MovieChat Forums > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Discussion > Highest on-screen body count of all time...

Highest on-screen body count of all time?

posted 3 years ago by damocci (1514)
6 replies | jump to latest

This is news to me.

Despite being rated PG-13, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has the most on-camera deaths in a movie in all time.

A whopping 836 kills. I'd have expected something like Saving Private Ryan to have that distinction but this film has three times the on-screen deaths. Some might want to argue that planets being blown up in movies such as the Star War franchise or Roland Emmerich's disaster porn have more, but those deaths are implied. The conclusion that LotR:RotR has the highest body count is based on the deaths being seen on screen.

http://www.randalolson.com/2013/12/31/deadliest-films-of-all-time-by-on-screen-death-counts/

Here's a graphic listing the movies with highest body count: http://www.randalolson.com/wp-content/uploads/100-Deadliest-Films.png You'll note that the top spots go to Sword & Sandal epics like Troy, 300, Kingdom of Heaven and such.

[–] JBran (1660) 3 years ago

Can only be due to the CGI Sauron army falling down the holes in the end. Imagine counting all of them.

Who knows if they died or not.

[–] damocci (1514) 3 years ago

Can only be due to the CGI Sauron army falling down the holes in the end.

I'm not sure about that. That army at the end looked like it was made up of thousands . I think that website counts only actual kills, as in with swords, arrows, being stomped by Oliphants. I might be wrong though.

[–] JBran (1660) 3 years ago

Ah wow.

[–] blue1981 (7824) 3 years ago

Well it would be much higher if you count the Army of the Dead wiping out the Mordor Orcs.

[–] damocci (1514) 3 years ago

As far as I know this movie's Battle of the Pelenor Fields involved around 200,000 people and orcs. So yeah, the death count is in realty much higher. But I think the link in my OP only includes people and orcs you actually see being stabbed by swords, shot by arrows and so forth.

[–] Volley (3433) 3 months ago

250,000 Orcs killed if you count the Green Soapy Cleansing Power of the Army of the Dead, definitely the most onscreen and offscreen deaths in any film save for perhaps when Luke blows up the Death Star, instantly killing 750,000 Imperial officers or Tarkin blows up Alderaan, annihilating millions in a flash.