It is no longer a cult favorite, unless cults are counted in millions of devotees. The print version of Tolkein's saga may have only verged on the mainstream, but the film versions definitely landed in the middle of middle America, middle Britain, and middle everywhere else. In this collection of findings from massive quantities of research about the film experience, Barker (film and television, U. of Wales), Mathijs (film and drama, U. of British Columbia) and the contributors of these 14 reports describe the process of selling the franchise outside the cult and getting appropriate attention, working with the meaning of the text, seeking US female viewers, determining the merchandising and the markets for it, dealing with the inevitable letdown from old fans, creating audience strategies and orientations, receiving characters and genres across countries, working with the fantasies of 12 countries, and taking the academic with the commercial. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)