'Rings' set to out-sell them all

By LOUISA CLEAVE

The Lord of the Rings is set to break the New Zealand box office record held by Titanic.

The first Rings movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, has made more than $12.6 million in three months.

It is less than $300,000 away from breaking the record, with weekend ticket sales still to be tallied.

A film industry spokeswoman yesterday predicted Fellowship would roll Titanic within the next 10 days.

Titanic, released in 1997, is still the world's biggest-grossing film at US$1.8 billion ($4.18 billion), when inflation is not taken into account.

Fellowship has so far earned $1.6 billion worldwide.

Latest figures show the film climbed back to number one and took $283,671 in the week ending March 6.

The recent success at the Bafta awards helped The Fellowship to reclaim the top ranking, the spokeswoman said.

Box office takings should "improve substantially" with the Academy Awards coming up in two weeks.

Feature: Lord of the Rings

Special LOTR report: A long expected party

Best Lord of the Rings websites