'Rings' Fan Jumps the Gun on Trailer Posting
Mark Graser

Oh, those wacky Netizens.

A "Lord of the Rings" fan who couldn't wait for New Line to post the pic's teaser trailer on the Web Friday decided to videotape the trailer and post it online over the weekend himself. Trailer bowed in theaters in front of the studio's drama "Thirteen Days."

The poor-quality videotaped version, featuring silhouettes of other moviegoers, was made available Monday through links on several movie gossip and info Web sites, including Dark Horizons and Ain't It Cool News.

"Rings" isn't the first pic to have its trailer videotaped by fans and broadcast online. Early views of the trailers for Universal's "The Mummy Returns" and Fox's "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" were also posted online before the studios replaced them with more watchable downloads.

New Line declined to comment on the fan's actions and, as of Monday, had no plans to take action to remove the trailer before Friday's official Net debut.