The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

In the Second Age of Middle-earth, the lords of Elves, Dwarves, and Men each receive Rings of Power. Unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, imbuing it with his power to control the other Rings and conquer Middle-earth. A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor. Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger, vanquishing him and returning him to spirit form, marking the beginning of the Third Age. The Ring corrupts Isildur, who takes it and is later killed by Orcs. The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum, who possesses it for over four centuries, until it abandons him and is found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire with his old friend, Gandalf the Grey. He leaves the Shire for one last adventure, passing on his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, learns its true nature, and discovers that Gollum was captured by Sauron and revealed two words during interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins." Gandalf warns Frodo to leave the Shire. As Frodo departs with his gardener friend, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf heads to Isengard to seek counsel from his friend, the powerful wizard Saruman. Saruman reveals Sauron has dispatched his nine Nazgûl servants to retrieve the Ring. Gandalf immediately attempts to flee to warn Frodo, but is imprisoned by Saruman who has allied himself with Sauron, communicating with him via a palantír. Frodo and Sam join up with fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin and evade the Nazgûl before reaching Bree to meet Gandalf, who never arrives as Saruman captures him. A Ranger named Strider helps them get to Rivendell but they are ambushed on Weathertop by the Nazgûl, who wound Frodo with a Morgul blade. Arwen, Strider's beloved Elf, finds them, rescues Frodo, and takes him to Rivendell to be healed and reunite with Gandalf, who had escaped Isengard on a Great Eagle. That night, Arwen declares to Strider she is willing to sacrifice her immortality for their love. Learning of Saruman's betrayal from Gandalf and that they are now facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father Lord Elrond holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed. However, Elrond explains that it can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, the volcano where it was forged. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, the Elf Legolas, Gimli, Boromir of Gondor, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, now living in Rivendell, gives Frodo his old sword Sting, and a chainmail shirt made of mithril. The Fellowship of the Ring is forced to travel through the Mines of Moria due to a storm summoned by Saruman. Gandalf warns Frodo that Gollum, released from Sauron's fortress, has been trailing them with the intention to reclaim the Ring. They find the Dwarves of Moria dead and are attacked by Orcs and a troll. While they hold off the attack, they are pursued by Durin's Bane, a Balrog. The others escape as Gandalf confronts the Balrog and falls into a deep chasm while battling it. The devastated Fellowship reaches Lothlórien, where Galadriel, the Elf-queen, tells Frodo that he alone can complete the quest and warns that one of his companions will try to take the Ring. She shows him a vision of Sauron enslaving Middle-earth should he fail. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to destroy the Fellowship, intending to betray Sauron and claim the Ring for himself. The Fellowship travels to Parth Galen by river. As warned by Galadriel, Frodo is confronted privately by Boromir, who attempts to take the Ring. Uruk-hai scouts ambush the group; their leader, Lurtz, mortally wounds Boromir as he fails to stop them from capturing Merry and Pippin. Aragorn arrives and kills Lurtz, comforting Boromir in his final moments, promising to aid Gondor in their conflict. Worried the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to go to Mordor alone, but Sam insists on accompanying him, honouring Gandalf's promise to protect him. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli plan to rescue Merry and Pippin, while Frodo and Sam navigate the pass of Emyn Muil towards Mordor. ==Cast==

