Has it really outstripped the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of the total number of people who've paid to see it, and not just in post-inflation dollars?

Hard to imagine it has. I am sure this blurb (off the A&E web site) was written by a 21-yr-old intern who didn't quite think about it in those terms.

According to boxofficemojo the whole franchise has taken in 2.5 billion though:

ROTK has raked in $710.4 million worldwide in just its first 22 days of release, 30% ahead of TTT at the same point. Add in FOTR's and TTT's grosses, and the LOTR trilogy has grossed over $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office. ROTK is well on its way to surpassing TTT and FOTR.

I don't think I've heard this before. What was the rant?

I think he first talked about this on the TTT DVD and he's repeated it in some other interviews. Basically he and Viggo were both unhappy with the idea of being action figures. So one day as they were preparing to shoot a scene, Viggo launched into this long monologue in character. He was saying things like "There will be hundreds of our heads, all cast in plastic." His speech grew more and more elaborate and the crew was just standing around shaking their heads wondering what the hell he was talking about. Once he finished, he and Hill burst out laughing.

this A&E special was on NBC already.

Oh, man. Gag #2 had me laughing to hard to breathe.

I just saw the A&E special, I didn't see it when it aired on NBC. That was fun. I could watch stuff like that all day. Bring on the LotR channel!

There's some odd duping of specials. The one I got off A&E Breakfast With The Arts was the same one I got off of the Biography Channel earlier.

This is my brain right now: Sam's face, Pippin's face, the beacons, Sam's gestures, Pippin singing, Faramir's face, Eowyn's face, Theoden riding, Sam's tears, Pippin's expressions, Merry's face, Frodo's eyes, Gollum's poorness, Aragorn's movements, Legolas' movements, Sam's face, Pippin's face, the ring, New-Zealand, Sam, Pippin.

Some light on a screen accompanied by sounds shouldn't be able to do that to me.

It wasn't on NBC -- it was on ABC (on Primetime) -- but the Breakfast with the Arts thing was different.

Here is the TORN report on the Lincoln Center event. (It spoils the gags.)

From the e! online article on the Critics Choice Awards:

Unlike most other awards-show voters, members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association offer up an open accounting of their balloting.

Oscar watchers then might be interested to know that Return of the King didn't just win Best Picture; it destroyed the competition--no small feat considering it was up against nine other films. King received 43 critics' votes, more than double its nearest competitor, Mystic River, with 18.

Jackson's Best Director win was even more impressive. He captured 80 votes, far outdistancing Mystic River captain Clint Eastwood (news), who earned 17.

WOW!!

I watched the CC awards and the Mystic River love in that room was strong. That's surprising.