The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers backdrop

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie poster

The Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersFollow

2002 • PG-13 • 2h 59m • Adventure, Drama, Fantasy • New Line Cinema

The journey continues.

🍅 95% 95%

87

4.43

8.8

CS A

Box office summary

Opening weekend

$62.00M

3-day opening

Domestic total

$349.70M

Final

Worldwide total

$926.80M

$577.10M international

Domestic legs5.64x

Budget$94.0M

2002 rank#2

Compare with other movies

Cast & crew

Full Jackson filmography

Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson Director

Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood Starring

Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen Starring

Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen Starring

Sean Astin

Sean Astin Starring

Andy Serkis

Andy Serkis Starring

ScreenplayPeter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh Produced byBarrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson CinematographyAndrew Lesnie MusicHoward Shore StudioNew Line Cinema SeriesThe Lord of the Rings

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal

1 Dec 20-22 1 $62.0M — 3,622 $17,119 $102.0M

2 Dec 27-29 1 $48.9M −21.2% 3,622 $13,494 $200.1M

3 Jan 3-5 1 $25.0M −48.8% 3,622 $6,907 $261.0M

4 Jan 10-12 2 $14.8M −41.0% 3,477 $4,243 $283.4M

5 Jan 17-19 5 $10.3M −30.4% 3,110 $3,303 $297.9M

6 Jan 24-26 5 $6.6M −35.6% 2,666 $2,480 $308.8M

7 Jan 31-Feb 2 7 $5.1M −23.0% 2,175 $2,339 $316.0M

8 Feb 7-9 10 $3.5M −30.9% 1,680 $2,093 $320.9M

9 Feb 14-16 12 $3.1M −12.6% 1,422 $2,160 $324.9M

10 Feb 21-23 14 $1.9M −37.3% 925 $2,081 $328.2M

11 Feb 28-Mar 2 15 $1.6M −15.9% 905 $1,787 $330.3M

12 Mar 7-9 16 $1.2M −24.1% 703 $1,746 $332.1M

13 Mar 14-16 16 $1.0M −17.4% 612 $1,657 $333.6M

14 Mar 21-23 20 $768.6K −24.3% 518 $1,483 $334.8M

15 Mar 28-30 19 $623.6K −18.9% 425 $1,467 $335.8M

16 Apr 4-6 21 $479.6K −23.1% 345 $1,390 $336.5M

17 Apr 11-13 25 $340.2K −29.1% 332 $1,024 $337.0M

18 Apr 18-20 25 $351.8K +3.4% 324 $1,085 $337.5M

19 Apr 25-27 28 $247.1K −29.8% 269 $918 $337.9M

20 May 2-4 32 $186.4K −24.6% 225 $828 $338.2M

21 May 9-11 32 $151.7K −18.6% 190 $798 $338.5M

22 May 16-18 33 $101.5K −33.1% 163 $622 $338.6M

23 May 23-25 32 $116.5K +14.7% 135 $862 $338.8M

24 May 30-Jun 1 34 $89.4K −23.2% 111 $805 $339.0M

25 Jun 6-8 38 $82.1K −8.2% 115 $714 $339.1M

26 Jun 13-15 41 $74.4K −9.4% 103 $722 $339.2M

27 Jun 20-22 43 $59.6K −19.9% 101 $590 $339.3M

DateRankGrossDailyWeeklyTotalTheatersAvgDay

Wed Dec 18 #1 $26.2M — $26.2M 3,622 $7,222 1

Thu Dec 19 #1 $13.9M −47% $40.0M 3,622 $3,831 2

Fri Dec 20 #1 $19.2M +39% $59.3M 3,622 $5,307 3

Sat Dec 21 #1 $22.8M +18% $82.0M 3,622 $6,281 4

Sun Dec 22 #1 $20.0M −12% $102.0M 3,622 $5,530 5