from left to right: (Top row) Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, (bottom row) Sam, Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Gimli Before filming began on 11 October 1999, the principal actors trained for six weeks in sword fighting (with Bob Anderson), riding and boating. Jackson hoped such activities would allow the cast to bond so chemistry would be evident on screen as well as getting them used to life in Wellington. They were trained to pronounce Tolkien's verses properly. After the shoot, the nine cast members playing the Fellowship got a tattoo, the Elvish symbol for the number nine, with the exception of John Rhys-Davies, whose stunt double got the tattoo instead. The film is noted for having an ensemble cast, and some of the cast and their respective characters include: • Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A young hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. Wood was the first actor to be cast on 7 July 1999. Wood was a fan of The Hobbit, and he sent in an audition dressed as Frodo, reading lines from The Lord of the Rings. Wood was selected from 150 actors who auditioned. Jake Gyllenhaal unsuccessfully auditioned for the role after his agency miscommunicated his direction to an American accent. • Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey: An Istari wizard and mentor to Frodo. Sean Connery was approached for the role, but did not understand the plot, while Patrick Stewart turned it down as he disliked the script. In 2026, Jackson stated that he is glad that Connery declined as he felt he wouldn't have the same chemistry as McKellen did. Patrick McGoohan was offered the role, but turned it down due to health issues. Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Plummer likewise turned down the role. Richard Harris expressed interest in the part. John Astin and David Bowie auditioned for Gandalf. Sam Neill was offered the role but declined due to his scheduling conflict with Jurassic Park III. Before being cast, McKellen had to sort his schedule with 20th Century Fox as there was a two-month overlap with X-Men. Unlike his on-screen character, McKellen did not spend much time with the actors playing the Hobbits; instead he worked with their scale doubles. Nicolas Cage received an offer but declined because of family obligations. Stuart Townsend was cast in the role, before being replaced during filming when Jackson realised he was too young. Day-Lewis was offered the role for a second time, but declined again. Mortensen read the book on the plane, received a crash course lesson in fencing from Bob Anderson and began filming the scenes on Weathertop. and carrying his "hero" sword around with him off-camera. • Sean Bean as Boromir: A son of the Stewards of Gondor who journeys with the Fellowship towards Mordor. Bean was initially considered for Aragorn. Bruce Willis, a fan of the book, expressed interest in the role, while Liam Neeson was sent the script, but passed. • Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: The elven co-ruler of Lothlórien alongside her husband Celeborn. Lucy Lawless was considered for the role, but turned it down as she was pregnant, she would later regret the decision. • Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: The fallen head of the Istari Order who succumbs to Sauron's will through his use of the palantír. Lee was a major fan of the book, read it once a year, and had met Tolkien. • Andy Serkis as Gollum : A wretched hobbit-like creature whose mind was poisoned by the Ring after bearing it for 500 years. This character appears briefly in the prologue. In Mordor, one can only hear his voice shouting and in Moria, only his eyes and his nose appear. Serkis was working on the 1999 six-episode Oliver Twist miniseries when his agent told him that Jackson wanted to approach him to play Gollum. Despite ultimately accepting the role, Serkis was initially doubtful about taking the part as one of his Oliver Twist fellow actors opined that it was not a good idea if his face was not going to appear onscreen, aside that Jackson was unsure if Gollum could be portrayed with motion-capture performance as they wished. ==Comparison to the book==

Jackson, Walsh and Boyens made numerous changes to the story, for purposes of pacing and character development. Jackson said his main desire was to make a film focused primarily on Frodo and the Ring, the "backbone" of the story. The prologue condenses Tolkien's backstory, in which The Last Alliance's seven-year siege of Barad-dûr is a single battle, where Sauron is shown to explode, though Tolkien only said his spirit flees. Some events and characters from the book are condensed or omitted (as with Tom Bombadil) at the beginning of the film. The time between Gandalf leaving the Ring to Frodo and returning to reveal its inscription, which is 17 years in the book, is compressed for timing reasons. The filmmakers also decided to move the opening scenes of The Two Towers, the Uruk-hai ambush and Boromir's death, to the film's linear climax. One detail that critics have commented upon is that, in the novel, Pippin tosses a mere pebble into the well in Moria ("They then hear what sounds like a hammer tapping in the distance"), whereas in the film, he knocks an entire skeleton in ("Next, the skeleton ... falls down the well, also dragging down a chain and bucket. The noise is incredible."). ==Production==

Development Director Peter Jackson began working with Christian Rivers to storyboard the series in August 1997, as well as getting Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop to begin creating his interpretation of Middle-earth. Jackson told them to make Middle-earth as plausible and believable as possible, and to think of it in a historical manner. In November, Though Howe contributed with Bag End and the Argonath, Weta and the Art Department continued to design, with Grant Major turning the Art Department's designs into architecture, and Dan Hennah scouting locations. where Arwen confronts the nine Nazgûl. Below is a list of filming locations, sorted by their order of appearance in the film: Two original songs, "Aníron" and the end title theme "May It Be", were composed and sung by Enya, who allowed her label, Reprise Records, to release the soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Ring and its two sequels. In addition to these, Shore composed "In Dreams", sung by Edward Ross of the London Oratory School Schola. ==Release==

Theatrical The world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring was held at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001. It was released on Wednesday, 19 December 2001 internationally in most major territories on 10,000 screens. Marketing A special featurette trailer was released in April 2000. This trailer was downloaded over 1.7 million times within its first 24 hours of release, breaking Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menaces for being the most downloaded trailer. Home media Theatrical version The theatrical version of The Fellowship of the Ring was released on VHS and DVD on 6 August 2002 by New Line Home Entertainment. It was the best-selling DVD release at the time with 14.5 million copies being sold. This record was dethroned by Finding Nemo the following year. The Blu-ray edition of the theatrical The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in the United States on 6 April 2010. There were two separate sets: one with digital copies and one without. The individual Blu-ray disc of The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 14 September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, except there was no digital copy. Extended version On 12 November 2002, an extended edition was released on VHS and DVD, with 30 minutes of new material, added special effects and music, plus 20 minutes of fan-club credits, totalling 228 minutes. The DVD set included four commentaries and over three hours of supplementary material. Extended Blu-ray editions were released in the US on 28 June 2011. This version has a runtime of 228 minutes. The Fellowship of the Ring was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other films of the trilogy, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films. ==Reception==

