Lord of the Rings Movies: How Many and Where Filmed
There are three Lord of the Rings movies, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, plus three Hobbit films. Peter Jackson shot them all in New Zealand.
The trilogy was filmed at more than 150 locations on the North and South Islands, in a single production that ran from October 1999 to December 2000.
| Film | Detail |
|---|---|
| The Fellowship of the Ring | 2001 |
| The Two Towers | 2002 |
| The Return of the King | 2003 |
| The Hobbit films | Three films, 2012-2014 |
| Director | Peter Jackson |
| Filming | New Zealand, October 1999 to December 2000 |
| Academy Awards | 17 across the trilogy |
How many Lord of the Rings movies are there?
Three: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), all directed by Peter Jackson. He later made The Hobbit as a second trilogy, so Middle-earth has six films in all. The three Lord of the Rings films won 17 Academy Awards between them.
↑ Back to the topWere all three filmed at once?
Yes. Jackson shot the whole trilogy back to back, from October 1999 to December 2000, in more than 400 days of filming. The Hobbit trilogy was filmed between 2011 and 2013, in many of the same places.
↑ Back to the topWhere was the Shire filmed?
The Shire was built at a sheep farm near Matamata, now the Hobbiton Movie Set. Around Wellington, Mount Victoria stood in for the woods where the hobbits hide from a Black Rider, the Hutt River played the Anduin, and Harcourt Park became the gardens of Isengard. In Tongariro National Park, the land of Mordor and Mount Doom was filmed, and Tawhai Falls was the Forbidden Pool.
↑ Back to the topWhere were the other scenes filmed?
The South Island supplied many one-off scenes. Fiordland National Park was Fangorn Forest, and Kawarau Gorge near Queenstown was another stretch of the Anduin. The rolling grassland near Twizel appears in battle scenes. Tākaka Hill near Nelson was Chetwood Forest, where Strider led the hobbits.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Fellowship of the Ring
Release information is accurate as of November 2026.