Mon Dec 23 #1 $13.5M −33% $115.6M 3,622 $3,729 6

Tue Dec 24 #1 $7.8M −42% $123.3M 3,622 $2,150 7

Wed Dec 25 #1 $12.4M +59% −53% $135.7M 3,622 $3,418 8

Thu Dec 26 #1 $15.5M +25% +11% $151.2M 3,622 $4,267 9

Fri Dec 27 #1 $16.9M +9% −12% $168.1M 3,622 $4,658 10

Sat Dec 28 #1 $17.2M +2% −24% $185.3M 3,622 $4,756 11

Sun Dec 29 #1 $14.8M −14% −26% $200.1M 3,622 $4,079 12

Mon Dec 30 #1 $10.1M −32% −25% $210.2M 3,622 $2,787 13

Tue Dec 31 #1 $8.4M −16% +8% $218.6M 3,622 $2,330 14

Wed Jan 1 #1 $11.0M +31% −11% $229.6M 3,622 $3,048 15

Thu Jan 2 #1 $6.4M −42% −59% $236.0M 3,622 $1,760 16

Fri Jan 3 #1 $7.6M +19% −55% $243.6M 3,622 $2,091 17

Sat Jan 4 #1 $10.7M +41% −38% $254.3M 3,622 $2,954 18

Sun Jan 5 #1 $6.7M −37% −54% $261.0M 3,622 $1,861 19

Mon Jan 6 #1 $2.1M −68% −79% $263.2M 3,622 $589 20

Tue Jan 7 #1 $2.2M +1% −74% $265.3M 3,622 $595 21

Wed Jan 8 #2 $1.7M −19% −84% $267.1M 3,622 $482 22

Thu Jan 9 #2 $1.6M −9% −75% $268.7M 3,622 $441 23

Fri Jan 10 #3 $3.9M +144% −49% $272.6M 3,477 $1,120 24

Sat Jan 11 #2 $6.6M +70% −38% $279.2M 3,477 $1,909 25

Sun Jan 12 #1 $4.2M −36% −37% $283.4M 3,477 $1,214 26

Mon Jan 13 #1 $1.1M −75% −50% $284.5M 3,477 $307 27

Tue Jan 14 #2 $1.2M +13% −44% $285.7M 3,477 $347 28

Wed Jan 15 #2 $996.0K −18% −43% $286.7M 3,477 $286 29

Thu Jan 16 #2 $991.0K −1% −38% $287.6M 3,477 $285 30

Fri Jan 17 #5 $2.7M +169% −32% $290.3M 3,110 $856 31

Sat Jan 18 #5 $4.5M +70% −32% $294.8M 3,110 $1,453 32

Sun Jan 19 #4 $3.1M −32% −27% $297.9M 3,110 $989 33

Mon Jan 20 #3 $2.2M −28% +108% $300.1M 3,110 $716 34

Tue Jan 21 #2 $792.0K −64% −34% $300.9M 3,110 $254 35

Wed Jan 22 #3 $643.0K −19% −35% $301.6M 3,110 $206 36

Thu Jan 23 #3 $695.0K +8% −30% $302.3M 3,110 $223 37

Fri Jan 24 #8 $1.7M +141% −37% $303.9M 2,666 $627 38

Sat Jan 25 #6 $3.4M +106% −24% $307.4M 2,666 $1,292 39

Sun Jan 26 #4 $1.4M −59% −54% $308.8M 2,666 $530 40

Mon Jan 27 #4 $544.0K −62% −76% $309.4M 2,666 $204 41

Tue Jan 28 #3 $566.0K +4% −29% $309.9M 2,666 $212 42

Wed Jan 29 #4 $514.0K −9% −20% $310.4M 2,666 $192 43

Thu Jan 30 #4 $531.0K +3% −24% $310.9M 2,666 $199 44

Fri Jan 31 #8 $1.2M +130% −27% $312.2M 2,666 $457 45

Sat Feb 1 #8 $2.3M +92% −32% $314.5M 2,175 $1,075 46

Sun Feb 2 #6 $1.5M −35% +8% $316.0M 2,175 $702 47

Mon Feb 3 #5 $320.0K −79% −41% $316.3M 2,175 $147 48

Tue Feb 4 #5 $356.0K +11% −37% $316.7M 2,175 $163 49

Wed Feb 5 #6 $320.0K −10% −38% $317.0M 2,175 $147 50

Thu Feb 6 #7 $321.0K n/c −40% $317.3M 2,175 $147 51

Fri Feb 7 #10 $808.2K +152% −34% $318.1M 1,680 $481 52

Sat Feb 8 #10 $1.6M +100% −31% $319.8M 1,680 $962 53

Sun Feb 9 #8 $1.1M −32% −29% $320.9M 1,680 $650 54

Mon Feb 10 #9 $233.0K −79% −27% $321.1M 1,680 $138 55

Tue Feb 11 #8 $262.0K +12% −26% $321.4M 1,680 $155 56

Wed Feb 12 #9 $251.0K −4% −22% $321.6M 1,680 $149 57

Thu Feb 13 #9 $251.0K n/c −22% $321.8M 1,680 $149 58

