I never read any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Or any books set in Middle Earth. Or, really, any Tolkien at all. I don't know why. Maybe just because they seemed so long to me at the time. As I've mentioned before, I think, I'm a slow reader. But that's no excuse, since I read all of Zelazny's Amber novels and there were a bunch of those. All I need to read is 3 books, really, though I could always read more. I honestly don't know why I haven't read them. I'd better get a move on, though. The movie's coming. THE movie.
Even though I've never read the books, I've seen the cartoons. And I know something of what the books are about. And the coming movies have me excited. It's not often that we get a decent fantasy movie, honestly. Or, really, sci-fi for that matter, but it seems like fantasy's gotten the shaft more often than sci-fi. Fantasy movies seem to be permanently mired in the B-movie realm. What better trilogy of films could there be to help drag them out of there. It'd be awesome if the Lord of the Rings flicks caused a revolution in fantasy filmmaking.
If not... hell... it sounds like at least these movies'll be great. Just reading this made me drool.
Oh yeah... and then there's Harry Potter, too. :) Though I think that'll be perceived more as a kiddie flick than as a serious fantasy movie. But hey... it's something.