Likely to be of interest to anyone interested in how global cinema can be presented, appreciated, and appropriated in the 21st century, this is the first book to analyse the commercial and cultural impact of The Lord of the Rings phenomenon from a truly international perspective. The Lord of the Rings: Popular Culture in Global Context takes the release of the film trilogy as a point of departure for an overview of the international impact of The Lord of the Rings in a range of cultural environments (the US, the UK, New Zealand, and Europe). This anthology examines the merchandising, box office figures, distribution, critical reception, fan following and cult status of the films. It focuses on how its many different facets; trailers, DVD editions, websites, computer games, music, location tours, and even its unlikely erotic spin-offs contributed to making The Lord of the Rings the most publicly recognised brand image of the 21st century so far.

The Lord of the Rings is a cult text, with devoted fans across the world. Ernest Mathijs believes that is also becoming a shorthand for a certain lifestyle: utopian, idealist, ecologically aware, family-unit based. This book helps explain how such a status is negotiated by corporate Hollywood and why the success of the films and franchise also indicates the bourgeoning success of fantasy as a genre in the 21st Century.