Not OP, but I think he was referring to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)[0] which grossed $887.9 million and won 4 Academy awards[1].

[0]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Fel...

> Not OP, but I think he was referring to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

OP referenced "over 90% of HN readers", who are notoriously out-of-the-mainstream nerds[0], so he probably was referring to The Lord of the Rings (1978) [1] which grossed $33.7 million (which seems a lot less than the 2001 film, but is pretty similar as a multiplier on its budget.)

[0] https://www.example.com/what-you-thought-this-was-a-real-sou...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_(1978_fi...

Bravo :)