MOVIEThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Movie Trailer
SCENEGandalf, Legolas and Gimli
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR2001
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000001741
FILM NOTES
New Line Cinema released The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001, adapting Tolkien for the big screen with a scale and seriousness that had rarely been attempted for fantasy cinema. Directed by Peter Jackson and filmed across New Zealand, it launched a trilogy that reshaped studio expectations for effects-driven epics and brought a devoted readership into multiplexes worldwide. The teaser and full trailers that preceded release became collector touchstones in their own right, offering early glimpses of a world built with unusual care, and helping generate the anticipation that made the franchise a cultural landmark.
This cell draws together Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli, three members of the Fellowship whose differing natures, wizard, elf, dwarf, anchor much of the story's tension and camaraderie. Trailer material from this era holds particular value for collectors because it captures the film before general audiences had fully absorbed its imagery, when these characters were still being introduced as a promise of what was to come. A grouping of this kind reflects the alliance at the heart of the tale, and a strip from the trailer preserves that early, formative presentation of the fellowship taking shape.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release trailer print of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, with what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge; a DTS timecode line also appears present as a thin stripe adjacent to the optical track.
Edge print
Text reading 'The Fellowship of the Ring' is printed vertically in the picture area as a title card overlay; edge codes along the strip margin read '00-OD' visible at the top edge.
Base & colour
The base appears with a slight blue-tinted safety stock tint; the dye image reads as warm and well-saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal abrasion lines are visible across the lower portion of the strip, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same title-card composition, consistent with a trailer title frame from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Era check
The combination of Dolby Digital data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, variable-area optical track, and blue-tinted polyester safety base is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release date on record.
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 000063601
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
