Set inMiddle-earth, the story tells of the Dark LordSauron, who seeks theOne Ring, which contains part of his might, to return to power. The Ring has found its way to the younghobbitFrodo Baggins. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions (who form theCompany of the Ring) begin their perilous journey toMount Doom in the land ofMordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.The Fellowship of the Ring was financed and distributed by American studioNew Line Cinema, butfilmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand,concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy.
In the Second Age ofMiddle-earth, the lords ofElves,Dwarves, andMen each receiveRings of Power. Unbeknownst to them, the Dark LordSauron forges theOne Ring inMount 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 inMordor.Isildur ofGondor 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 byOrcs. The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found byGollum, who has possessed it for over four centuries. The Ring abandons Gollum and is found by ahobbit namedBilbo Baggins.
Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in theShire with his old friend,Gandalf the Grey. He leaves the Shire for one last adventure, passing on his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephewFrodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, learns its true nature, and discovers that Gollum 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 toIsengard to seek counsel from his friend, the powerful wizardSaruman. Saruman reveals Sauron has dispatched his nineNazgûl 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 apalantír.
Frodo and Sam join up with fellow hobbitsMerry andPippin and evade the Nazgûl before reachingBree to meet Gandalf, who never arrives as Saruman captures him. A Ranger namedStrider helps them get toRivendell but they are ambushed onWeathertop by theNazgûl, who wound Frodo with aMorgul 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 aGreat 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 now realising that they are facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's fatherLord Elrond holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, the ElfLegolas, the DwarfGimli,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 ofmithril.
TheCompany of the Ring is forced to travel through the Mines ofMoria 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 atroll. While they hold off the attack, they faceDurin's Bane, a Balrog. The others escape as Gandalf confronts the Balrog and is pulled into darkness. The devastated Fellowship reachesLothlórien, whereGaladriel, the Elf-queen, tells Frodo that he alone can complete the quest and warns one will try to take the Ring. She shows him a vision of Sauron enslaving Middle-earth should he fail. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army ofUruk-hai in Isengard to destroy the Fellowship, intending to betray Sauron and reclaim the ring for himself.
The Fellowship travels toParth Galen by river. As warned by Galadriel, Frodo wanders off and is confronted 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. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli head to rescue Merry and Pippin while Frodo and Sam navigate the pass ofEmyn Muil toward Mordor.
The eponymous Fellowship 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 (withBob 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 inWellington.[7] They were trained to pronounce Tolkien's verses properly.[8] After the shoot, the nine cast members playing the Fellowship got a tattoo, the Elvish symbol for the number nine, with the exception ofJohn Rhys-Davies, whose stunt double got the tattoo instead.[9] The film is noted for having anensemble cast,[10] and some of the cast and their respective characters include:
Elijah Wood asFrodo Baggins: A younghobbit who inherits theOne Ring from his uncle Bilbo. Wood was the first actor to be cast on 7 July 1999.[11] Wood was a fan ofThe Hobbit, and he sent in an audition dressed as Frodo, reading lines fromThe Lord of the Rings.[12] Wood was selected from 150 actors who auditioned.[13]Jake Gyllenhaal unsuccessfully auditioned for the role after his agency miscommunicated his direction to an American accent.[14]
Viggo Mortensen asAragorn: ADúnedainranger and heir toGondor's throne.Daniel Day-Lewis was offered the part at the beginning of pre-production, but turned it down.[27]Nicolas Cage received an offer but declined because of family obligations.[28]Stuart Townsend was cast in the role, before being replaced during filming when Jackson realised he was too young.[12]Russell Crowe was considered as a replacement, but he turned it down because he believed Jackson was not interested in casting him.[12][29] Day-Lewis was offered the role for a second time, but declined again.[27]Jason Patric too was considered.[15] Executive producerMark Ordesky saw Mortensen in a play. Mortensen's son, a fan of the book, convinced him to take the role.[7][30] Mortensen read the book on the plane, received a crash course lesson in fencing from Bob Anderson and began filming the scenes on Weathertop.[31][30] Mortensen became a hit with the crew by patching up his costume[32] and carrying his "hero" sword around with him off-camera.[7]
Sean Astin asSamwise Gamgee: Better known as Sam, a hobbit gardener and Frodo's best friend. Astin, who had recently become a father, bonded with the 18-year-old Wood in a protective manner, which mirrored Sam's relationship with Frodo.[7] Before Astin was cast,James Corden,Graham Norton, andCorey Feldman read for the part.[33][34][35]
Sean Bean asBoromir: A son of theStewards of Gondor who journeys with the Fellowship towards Mordor. Bean was initially considered for Aragorn.[36]Bruce Willis, a fan of the book, expressed interest in the role, whileLiam Neeson was sent the script, but passed.[12]
Billy Boyd asPeregrin Took: Better known as Pippin, an extremely foolish hobbit who is a distant cousin of Frodo and travels with the Fellowship on their journey to Mordor.
