National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING

AUTHENTIC

CROWN CERTIFIED

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MOVIEThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Movie Trailer

SCENEGandalf and Gimli

FILM FORMAT35mm

YEAR2001

CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000001814

FILM NOTES

New Line Cinema released The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001, the opening chapter of Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's trilogy, filmed in New Zealand across all three installments simultaneously. The teaser and theatrical trailers that preceded release were themselves cultural events, introducing audiences to Middle earth through carefully chosen glimpses before the film's arrival. This trailer material predates the saturation of later marketing, capturing the anticipation surrounding one of the era's most ambitious productions.

This cell preserves a moment from that early promotional reel pairing Gandalf, the wizard whose counsel drives the Fellowship's formation, with Gimli, the dwarf warrior representing his people's stake in the quest. Together they anchor two of the story's oldest lineages, wizardkind and dwarfkind, figures collectors seek for their instant recognition and their roles in establishing the ensemble before the wider saga unfolds. As a trailer strip rather than a finished-film frame, this cell belongs to the marketing history of the picture, a physical artifact from the campaign that first announced the trilogy to the public.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring trailer.

Gauge: 35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations: Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack: A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, appearing as a narrow light-modulated stripe; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the lower edge, and a thin DTS timecode line appears adjacent to the optical track.
Edge print: Upper edge reads '3C' (or 'CE' reversed); lower edge shows a repeating alphanumeric code consistent with a key-number sequence, exact characters not fully legible in this capture.
Base & colour: The base shows a light blue-cyan tint consistent with a dyed safety base stock; the dye image appears warm with strong colour saturation and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history: Light horizontal abrasion lines are visible across the lower portion of the strip, consistent with evidence of projection; no splices or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture: Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same or near-identical consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a theatrical release trailer print.
Era check: The combination of cyan-tinted safety base, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, and variable-area optical track is consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release period of the film 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 000063674

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