Serving animals in HOBBIT film

[Sauron the White]

I beg to differ. There are three ways that the film industry looks to see if their films were a success. None of them include the adulation of the book community to see if they kept close enough to the source material.

The three areas the film community respects are
1- box office receipts above and beyond anything else
2- the acclaim of professional critics partly because it can impact #1 and partly because it can and does add to the prestige of a film or even a studio
3- industry and professional awards like the BAFTA's or Academy Awards, again same reason as #1 and 2.

In all three cases, the LOTR films were a rousing success by all three measurements.

Yes, there have been films that hit all three -- and you did mention some. But again, compare that to the number of films issued each year and multiply that by year after year. BEN HUR, LAWRENCE, LOTR - these are rare films and to have such success on all three levels is rare.

your point

And Michelangelo's work at St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel was made possible, ultimately, by the tithes of millions of illiterate peasants. Does that mean he was working to please them? Of course not.

isthe exact opposite of the situation that any filmmaker and any studio finds themselves in. Michaelangelo did NOT need to have the actual love and adulation of those masses of people or even their approval. He needed the approval of a single autocrat - the Pope. He was working for an audience of one. A filmmaker and film studio does not have that luxury.