The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Preview:

In the Second Age of Middle-earth, the One Ring is forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in order to conquer the lands of Middle-earth. A Last Alliance of Elves and Men is formed to counter Sauron and during a battle on the foot of Mount Doom, Prince Isildur, son of King Elendil, who is slain by Sauron in the battle, picks up his father’s broken sword and slashes at Sauron’s hand, separating him from the Ring and vanquishing his army. However, due to Sauron’s “life force” being bound to the Ring, the Dark Lord is not completely defeated unless the Ring itself is destroyed, but Isildur, corrupted by the Ring’s power, refuses to do so. Sometime later, Isildur is ambushed and killed by orcs and the Ring is lost in a river. Thousands of years later, the Ring is claimed by the creature Gollum causing him to obsess over it. Finally, the Ring abandons Gollum and is found by Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire.

Sixty years later, following his 111th birthday party, Bilbo leaves the Ring to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. Meanwhile, the wizard Gandalf the Grey rides to Minas Tirith to search for answers regarding Bilbo’s magic ring only to learn that it is, in fact, Sauron’s One Ring. Gandalf returns to Bag End and tells Frodo to leave the Shire immediately with the Ring. Gandalf catches Samwise Gamgee eavesdropping by a window and decides to send him along with Frodo. Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with Saruman the White who reveals to Gandalf that the Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths, have left Minas Morgul to capture the Ring and kill whoever carries it. Gandalf attempts to flee to warn Frodo, but Saruman, having already been corrupted to Sauron’s cause, imprisons Gandalf atop his tower Orthanc. Gandalf is then forced to watch as Saruman, following Sauron’s orders, commands the Orcs of Isengard to construct weapons of war and produce a new breed of Orc fighters called the Uruk-Hai.

Director	Peter Jackson
Screen Writer	Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens Peter Jackson
Genre	Fantasy
Release Date	December 19, 2001
Starring	Elijah Wood Ian McKellen Viggo Mortensen Sean Bean Liv Tyler Sean Astin John Rhys-Davies Orlando Bloom Billy Boyd Dominic Monaghan Cate Blanchett Christopher Lee Lawrence Makoare Hugo Weaving Ian Holm Sala Baker
Studio	WingNut Films The Saul Zaentz Company
Distributed by	New Line Cinema