studio(s)

New Line Cinema , Wingnut Films

Distributor(s)

New Line Cinema

Cast

Elijah Wood , Ian McKellen , Liv Tyler , Viggo Mortensen , Sean Astin , Cate Blanchett , John Rhys-Davies , Billy Boyd , Dominic Monaghan , Orlando Bloom , Christopher Lee , Hugo Weaving , Sean Bean , Ian Holm , Andy Serkis

Runtime

178 Minutes

Budget

$93 Million

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