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National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING
A
AUTHENTIC
CROWN CERTIFIED
Film cell NFV-000001736 Tap to enlarge
MOVIEThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Movie Trailer
SCENELegolas and Gimli
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2001
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000001736

FILM NOTES

New Line Cinema released The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, adapting Tolkien for the big screen under Peter Jackson's direction. The trailer campaign built anticipation for a fantasy epic on a scale rarely attempted, introducing audiences to Middle-earth's cast and stakes before the film's premiere. It marked a defining moment for New Line and for large-scale fantasy filmmaking, setting expectations for the trilogy that followed and cementing the studio's place in blockbuster history.

This cell preserves a frame from that early promotional material, pairing Legolas and Gimli, two members of the Fellowship whose contrasting natures, elf and dwarf, became central to the story's appeal. Collectors seek out material featuring these two for the dynamic they represent, a bond forged across old rivalries. A trailer cell like this captures the marketing machinery behind the film, a fragment used to build excitement ahead of release, offering a piece of the promotional history surrounding one of cinema's most celebrated fantasy adaptations.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm colour theatrical trailer print of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a mono or stereo optical track; Dolby Digital pixel blocks appear present in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge.
Edge print
Not fully legible in this capture; partial text and key-number codes are visible along the lower edge but cannot be quoted with certainty.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; dye image reads as a colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot and carry the title overlay 'The Fellowship of the Ring – Christmas 2001', consistent with a theatrical trailer for the film on record.
Era check
The combination of a colour positive print, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks alongside an optical track, and 2001 title text is consistent with a 2001 theatrical release-print trailer.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063596
Original Film Capture As received
The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size