What did the movies do for you?

[Knight of Gondor]

For my part, the movies actually sparked my reading of the books. I'd already read Narnia at a young age, but I don't know how knowledge of Tolkien's books escaped me until the movie scuttlebutt came about.

I quickly immersed myself, and have since become a fan of both.

I think the movies reinvigorated a new generation to be interested, and obviously the interest had other implications. (IE, the Narnia and Harry Potter movies.)

As for their usefulness to the books, I think the movies helped fill out the books. I know there were additions, subtractions and omissions that bothered Tolkien purists, but I immensely enjoyed seeing the events unfold on the screen. I don't think the movies limited the imagination at all. The tenor of the book differs enough from the movie so that, while you can draw comparisons between book and movie, or imagine certain scenes according to Peter Jackson, I can still imagine independently.

[mark12_30]

The movies landed me on the Downs. Heh. Made some good friends, wrote some books, played some games.

Ain't been quite the same since.

[The Might]

the films definitely increased my interest in LOTR, and probably where the main reasons why I joined some sites
If there would have been no movies LOTR would have probably remained a nice book, but nothing more, and I doubt I would have ever been interested in more in-depth subjects if the movies hadn't been created

they also helped me picture myself the characters better, and except a few not portrayed in the movies I tend to imagine the characters in the books as those in the movies...it isn't easy to do it else