LOTR: Return Of The King's cinematic re-release dominates box office

Every other movie that’s released this year needs to pack it up, apparently. The re-release of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King did absolute numbers at the box office last week, bringing in massive figures that were comparable to movies that were being shown in way more cinemas.

As IndieWire reports, on Thursday night (13 April), Return of the King managed to rake in $1.2 million at the box office. It was screened in around different 1,100 theatres on the night, and even though its competition included new films that were being shown in over 3,000 locations, IndieWire’s sources claim that it came in second place for the day.

Take a look at this incredible real-life LOTR-inspired gym training regime below.

Despite first releasing almost two whole decades ago (it’ll turn 20 years old this December), Return of the King smashed new releases Air (the sports drama based on basketball shoeline Air Jordan’s origin story), Renfield (the comedy-horror starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula) and horror film The Pope’s Exorcist, which reportedly brought in $982,598, $900,000 and $850,000, respectively - across way more cinemas than the Lord of the Rings classic was shown in.

Only one film could take the crown from Return of the King, and that was The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The gorgeous animated adaptation of Nintendo’s most beloved franchise has been doing exceptionally well at the box office - not only did it have the best ever opening for an animated film when it released earlier this month, but in under two weeks, it’s already become the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. Fans will be thrilled to know that Jack Black’s song in the film, ‘Peaches’, is eligible to be nominated for the best original song at the Oscars, which would be incredible if it happens.

At this point, it doesn’t appear that any UK cinemas are showing the Return of the King re-release, but perhaps it’ll happen later this year as we get closer to the film’s anniversary.