Box office On its opening day, The Fellowship of the Ring grossed $18.2 million in the United States and Canada from 3,359 cinemas and $11.5 million in 13 countries, including $3 million from 466 screens in the United Kingdom. It grossed $75.1 million in its first five days in the United States and Canada, including $47.2 million on its opening weekend, placing it at number one at the US box office, setting a December opening record, beating ''Ocean's Eleven''. It had a record opening weekend in Germany with 1.5 million admissions and in Spain with a gross of $5.3 million from 395 screens. It also grossed a record $2.5 million in 15 days in New Zealand. In Denmark, it became the country's highest-grossing film, surpassing Titanic. In its first 15 days, the film had grossed $183.5 million internationally and $178.7 million in the United States and Canada for a worldwide total of $362.2 million. Following subsequent reissues, the film has grossed $326 million in the United States and Canada and $570 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $897 million. Critical response On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring holds an approval rating of 91% based on 269 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Full of eye-popping special effects, and featuring a pitch-perfect cast, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring brings J.R.R. Tolkien's classic to vivid life." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Colin Kennedy for Empire gave the film five stars out of five, writing "Brooking no argument, history should quickly regard Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring as the first instalment of the best fantasy epic in motion picture history... Putting formula blockbusters to shame, Fellowship is impeccably cast and constructed with both care and passion: this is a labour of love that never feels laboured. Emotional range and character depth ultimately take us beyond genre limitations..." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and stating that while it is not "a true visualization of Tolkien's Middle-earth", it is "a work for, and of, our times. It will be embraced, I suspect, by many Tolkien fans and will take on aspects of a cult. It is a candidate for many Oscars. It is an awesome production in its daring and breadth, and there are small touches that are just right". USA Today also gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "this movie version of a beloved book should please devotees as well as the uninitiated". In his review for The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell wrote, "The playful spookiness of Mr. Jackson's direction provides a lively, light touch, a gesture that doesn't normally come to mind when Tolkien's name is mentioned". Lisa Schwarzbaum for Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A grade and wrote "The cast take to their roles with becoming modesty, certainly, but Jackson also makes it easy for them: His Fellowship flows, never lingering for the sake of admiring its own beauty ... Every detail of which engrossed me. I may have never turned a page of Tolkien, but I know enchantment when I see it". In his review for the BBC, Nev Pierce gave the film four stars out of five, describing it as "Funny, scary, and totally involving", and wrote that Jackson turned "the book's least screen-worthy volume into a gripping and powerful adventure movie". In his review for The Guardian, Xan Brooks wrote "Rather than a stand-alone holiday blockbuster, The Fellowship of the Ring offers an epic act one", and commented that the ending was "closer in spirit to an art-house film than a popcorn holiday romp". In her review for The Washington Post, Rita Kempley gave the film five stars out of five, and praised the cast, in particular, "Mortensen, as Strider, is a revelation, not to mention downright gorgeous. And McKellen, carrying the burden of thousands of years' worth of the fight against evil, is positively Merlinesque". Time magazine's Richard Corliss praised Jackson's work: "His movie achieves what the best fairy tales do: the creation of an alternate world, plausible and persuasive, where the young — and not only the young — can lose themselves. And perhaps, in identifying with the little Hobbit that could, find their better selves". In his review for The Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "Peter Jackson's adaptation is certainly successful on its own terms". Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "It's emotion that makes Fellowship stick hard in the memory... Jackson deserves to revel in his success. He's made a three-hour film that leaves you wanting more". A mixed review was written by Peter Bradshaw. Writing for The Guardian, he lauded the art direction and the visual look of the film, but he also commented "there is a strange paucity of plot complication, an absence of anything unfolding, all the more disconcerting because of the clotted and indigestible mythic back story that we have to wade through before anything happens at all". Overall, Bradshaw found the tone of the film too serious and self-important, and wrote "signing up to the movie's whole hobbity-elvish universe requires a leap of faith... It's a leap I didn't feel much like making – and, with two more movie episodes like this on the way, the credibility gap looks wider than ever." Jonathan Rosenbaum was also less positive about The Fellowship of the Ring: in his review for the Chicago Reader, he granted that the film was "full of scenic splendors with a fine sense of scale", but he commented that its narrative thrust seemed "relatively pro forma", and that he found the battle scenes boring. Accolades In 2002, the film won four Academy Awards from thirteen nominations. It won the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It won Empire readers' Best Film award, as well as five BAFTAs, including Best Film, the David Lean Award for Best Direction, the Audience Award (voted for by the public), Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up. The film was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight between Gandalf and Saruman. In June 2008, AFI revealed its "10 Top 10"—the ten best films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Fellowship of the Ring was acknowledged as the second best film in the fantasy genre. In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) voted its screenplay 76th in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far). In June 2025, it ranked number 87 on The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 14 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list. ==References==