The Return of the King ranks first among Peter Jackson’s three Lord of the Rings films by worldwide theatrical gross, followed by The Two Towers and The Fellowship of the Ring. The figures below use The Numbers’ current all-release totals in nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted amounts.
Lord of the Rings movies ranked by worldwide gross
Each total combines the domestic and international amounts reported by The Numbers. The pages include subsequent engagements as well as the films’ original releases.
![The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) [Blu-ray] [2001]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51udcEwJJ1L._SL160_.jpg)
| Rank | Film | Release year | Domestic gross | International gross | Worldwide gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | 2003 | $383,381,648 | $742,764,991 | $1,126,146,639 |
| 2 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | 2002 | $349,701,429 | $577,095,781 | $926,797,210 |
| 3 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | 2001 | $325,680,679 | $576,310,273 | $901,990,952 |
These are The Numbers’ page values as accessed on October 8, 2026. The films opened in consecutive years, from 2001 through 2003. In this dataset, The Return of the King leads the trilogy by nearly $200 million over The Two Towers; the second and third films are separated by about $25 million.
What these box-office totals include
The ranking uses one database and one scope throughout: The Numbers’ worldwide totals across all releases. Its film pages report domestic, international, and worldwide gross and include later special engagements, including releases in 2024 and 2026. The amounts are nominal dollars, so they do not account for inflation.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteNumbers can differ across box-office databases because one figure may cover an original release while another aggregates rereleases or later engagements. For example, Box Office Mojo’s franchise listing gives original domestic lifetime grosses of $377,027,325 for The Return of the King, $339,789,881 for The Two Towers, and $313,364,114 for The Fellowship of the Ring. Those are domestic-only figures with a different release scope—not worldwide totals—and should not be mixed into this ranking.
Quick Recap
Rank #3
- The Lord Of The Rings
- The Motion Picture Trilogy
How to compare the figures
- Worldwide gross: Use the total column to compare the films on the same all-release basis.
- Domestic and international: The separate columns show how each worldwide total is divided geographically. The Return of the King has the largest amount in both columns.
- Inflation: These nominal totals are not adjusted for changes in ticket prices or purchasing power. The Numbers also lists inflation-adjusted domestic figures, but those are not directly comparable with the nominal worldwide totals shown here.
- Release scope: When checking another source, identify whether its number covers the original release, domestic receipts only, or all releases worldwide before comparing it with this table.
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