The Fellowship of the Ring trailer is showing in some theaters before the new Spielberg flick ‘A.I..’ Now, we can’t guarantee it is showing in your town, so call first to find out. (Most theaters give you a real number at the end of the recorded message). If you want to see the trailer, check out the official site. If you want in-depth analysis of it, check out our frame by frame.

Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) has updated the Lord of the Rings E-posts section of McKellen.com. Look for his answers on Peter Jackson, New Zealand and re-recording lines in the film. [More]

Thanks to Beau from Fingolfin.com for the tip!

From: Phyoras

Hullo, I was just at the theaters and I picked up a copy of “Famous”, a Canadian entertainment magazine which is given out free in most theaters. Inside there is a small article about the LOTR toys called “Product of Middle Earth”. [More]

Ringer Spy Liam sends along word of what some european Ringers can see if they happen to catch the FOTR trailer at a local cinema! A personal greeting from PJ!

I live in France and just saw the FOTR trailer at the movies… There’s a short message from PJ before it starts.

He’s filmed in a t-shirt and shorts (sounds like PJ to me) in front of some plants, the shot is pretty wide and looks like 35mm (i.e. not video) but I could be wrong. He basically says “Hello, I’m Peter Jackson and I’m talking to you from New Zealand where we’ve been doing LOTR. As you know LOTR is a trilogy and we’re making 3 movies…”

I can’t remember precisely what he said but it’s pretty short. At the end he says something like “I invite you to see some new images”, or whatever.

It’s short and I got distracted so I didn’t catch 100% of what was said, but I can assure you it’s VERY cool!

Ringer Spy Dauvit the Hobbit sends along word of an article from ‘The Scotland Daily Record’. They chat it up with Billy Boyd (Pippin). Dauvit also sends along word that he knew Billy way back when:

‘Its nice to see (Boyd) start to get recognition in his own country as there has been very little reported so far. All i can say about his college days is, that he was very quiet and unassuming most of the time, though like the rest of us liked a pint and the odd practical joke. His casting is a complete and very nice surprise (even if i am hugely jealous). I hope he does very well.’

Ringer Spy Kinch sends along word on the recent Book Expo that was attended by Houghton Mifflin and suits from New Line, Kinch also sends along word of not one but TWO TV specials coming this fall!!

I was at the BookExpo and had a front row seat for the LOTR presentation, and I can assure you it went over big. The trailers made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but the stuff they showed at the presentation was just . . . awesome.

Afterwards, New Line and Houghton-Mifflin took some of us to a very nice dinner over Harvest on Huron, where we talked about the films and film in general. I had a blast.

HM is really guarded with the amount of artwork they’ve let us see, it’s nothing you haven’t seen and posted already. For example, the new pix of Frodo in Rivendell you recently posted were things I saw at the BEA, but couldn’t get copies of. I do have a calendar that summarizes the promotion rollout.

Basically there are two rollout dates. In September new editions of all three books in the trilogy will be released in trade paperback and hardcover by HM, plus they’ll release posters. There will be a 1-hr TV special. Then, in November, the Visual Companion and Movie Guide will be released and TV ads for the movie will begin.

Ballantine will then exercise their option on the mass market paperbacks, but I don’t really know what they’re planning. Around Thanksgiving there will be a second TV special. Obviously New Line wants to make the uninitiated aware of the backstory and history of Middle Earth.