It's fair to say that when Peter Jackson announced that he was going to bring J.R.R Tolkien's epic novels to the big screen many thought, and voiced, why it could never be done.
But taking no notice Jackson and co had a $280 million budget and over eight years they adapted the novels and crafted three of cinema's most brave and beautiful movies. Shooting all three films at once also raised some eyebrows.
And while we all marvelled at the movies their impact on the film industry has been nothing short of a miracle.
Before Rings became the movie event of the year over the three years the films were released the fantasy genre was always something that was eyed with contempt by Hollywood and not taken seriously as a film genre.
But Jackson's dedication to the project has seen all that disappear as the epic fantasy of far away lands and funny creatures became not only bankable but respected.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King cemented this new found reputation as it equalled the record the most number of Oscars won, scooping eleven including Best Picture.
While it was The Fellowship of the Ring that got the ball rolling it was The Two Towers that broke new ground in terms of special effects.
Enter Gollum and the mixture of computer animation and motion capture, which involved actor Andy Serkis in a suit that recorded all of his movement, the character was born.
This way of bringing Gollum to life has been able to bring characters like The Hulk and Sonny in Will Smith's I, Robot to the big screen.
But what is so evident about these three pictures, and you can't talk about one without talking about them all, is the care and the passion that Jackson and everyone involved on the production had for telling this incredible story.
The care in which they cast these iconic characters, adapted the script and brought this massive project together, breaking boundaries as they went, is true testament to Jackson and his team and been seen in every frame of this movie.
And what's even more heart warming, and something that you don't often get with big budget movie adaptations, was the respect shown towards the source material it must be commended. Ok so not everything from the book made the film but in an allotted time frame and budget that is to be expected.
The Lord of the Rings thrilled film fans over three years it wasn't just the release of another movie it was a real cinematic event that took the world by storm.
And this genre of film hasn't looked back as the likes of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia went into producing capitalising on the success of Rings.
Studios realised that there was a large audience for these movies and began churning them out in force with the likes of Eragon, The Spiderwick Chronicle and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe all making it to the big screen, with varying amounts of success.
Even now five years after Return of the King was released The Lord of the Rings trilogy still remains a fantasy milestone that has never been equalled let alone surpassed. Bring on The Hobbit.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings