Tolkien(2019)

PG-13
1h 52m

Release Date: May 10, 2019 | Wide

Tolkien's novels were inspired by his mom's storytelling, falling in love with another orphan, Edith, forming a brotherhood with 3 other misfits at school, the trench war of WWI and later telling stories to his own kids.

Releases

Original Release | May 10, 2019

Watch Trailer

Box Office

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$2,200,537
Total US & Canada:
$4,535,154
Total International
$4,554,886
Total Worldwide:
$10,181,491

Director & Top Cast

Dome Karukoski
Director

Nicholas Hoult
J.R.R. Tolkien

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Summaries

Plot Summary

As young children being raised by a single mother, J. R. R. Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) and his brother receive help from a local priest, Father Francis (Colm Meaney), who must relocate them from their home to small apartments in Birmingham due to financial hardships. Their mother is supportive and loving, filling their minds with stories of adventure and mystery which she recites by the fireplace at night. She becomes ill, however, and one day upon returning home from school, Tolkien finds her slumped in her chair, dead. Father Francis becomes the boys' legal guardian, and eventually finds a kindly rich woman who agrees to takes them in, providing them with room and board while they continue their childhood education. There, Tolkien meets Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), the woman's only other ward. Tolkien is taken with Edith, whose piano playing he admires, and the two become friends.At school, Tolkien immediately shows talent with languages, earning rough treatment from a rival classmate, Robert (Patrick Gibson). When the two boys get into a fight, the headmaster - Robert's father - orders that they spend all of their time together for the remainder of the term. While both initially resent the assignment, Tolkien is soon accepted into Robert's small circle of friends, and the four - J. R. R., Robert, Geoffrey (Anthony Boyle), and Christopher (Tom Glynn-Carney) - form a close friendship, which grows with the years, even as they attend separate universities. Meanwhile, Tolkien continues his friendship with Edith, falling in love with her.Father Francis finds out about their relationship and recognizes that it is affecting Tolkien's grades, and so forbids him from pursuing her while under his guardianship. Tolkien is distraught, not wanting to lose the priest's financial support of his schooling. He relates the conversation to Edith, promising they will be able to be together when he reaches 21, the age of majority, but she instead ends the relationship.Tolkien struggles at Oxford (his association with the boys gets him into trouble and his scholarship is terminated. As he does not have any funding, Tolkien is at the verge of dropping out of Oxford. The same day he receives word that Edith is engaged to be married and completely breaks down. Geoffrey is TOlkien's best friend, and consoles him at this hour), but attracts the attention of Professor Joseph Wright (Derek Jacobi), a prominent philologist. Tolkien realizes language is his true passion, and enrolls in Wright's class. Wright sponsors Tolkien's scholarship and allows him to continue at Oxford.When the First World War breaks out, he and his friends all enlist in the British Army. Before Tolkien leaves, Edith returns and the two declare their love for each other. At the Battle of the Somme Tolkien, suffering from trench fever, goes to look for Geoffrey convinced that he is calling him, but is unable to find him and collapses unconscious. He wakes in a hospital weeks later with Edith by his side, to find that Geoffrey and Robert were both killed. Years later, Tolkien and Edith are married with several children, and Tolkien is now a professor at Oxford himself. The film ends with him inspired to write the famous opening of The Hobbit.The Hobbit was published in 1937 and made Tolkien world famous. He died in 1973, 2 yrs after Edith.

Storyline

Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the "fellowship" apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels. — Fox Searchlight Pictures

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