Hobbit Tale Runs Rings Around Opposition
Lenny Ann Low

Grown men wept, teenagers declared it the "film of the century" and lucky ticketholders dabbled in last-minute scalping in the box-office queues.

Frodo Baggins and his fellow hobbits were at last embarking on their epic quest. At 400 screens across the country yesterday, J.R.R. Tolkien fanatics of all ages dragged their friends and families to see the much-anticipated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

At Hoyts at Fox Studios, in Moore Park, all 13 sessions sold out by 1pm and Hoyts staff estimated more than 3000 tickets had been soldwith many already booked for today. Disappointed fans in the queues were left to choose from the other summer blockbusters, Monsters, Inc., Vanilla Sky and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Boxing Day is usually a record day for cinema attendances and yesterday was shaping up that way with four other films opening.

But none will go close to the appeal of Lord of the Rings which Hoyts' staff said was more proving popular than Harry Potter.

Sergei Wiszniewski, 21, of Lugarno, with five friends cast a wary and critical eye over the first of director Peter Jackson's three adaptations of Tolkien's novel.

"I shed tears," he said, fingering an official film merchandise gold ring given to him by his girlfriend for Christmas. "I understood that the book was going to be raped but it was an awesome film."

Well before the cinema opened at 9am, more than 300 people had lined up to buy tickets.

As box offices declared sessions sold out, some excitable patrons offered the day's last tickets at three times the price.

"$50, $50" said Kathy Johnsun, from Forestville, holding her two tickets in the air. "I'm gonna hold on to these until five minutes before the session starts."

Debate still raged over some alterations to the story - namely the slightly inflated role of elf-princess Arwen and the absence of Tom Bombadill - but the general consensus from fans was praise for the blockbuster with brains. Chris Mueller, 16, from Campsie, was already preparing to see it again "maybe four or five times".

"It was the best," he said. "It was better than Star Wars, the fight scenes were awesome, they set it up really well. It just flowed on from the book, I'm amazed."