Liv Tyler asArwen: Anelf of Rivendell and Aragorn's lover. The filmmakers approached Tyler after seeing her performance inPlunkett & Macleane, andNew Line Cinema leaped at the opportunity of having one Hollywood star in the film. ActressHelena Bonham Carter had expressed interest in the role.[12] Tyler came to shoot on short occasions, unlike the rest of the actors. She was one of the last actors to be cast, on 25 August 1999.[37]
Cate Blanchett asGaladriel: The elven co-ruler ofLothlórien 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.[38][39]
Christopher Lee asSaruman the White: The fallen head of the Istari Order who succumbs to Sauron's will through his use of thepalantír. Lee was a major fan of the book, read it once a year, and had met Tolkien.[31] He originally auditioned for Gandalf, but was judged too old.[12]
Hugo Weaving asElrond: The Elven-Lord of Rivendell and Arwen's father who leads theCouncil of Elrond, which ultimately decides to destroy the Ring. David Bowie expressed interest in the role, but Jackson stated, "To have a famous, beloved character and a famous star colliding is slightly uncomfortable."[13]
Ian Holm asBilbo Baggins: Frodo's uncle who gives him the Ring after he decides to retire to Rivendell. Holm previously played Frodo in a1981 radio adaption ofThe Lord of the Rings, and was cast as Bilbo after Jackson remembered his performance.[12]Sylvester McCoy, who later played Radagast the Brown inThe Hobbit, was contacted about playing the role, and was kept in place as a potential Bilbo for six months before Jackson went with Holm.[40]
Andy Serkis asGollum(voice/motion-capture): 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. InMordor, one can only hear his voice shouting and inMoria, only his eyes and his nose appear. Serkis was working on the 1999 six-episodeOliver 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 hisOliver 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.[41]
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.[42] The prologue condenses Tolkien's backstory, in which The Last Alliance's seven-year siege ofBarad-dûr is a single battle, where Sauron is shown to explode, though Tolkien only said his spirit flees.[43]
Some events and characters from the book are condensed or omitted (as withTom 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.[44] The filmmakers also decided to move the opening scenes ofThe Two Towers, the Uruk-hai ambush and Boromir's death, to the film's linear climax.[42][44]
The tone of the Moria sequence was altered. In the book, following the defeat on the Caradhras road, Gandalf advocates the Moria road against the resistance of the rest of the Company (save Gimli), suggesting "there is a hope that Moria is still free...there is even a chance that Dwarves are there," though no one seems to think this likely. Frodo proposes they take a company vote, but the discovery ofWargs on their trail forces them to accept Gandalf's proposal. They only realise the Dwarves are all dead once they reachBalin's tomb. The filmmakers chose instead for Gandalf to resist the Moria plan as aforeshadowing device. Gandalf says to Gimli he would prefer not to enter Moria, and Saruman is shown to be aware of Gandalf's hesitance, revealing an illustration of the Balrog in one of his books. The corpses of the dwarves are instantly shown as the Company enter Moria.[45] 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.").[46][47][48]
DirectorPeter Jackson began working withChristian Rivers tostoryboard the series in August 1997, as well as gettingRichard Taylor andWeta Workshop to begin creating his interpretation of Middle-earth.[49] Jackson told them to make Middle-earth as plausible and believable as possible, and to think of it in a historical manner.[50]
In November,[50]Alan Lee andJohn Howe became the film trilogy's primary conceptual designers, having had previous experience as illustrators for the book and various other tie-ins. Lee worked for the Art Department creating places such asRivendell,Isengard,Moria, andLothlórien, givingArt Nouveau andgeometry influences to the Elves and Dwarves respectively.[50][51] Though Howe contributed with Bag End and theArgonath,[50][51] he focused on the design of the characters' armour, having studied it his entire life.[52] Weta and the Art Department continued to design, withGrant Major turning the Art Department's designs into architecture, andDan Hennah scouting locations.[50] On 1 April 1999,Ngila Dickson joined the crew as costume designer. She and 40 seamstresses created 19,000 costumes, 40 per version for the actor and their doubles, wearing them out for an impression of age.[32]
In the film, the Ford of Bruinen was represented by the Arrow River, one of many New Zealand locations used in the filming.[53]
Filming took place at many places across New Zealand. For example, theArrow River, in theOtago region ofSouth Island, stood in for the Ford of Bruinen,[53][54] where Arwen confronts the nine Nazgûl.[55] Below is a list of filming locations, sorted by their order of appearance in the film:[53][54]
