I have been watching LOTR at least once a year when i was younger.

There used to be a LOTR marathon for the easter weekend on one private TV channel in Germany for at least a decade.

Spin off video games like the battle for middle earth have been hugely popular among my friends

The movies are ranked 6, 9 and 12 place in the imdb top list. No other triology comes close.

It will be hard to find a media IP that is as generations defining as LOTR.

At the end of the day it is also one of the last “great stories” an arc of the epic battle between good and evil that is executed well and not just a self referential pile of dung like all the superhero IPs.