Movie PictureThe Lord Of The Rings: The Return of The King: Los Angeles, CA, January 12, 2004 - As it continues to garner critical accolades across the country, New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King held its reign over the box office, earning $14.2 million in its fourth week of release and claiming the #1 spot over Columbia Pictures' expanded release of Big Fish ($13.8 m) and Twentieth Century Fox's Cheaper by the Dozen ($11.7m). The announcement was made today by David Tuckerman, New Line's President, Domestic Distribution.

Internationally, the film earned $454.8 m in 51 territories, with domestic reaching $312.3 m, bringing the total worldwide box office for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to $767.1 m.

"It's tremendously significant that this film continues to connect with audiences, whether they're seeing it repeatedly or for the first time," Tuckerman said. "There's also no doubt that the enormous critical recognition this film is receiving has led to continued box office success."

Over the weekend, the film was recognized by the Broadcast Film Critics Association with four awards - Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Jackson), Best Ensemble Cast and Best Score (Howard Shore). This adds to the kudos tally from last week when the Directors Guild of America nominated Peter Jackson with Best Director, the Producers Guild of America nominated producers Barrie Osborne, Jackson and Fran Walsh on behalf of the film, and USC nominated Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson for Best Screenplay.

In addition, Ngila Dickson received a Costume Designers Guild Award nomination. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association recently named Peter Jackson Best Director, along with critics organizations from Florida, Utah, Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas, which are among the 10 critics groups that recognized The Return of the King as Best Picture.

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The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King was released December 17th, 2003 and stars Noel Appleby, Alexandra Astin, Sean Astin, David Aston, John Bach, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom. The film is directed by Peter Jackson.