Can fantasy fi;ms scape Lord of the Rings' shadow?

[Darth Knox]

I think everyone can agree that The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed the nature of film-making and the landscape of cinema, Peter Jackson made fantasy movies no longer the domain of geeks everywhere, but accessible to the mainstream audience. And yet, despite it's success, every subsequent fantasy based movies that has come out since has never reached anywhere near the success or popularity of Jackson's trilogy. This great article on Den of Geek attempts to explain why. Do you agree or disagree?

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/fantasy-movies/41676/can-fantasy-films-escape-lord-of-the-rings-shadow

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

I agree with their assessment.

Is the shadow of the LOTR really such a bad thing? It would seem that the LOTR trilogy is the Citizen Kane of the fantasy genre, some people may find it excruciatingly boring, but it represents a huge standard of excellence in terms of filmmaking and storytelling. Peter Jackson set the bar high, so high in fact it would seem that no one else will ever be able to jump higher, but when records are set it's only a matter of time before someone who has the drive and passion steps up to break it to everyone's surprise.

There is a part of me that thinks it won't ever happen and it doesn't need to happen. Somethings are just untouchable and that doesn't mean they should stop trying to make movies that emulate or borrow the best of the LOTR, but they should definitely understand that the confluence of events that made LOTR a reality are nearly irreplicable.

[Darth Justicar]

Depending on how you define genres, one could say the other franchise casting a great shadow over the fantasy genre is actually Star Wars.  I consider SW more science-fantasy than science-fiction, and the impact of SW on moviemaking in general can't be overstated.

[Darth Knox]

if you look at the history of cinema there are very specific movies that changed the industry forever. LOTR, SW, Jaws, Citizen Kane are all examples of this

Like Justicar said, Star Wars is definitely more sci-fi fantasy space opera than just straight science fiction. that's what makes it so great.

I found myself (probably unfairly) comparing warcraft to LOTR when I was watching it, more in visual terms and acting than story telling or plot. I hope that the movies end up inspiring movie makers in the same ways as those other movies I mentioned did.

There is a new shark movie coming out called The Shallows. by all accounts, it's not the greatest movie. One critic has suggested that because Jaws is so great, set the bar so high and (after 40 years) still stands up to this day, every shark movie is doomed to fail. I just hope that is not the case with fantasy movies.

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

There is a new shark movie coming out called The Shallows. by all accounts, it's not the greatest movie. One critic has suggested that because Jaws is so great, set the bar so high and (after 40 years) still stands up to this day, every shark movie is doomed to fail. I just hope that is not the case with fantasy movies.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I enjoy Deep Blue Sea as much, if not more than, Jaws. 

[Darth Knox]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I enjoy Deep Blue Sea as much, if not more than, Jaws. 

I enjoy Deep Blue Sea too. but it is nowhere near the supreme level of Jaws, IMO