The first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey, debuted in 2012 — almost a full decade after The Return of the King first hit theaters. After nearly 10 years away, fans were eager to return to Middle-earth, and Tolkien's first book seemed like the obvious way to do this. But while adapting The Hobbit was a smart way to expand Warner Bros.' Lord of the Rings franchise, the approach the movies took was questionable. The Hobbit trilogy's box office trajectory proved as much, marking a disappointing turnaround for the franchise.

Lord Of The Rings Movies Got Bigger & Bigger To Hit $1 Billion

The Return Of The King Marked A Huge Franchise Milestone

Perhaps it's no surprise given how Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy just got better and better, but the first three movies followed an upward trajectory until they ed the $1 billion mark. The Fellowship of the Ring was the lowest-grossing installment in Jackson's LOTR universe until The War of the Rohirrim, which only just hit theaters. The Fellowship of the Ring brought in $894 million worldwide (via The Numbers), an impressive feat. And the numbers only improved from there, with The Two Towers grossing $921 million and The Return of the King making $1.1 billion.

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Crossing the $1 billion mark is a huge accomplishment for any franchise, and the excitement surrounding Jackson's Hobbit adaptation offered hope that The Lord of the Rings would continue this trend. The return of Jackson as director, along with major cast reprising their roles, seemed sure to draw audiences. There was also a lot of potential in bringing Tolkien's 1937 novel to life on-screen. Unfortunately, while the first installment of The Hobbit trilogy made nearly as much as Return of the King, its sequels failed to stay above the $1 billion mark.

The Hobbit Movies' Box Office Peaked With The First One

An Unexpected Journey Was The Only Installment To Make $1 Billion

Although the prospect of adapting The Hobbit was exciting, Jackson's second trilogy didn't progress in the same direction as the first. In fact, The Hobbit films peaked with the first installment, An Unexpected Journey. The 2012 movie made just over $1 billion dollars, though its performance still fell short of The Return of the King's by about $100 million. Still, the fact that it continued the $1 billion trend for the franchise initially seemed promising. Sadly, the second and third Hobbit movies didn't reach the same heights.

The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies were still successful in their own rights, but they started a downward trajectory for the Lord of the Rings franchise. The Desolation of Smaug made $959 million at the worldwide box office, and The Battle of the Five Armies took another step downward, raking in $940 million. This decline was clearly a turning point for the franchise, and it can be attributed to a few problems with Jackson's Hobbit trilogy.

Why The Hobbit Sequels Made Less Money Than The First, Unlike LOTR

Several Poor Creative Decisions Contributed To Their Declining Performance

While The Hobbit movies still had fairly successful box office runs, there's no denying they saw a decline that The Lord of the Rings trilogy simply didn't. A few factors contributed to this, the first being the decision to turn The Hobbit's adaptation into three parts. The book's length didn't warrant this sort of expansion, leading to frustration among Tolkien fans. Dragging The Hobbit movies out affected the pacing and necessitated original content that didn't necessarily fit with the source material.

That's just part of Guillermo del Toro departed from the project and Jackson came on board. Jackson itted to feeling rushed, and this weakened the creative side of things, especially when it came to planning. Additionally, The Hobbit movies were criticized for their excessive and sometimes poor usage of CGI, an issue the Lord of the Rings movies didn't have. All of these things resulted in less influential films overall, leading them to have poorer performances than their predecessors.

Source: The Numbers

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  The Hobbit

  Created by

  Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro

  First Film

  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

  Cast

  Orlando Bloom

  Video Game(s)

  LEGO The Hobbit

  Latest Film

  The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

  Movie(s)

  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

  The Hobbit film series is a fantasy adventure trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit. Set 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, the films follow Bilbo Baggins' quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The series grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide and is known for its elaborate visuals and epic storytelling.

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  The Lord of the Rings

  Created by

  J.R.R. Tolkien

  First Film

  The Lord of the Rings (1978)

  Cast

  Norman Bird, John Hurt

  Video Game(s)

  The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

  Movie(s)

  The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

  TV Show(s)

  The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

  The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

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