We know that Sean Astin’s RL daughter plays Eleanor Gamgee in at least one scene at the end of RotK. I suspect that we’ll see Frodo leaving from the Grey Havens, with serious tearful farewells (ooo, just think of Elijah Wood’s big weepy eyes! Oops, sorry, got a little slashy there for a moment), then the very end of the movie will be Sam’s “I’m back” to Rose.
Once you’ve destroyed Barad-dur, what do you do for an encore? 
I think the audience will be doing some serious squirming in their seats if it takes more than another 30 minutes to wrap things up. I bet they cut out Frodo’s return trip alltogether and just have Frodo and Gandalf sail from Minas Tirith, instead of the Havens.
In full Darth Vader costume! 
The really interesting question is: how will people react to what happens to Frodo at Mt. Doom? Traditional Hollywood formula dictates that only Deep-Down Nasty People ever give in or have a weak moment in a time of crisis. Is the public ready for a hero who doesn’t (or, more accurately, can’t) do the right thing at the moment of truth?
As for the ending, I don’t see how you could improve on, “Well, I’m back.” But I’m sure they’ll try. (sigh)
I can’t provide a cite without a lot of searching, but I do know that I’ve read over at TORn that the Grey Havens scene has been filmed. We would not have a Grey Havens scene without the big parting between Frodo and the other hobbits, so I’m confident that the ending will not be much changed.
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Cinematically, the proper place to wrap the movie is at the field of Carmelkorn. You run the victory celebration and the wedding/coronation together for the big finish. The film will wrap up no more than ten minutes after this. While it works in the book, it’s hard to imagine that people will sit around for 45 minutes after the climax of the film watching the fellowship disintegrate.
The very end of the movie will be Sam sitting in front of the fire reading from the Red Book to his children. The whole thing will have been a sort of flashback sequence of Sam telling the story of “What we did in the war of the ring.”
I also believe that Jackson is going to have a hard time satisfying people with ROTK. Right now, everyone is free to believe that all the loose ends and “uncanonical” story lines will wrap up according to their personal preferences. But they’re not going to, are they? Somebody, perhaps a lot of somebodies, is going to be very disappointed.
pugluvr: I believe either Wood or Astin mentions on the FOTR: EE actors’ commentary that the Grey Havens scene was the most emotional one in the film, so there’s your cite.
Truth Seeker & co.: If you end on the field of Cormallen, you fundamentally change the meaning of the ending. The ending isn’t about how everyone lived happily ever after until the end of their days (even though many of the characters do.) The ending is about what Frodo had to sacrifice in order to earn those happily-ever-afters for everyone else.
So even if you cut the Scouring and much of Many Partings, you still have to show the hobbits returning home, Frodo’s anguish, and preferably the Shire’s indifference to Frodo (they found Merry and Pippen to be much more glamorous war heroes.) And you have to show the Grey Havens, and Sam having to finally leave Frodo to go lead his own life. You can still do all this in something like ten minutes, but it’s not going to be a happy, upbeat ten minutes.
Ending on the wedding and dancing ewoks, er, hobbits is the standard ending, but LOTR is not a standard story … and that in turn helps explain why so many people are fascinated by it.
From what Ive read int his thread so far, Peter Jackson and all those powerful people on the movie, reckon that there audience wont sit for an extra half hour after the ring is destroyed to see what happens in the rest of the story?
ok just one thing to say to that…
What a load of rubbish!!
Thats just a personal feeling obviously, but if your still interested in seeing the movie after seeing the first two, then I think your going to want to see how it all pans out. Fron whats said I get the impression that the NLC reckon the only reason poeple will go see the final movie is to see what happens the ring… Does anyone actually not know what happens? Im not saying anything in case someone has been living under a rock…
Im just abit disapointed by it, 'cos thats one of my favourtie parts of the book but anyway.
Well at the very, VERY least the scouring scene shows how Saruman meets his end.
I think that if PJ is doing the best job, he wouldn’t mess with the book, but doing a great job would be showing the fall of Barad-dur and then spending the next 20 minutes showing celebrations intermixed with a wedding and returning home (which sounds like a strech, but it can be done), and a bried scene where the Hobbits encounter Saruman defiling the shire and Saruman’s death. Wrap it all up with a less than or equal to 5 minute departing at the Grey Havens (which is really ample time) and you have the end of the story within the time given. If you want, you can add another five minutes to briefly explain the fates of Pippin, Merry, Aragorn & Arwen, Legolas and Gimli.
Frankly, I think Peter Jackson has it hard trying to put so many things that happen in the book into one film.
Maybe I should just plead temporary inanity, but I’m going to try to explain myself. What I’d REALLY like to see is an ending that’s faithful to the book. I think the last few pages are nearly perfect as written. But will it destroy all three films if the very last shot isn’t Sam Gamgee, Elanor on his lap, saying, “Well, I’m back?” No way. LOTR is a lot more than three little words – three little words that will remain at the end of Book VI, no matter what PJ decides to do.
Again, I REALLY hope he stays as close as possible to the last few scenes of the book, and I believe he intends to do. IF, however, he feels the need to alter the ending, I’d rather see him bring something in from the appendices rather than omit some of the most poignant scenes in the story just to give us a Star Wars (IV and VI) style celebration.
But as NoCoolUser points out, it’s possible to read the original ending as happy. Frodo goes to a happy place (because he can’t be happy in his beloved Shire). The very last scene reads like domestic bliss, but does it contain a degree of irony? We know all about Frodo’s scars, but in the end we really don’t know what marks Sam carries.
Assume the last line of the film is “Well, I’m back.” What then? Will Sean Astin smile broadly at Elanor and Rosie or look wistfully to the West? Will the score swell triumphantly as the scene dissolve to an exterior shot of Bag End bathed in golden light, or will we quietly fade out, roll credits?
Apos, you’re right. It is left open whether or not Sam makes the trip. I guess I wanted to think that he did so that’s the way I read it. Of course, since Tolkien was using the conceit that he was translating ancient writings and no one who would have been with Sam on the last voyage would have returned, I guess it would have to be vague.
(But then how come we get a description of Frodo’s sighting of the Undying Lands? Hmmm…)
What I want to know is, how long until Mel Brooks makes Bored of the Rings?
:ducks:
Mel Brooks hasn’t made a successful movies in years but has had a huge hit in musical theater.This idea has brought scorn and outrage. BUT, a Mel Brooks musical “Bored of the Rings” on Broadway would be… something. It would truly be something.
To second what has been stated above: the Grey Havens sets are built, so let’s assume they’ll be used. I think the rumors about Saruman’s Demise on the round spiked wheely dealy are true, and he’ll be gone long before the fall of Barad-Dur.
But other than that, I think PJ can be trusted not to screw with the book too much, and that Many Partings will be shown as is. If I were filming and editing, I would end it this way:
Ship sails from the Grey Havens
Sam returns home; “Well, I’m back” are the last words of dialog.
Galadriel’s voice-over recounts what happens to the Fellowship, over a montage, showing quickly what each member did in their remainig time in ME. Reference to Sam’s terms as mayor, and rumor that he also departed, as the last ringbearer.
Last shot–Frodo glimpsing the Undying Lands from his ship.
Roll credits.
You do realize filming wrapped up three years ago, right? They’ve done a bit here and there since, but 95% of filming was completed well before Fellowship was released.
Yes, of course—my verb tense was mangled by hamsters. Let’s assume the Grey Haven sets were used.