Stuff.co.nz
January 17, 2001

U.S. to Get Rings a Week Before Kiwis
Staff Reporter

It was filmed mainly in Wellington, but Americans will get to see the first Lord Of The Rings film a week earlier than Kiwis.

The first of the three films in the $600 million-plus production, The Fellowship Of The Ring, will be released in the United States on December 19.

Distributor Roadshow said it wouldn't be released in New Zealand until Boxing Day.

The Embassy Theatre Trust last year said it was likely The Embassy would be the first New Zealand cinema to screen The Lord Of The Rings. The film's director, Peter Jackson, is a member of the trust.

A two-minute trailer will be shown in Wellington and Lower Hutt on Thursday with the films The Cell and What Women Want.

The trailer was released last week in the US with the Kevin Costner film Thirteen Days. About 20 hard-core fans of J R R Tolkien's fantasy classic queued for up to 14 hours in Los Angeles to be the first to see it. Other fans in Chicago saw the trailer, though they had no interest in staying for Costner's film. - NZPA