Only a handful of fantasy films have been nominated for the top Oscar -- The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers among them -- but none had won until now.
At best the genre was viewed as high camp, not the stuff of Oscars, which usually go to grand dramas with their feet firmly planted in recognizable reality.
The people behind The Lord of the Rings changed that, approaching Tolkien's mythical realm with dead seriousness. Jackson sought three-dimensional humanity all around -- compassion, nobility and self-doubt in heroic hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood), wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and human Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), covetousness and Shakespearean malice in villains Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Gollum (a computer-generated creature voiced by Andy Serkis).
Audiences received Jackson's fantastical creation with equal seriousness, with global ticket sales of US$2.8 billion for the three films. Return of the King has topped US$1 billion alone, the No. 2 box-office draw behind Titanic at US$1.8 billion.
Jackson labored for seven years to adapt Tolkien's trilogy -- first persuading Hollywood bankers to stake him to the tune of US$300 million, then marshaling a cast and crew of 2,000 to shoot the three films and land them in theaters just a year apart.
The result was a 9-and-a-half-hour saga -- more than 11 hours once all three extended home-video versions are available -- that seamlessly blended live action and computer animation. Real actors credibly shared the screen with flying beasts, hulking trolls, and walking, talking "tree shepherds."
Other Return of the King winners included composer Howard Shore, who took his second Oscar for writing Lord of the Rings music, having won two years ago on Part 1 of the saga, The Fellowship of the Ring.
Into the West, the wistful tune of farewell from Return of the King, won the best-song Oscar. The song was written by Fran Walsh, the film's co-screenwriter; Howard Shore, its music composer; and Annie Lennox, who sings the tune.
The Oscars returned to full-glamour mode after two years in which Hollywood's prom night was muted by world events -- the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2002 and the Iraq war in 2003.
Billy Crystal, returning as host for the first time in four years, opened with his usual montage of nominees, having himself inserted into spoofs of key Oscar contenders, including Diane Keaton's screeching nude scene in Something's Gotta Give.
With all the awards for Return of the King, produced in New Zealand, Crystal joked: "It's now official. There is nobody left in New Zealand to thank."
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