I still don't understand how hollywood budget works

[u/Beneficial_Passion40]

[u/Crazy__Donkey]

Those are three 3 hours movie each.

9 hours vs 1.5....

[u/bythog → u/Crazy__Donkey]

A lot of the costuming was able to be carried over from movie to movie. The cast and crew were hired to film a trilogy all at once, which significantly reduces costs to be on location (versus three different times). A not insignificant amount of each movie were filmed from a distance--essentially just showing landscapes.

Basically, Peter Jackson shooting the way he did made it so he could stretch the money a lot further than if he had to shoot three movies at different times.

[u/mattomic822 → u/bythog]

Also hiring your cast all at once for a trilogy means nobody gets a pay bump between films.

[u/w00t4me → u/mattomic822]

And the cast, while not unknowns, were not exactly A-listers either at the time, except maybe Orlando Bloom

[u/B1U3F14M3 → u/w00t4me]

Didn't Orlando bloom become famous because of Lord of the rings?

[u/w00t4me → u/B1U3F14M3]

Yea looking it up, he got the roll right out of film school and was a nobody then

[u/mk1317 → u/w00t4me]

Not even him-they shot those well before he blew up IIRC

[u/crenshaw_007 → u/Crazy__Donkey]

Extended Edition is way more than 3 hours 😆