Pirated Lord of the Rings Trailer On Web
Staff Reporter

New Zealanders can get a sneak preview of the new Lord Of The Rings trailer on the Internet -- but only if they put up with a pirate copy featuring a moviegoer's bobbing head and someone coughing.

One United States-based site (www.geocities.com/fatman23us/) is showing a videotape of the trailer a person made using a video camera while sitting in a cinema where it was shown.

The short trailer, the first of the $600 million-plus production to be shown in cinemas, was released in the US last week with screenings of the Kevin Costner film 13 Days.

The trailer is expected to be shown in Wellington this week along with the film The Cell, which opens on Thursday.

The pirated copy showed the trailer opening with the classic lines from J R R Tolkien's fantasy: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them . . . " There are several shots of the ring in the hobbit Frodo's hand, which partly get obscured by someone's head in the cinema and then a few lines are muffled because someone coughs.

There are several stunning scenes, including battles with orcs, along with the book's main characters journeying across Middle Earth, similar to the popular Internet trailer which was released in April last year.

Australian actor Cate Blanchett, as elf Lady Galadriel, is bathed in white light as she tells Frodo that he may be small but he still has a chance of beating the baddies.

The first of the three Peter Jackson-directed films will be released in December.