From deep within the realm of Middle-earth comes one of Pop Culture Hall of Fame’s 2024 inductees for franchises.
Born from the genius mind of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings has become a cultural phenomenon as one of the best-selling novels ever sold with more than 150 million copies flying off the shelves since its release in 1968.
The concept for Lord of the Rings was originally created as a follow up to Tolkien’s immensely popular “The Hobbit” from 1934. It didn’t take long for the Lord of the Rings to take on a cult-like following of its own while expanding into a trilogy that includes “The Fellowship of the Ring” (July, 1954), “The Two Towers” (Nov., 1954”) and “The Return of the King” (Oct., 1955). All of which were packaged into six books formatted into a three-volume box set in 1957 as Tolkien originally envisioned.
After inheriting the One Ring from his heir Bilbo Baggins, Frodo set off with Pippin Took and Sam Gamgee in search of the wizard Gandalf. From there the adventure takes place as the group journeys to destroy the ring in the fires of Mordor’s Mount Doom all the while defending themselves from the likes of Gollum, Orcs and many more nefarious characters.
Film director Peter Jackson brought the film to the modern-day big screen between 2001 and 2003 with his epic trilogy that remains wildly popular to this day.
The franchise saw a reboot in 2022 with Amazon’s multi-season live-action series. A year later Warner Bros. along with New Line Cinema announced plans for a new series to return us to Middle-earth.
And for that, The Lord of the Rings will now be enshrined in the Pop Culture Hall of Fame’s class of 2024 for franchises.