Two original songs, "Aníron" and the end title theme "May It Be", were composed and sung byEnya, who allowed her label,Reprise Records, to release the soundtrack toThe 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.[56]
The world premiere ofThe Fellowship of the Ring was held at theOdeon 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.[57]
A specialfeaturette trailer was released in April 2000. This trailer was downloaded over 1.7 million times within its first 24 hours of release, breakingStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace's for being the most downloaded trailer.[58]
The theatrical version ofThe Fellowship of the Ring was released onVHS and DVD on 6 August 2002 byNew Line Home Entertainment.[59] It was the best-selling DVD release at the time with 14.5 million copies being sold. This record was dethroned byFinding Nemo the following year.[60]
TheBlu-ray edition of the theatricalThe 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.[61] The individual Blu-ray disc ofThe 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.[62]
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.[63][64][65] 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.[66] This version has a runtime of 228 minutes.[64][67]
The Fellowship of the Ring was released inUltra 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.[68]
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.[3][69] 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 atnumber one at the US box office, setting a December opening record, beatingOcean's Eleven.[70][3]
The film also opened at number one in 29 international markets and remained there for a second week in all but the Netherlands. It set a record opening day gross in Australia with $2.09 million from 405 screens, beating the record $1.3 million set byStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[71] 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.[72] This record would last for less than a decade before being surpassed byAvatar.[73] In Denmark, it became the country's highest-grossing film, surpassingTitanic.[74] 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.[72][3]
In its initial release, it went on to gross $313.4 million in the United States and Canada and $555 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $868.4 million.[5]Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 54 million tickets in the US and Canada in its initial theatrical run.[75] Following subsequent reissues, the film has grossed $319.4 million in the United States and Canada and $568.4 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $887.8 million.[3]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring holds an approval rating of 92% based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. 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."[76]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[77] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[78]
Colin Kennedy forEmpire gave the film five stars out of five, writing "Brooking no argument, history should quickly regard Peter Jackson'sThe 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..."[79]Roger Ebert of theChicago 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".[80]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".[81] In his review forThe 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".[82]Lisa Schwarzbaum forEntertainment 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: HisFellowship 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".[83] In his review for theBBC, 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".[84] In his review forThe 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".[85]
In her review forThe 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".[86]Time magazine'sRichard 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".[87] In his review forThe Village Voice,J. Hoberman wrote, "Peter Jackson's adaptation is certainly successful on its own terms".[88]Rolling Stone magazine'sPeter Travers wrote, "It's emotion that makesFellowship stick hard in the memory... Jackson deserves to revel in his success. He's made a three-hour film that leaves you wanting more".[89] A mixed review was written byPeter Bradshaw. Writing forThe 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."[90]Jonathan Rosenbaum was also less positive aboutThe Fellowship of the Ring: in his review for theChicago 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.[91]
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.[93][94]
In June 2025, it ranked number 87 onThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 14 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list.[95][96]
^Porter, Lynnette R. (2005).Unsung Heroes of The Lord of the Rings: From the Page to the Screen. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood. p. 71.ISBN0-275-98521-0.
