August 20, 2001
Hobbit Debuts
Staff Reporter
Harry Potter has been bumped by Frodo the Hobbit. In 20 minutes, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring stole the title of the most anticipated film of 2001 from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Yesterday, fewer than 100 members of the Sydney film community were subjected to a metal detector search before being allowed to view excerpts from Part I of the $300 million adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's famous fantasy novels.
The film opens in Australia on Boxing Day, with its sequels following on December 26 2002 and 2003.
Even the film's cinematographer, Sydney's Andrew Lesnie, was scanned by metal detector to ensure no mobile phones, video cameras or DAT recorders could record the screening illegally.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.