"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards on Sunday, including best film -- succeeding after attempts at Oscar's top prize by the first two films in the series had failed.

Charlize Theron, holding back tears, claimed the Oscar for best actress for her portrayal as a female serial killer in "Monster", and Sean Penn took home the golden statue for best actor in murder thriller "Mystic River".

Both acting victories had been largely expected by Oscar watchers, as was the best film win by "Return of the King", leaving award show watchers with only few surprises. The show itself had little of the flair it had shown in recent years, with several unexpected Oscar winners like last year's Adrien Brody or Halle Berry two years ago.

But the victory was well-earned by "Return of the King" and New Zealand director Peter Jackson, who laboured more than seven years to make the three movies. The film lorded over the U.S. film industry's top honours, winning every category in which it was nominated, including best director for Jackson.

It tied 1959's "Ben Hur" and 1997's "Titanic" with the most Oscar victories ever for a single movie.

"You're giving us an incredibly overwhelming night, and we appreciate it so much," Jackson said onstage, holding one of the golden Oscars in his hand.

The Oscars, or Academy Awards, are the US film industry's highest honours and are given out each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"Return of the King" -- the final film in the trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's books about an epic struggle for control of middle-Earth among hobbits, humans, wizards and blood thirsty orcs -- also earned Oscars for costume design, makeup, art direction, visual effects, sound mixing, original score, film editing, original song, and adapted screenplay.

The first two "Rings" films were nominated for best film in the previous two years, but failed to take the Oscar home to New Zealand. Overall, the three films have been huge box office hits, raking in more than $2.8 billion (1.5 billion pounds) worldwide. "Return of the King" is only the second movie ever to reach the $1 billion threshold, behind "Titanic", winner of 1997's best film Oscar.

The second most nominated film in 10 categories, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", managed only two victories, one for sound editing and the second for cinematography, where "Return of the King" failed to turn up.

"We might have had a better shot in another year," cinematographer Russell Boyd told reporters backstage. "I think 'Lord of the Rings' is a remarkable body of work."

Theron claimed her Oscar for a role in which she gained 30 pounds (13.6 kilos) and underwent a complete transformation from blonde-haired beauty to the deeply conflicted killer, Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who murdered the men who picked her up.

"This has been such an incredible year. I can't believe this," she said, holding back tears. "I know everybody in New Zealand has been thanked, so I am going to thank everybody in South Africa, my home country."

After several misses in past years, Penn won the best actor Oscar playing a Boston thug whose daughter is killed. Penn's character suspects a childhood friend is the killer.

The friend was portrayed by Tim Robbins and he, too, took home an Oscar for best supporting actor for the movie.