10 Movies That Actually Benefitted From Studio Interference

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is commonly regarded as one of the most awe-inspiring, influential works ever put to celluloid. The most ambitious movie production of its time, it’s difficult to imagine Frodo and the Fellowships’ epic journey being a nanosecond short of its original three-movie, 558-minute runtime.

But the journey from niche fantasy book to multiple-Oscar winning adaptation was fraught with many potential cuts and compromises. One studio that got dangerously close to handling Peter Jackson’s fantasy blockbuster was Miramax Films who promptly stipulated the three books be cut down to only two movies.

Proving that they weren’t beyond further backstabbing, a certain Hollywood mega-creep - who shall not be spoken of here - tried to reduce the length again into only a single two-hour movie. Peter Jackson, seemingly knackered from Hollywood B.S. at this point, stood his ground on a two-film production. ‘You know who' eventually put the whole project on turnaround; essentially scuppering any other studios who might have wanted a go at making the films.

Enter; New Line cinema. The saviours’ of this part of the tale. When Jackson pitched his idea to Bob Shaye - even under the onerous conditions of Miramix’s turnaround - he accepted the project under one condition; that the films be a trilogy. In a rare case of a studio asking for more of their money to be spent, New Line’s stipulation made sure that not only would the films get the green light, but Jackson would be able to realise his original long-form vision.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy remains one of the highest-grossing franchises in the history of cinema, a rare unicorn of a film that pleased casual audiences, fans of the books and movie critics all at once. It won 17 of its 30 Oscar nominations and spun off numerous other films and multimedia into a lucrative behemoth of intellectual property. Without New Line cinema’s initial meddling, it never would have happened.