Fri Feb 14 #11 $804.0K +220% −1% $322.7M 1,422 $565 59

Sat Feb 15 #11 $1.3M +63% −19% $324.0M 1,422 $920 60

Sun Feb 16 #10 $959.7K −27% −12% $324.9M 1,422 $674 61

Mon Feb 17 #9 $524.8K −45% +125% $325.4M 1,422 $369 62

Tue Feb 18 #10 $295.0K −44% +13% $325.7M 1,422 $207 63

Wed Feb 19 #10 $247.0K −16% −2% $326.0M 1,422 $173 64

Thu Feb 20 #10 $260.0K +5% +4% $326.2M 1,422 $182 65

Fri Feb 21 #12 $488.7K +88% −39% $326.7M 925 $528 66

Sat Feb 22 #12 $891.7K +82% −32% $327.6M 925 $963 67

Sun Feb 23 #12 $544.7K −39% −43% $328.2M 925 $588 68

Mon Feb 24 #11 $129.0K −76% −75% $328.3M 925 $139 69

Tue Feb 25 #11 $150.0K +16% −49% $328.4M 925 $162 70

Wed Feb 26 #11 $139.1K −7% −44% $328.6M 925 $150 71

Thu Feb 27 #11 $145.7K +5% −44% $328.7M 925 $157 72

Fri Feb 28 #11 $380.4K +161% −22% $329.1M 905 $420 73

Sat Mar 1 #11 $742.2K +95% −17% $329.8M 905 $820 74

Sun Mar 2 #11 $495.6K −33% −9% $330.3M 905 $547 75

Mon May 26 $34.6K — $338.8M 135 $256 160

Tue Jun 21 #9 $764.6K — $342.5M 522 $1,464

Sun Jun 9 #4 $1.9M — $344.5M 1,549 $1,233

Sun Jun 16 #9 $508.6K — $345.0M 1,020 $498

Sun Jun 23 #13 $146.9K — $345.1M 51 $2,880

Sat Jan 17 #5 $2.2M — $347.9M 1,655 $1,358

Sun Jan 18 $126.3K −94% $348.0M 343 $368

Mon Jan 19 $118.9K −6% $348.1M 217 $547

Fri Jan 23 $100.0K — $348.2M 257 $389

Sat Jan 24 #7 $1.4M +1,300% −38% $349.6M 257 $5,447

Sun Jan 25 $100.0K −93% −21% $349.7M 257 $389

Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record

Cumulative total$349.7M

Dec 18Jan 7Jan 27Feb 15Jan 25

Weekend grossWk 10 · $1.9M

$62.0M

$48.9M

$25.0M

$14.8M

$10.3M

$6.6M

$5.1M

$3.5M

$3.1M

$1.9M

W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10

Theater countPeak 3,622 → 257 −92.9%

3,622 open257 now

Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −37.3%

−21.2%

W1→2

−48.8%

W2→3

−41.0%

W3→4

−30.4%

W4→5

−35.6%

W5→6

−23.0%

W6→7

−30.9%

W7→8

−12.6%

W8→9

−37.3%

W9→10

Steepest −48.8%Best hold −12.6%

Run milestones

$300M in 34 days

$100M

Day 5

Dec 22

$200M

Day 12

Dec 29

$300M

Day 34

Jan 20

Profitability

Return on Budget

Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Records held

#4 Best second-weekend holds$50M+ openers, all-time −21.2% #6 Best multipliersAll-time 5.64x #17 Biggest December openingsAll-time $62.0M

Similar movies

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 · Jackson $325.7M The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 · Jackson $383.4M The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012 · Jackson $303M The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 2013 · Jackson $258.2M The Frighteners 1996 · Jackson $16.6M The Lovely Bones 2009 · Jackson $44.1M

Box office comparisons

Build your own comparison

Complete trilogy The Lord of the Rings Three Decembers, three marathons — Return of the King finishes on top.