National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

New Line Cinema released The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in December 2003, completing Peter Jackson's landmark adaptation of Tolkien's trilogy. The film swept the Academy Awards, winning all eleven categories for which it was nominated, including Best Picture. The promotional campaign that preceded it drew heavily on footage establishing the Fellowship's central relationships, making trailer cells among the most sought-after artifacts from this production era.

This cell, titled Boromir and Aragorn by the operator, captures Sean Bean and Viggo Mortensen together in dark medieval armor and cloaks against a rocky background, with the title The Return of the King visible within the frame. The three-frame strip presents the same shot across each panel, a common trailer printing characteristic that gives the image a quiet, repeated gravity on the strip.