The movies will be titled The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In other words, each film will have the main trilogy title to avoid confusion, followed by the titles used for each of the three original novels.

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Jackson’s early estimates indicated that each of the three films would be approximately 120 minutes in length, but an exact running time for each film will not be determined until the post-production stage, when editing takes place. With the wealth of material to be covered, it is safe to say that each movie will be 2 hours in length at minimum. Recent news indicates that The Fellowship of the Ring could end up being as long as 2 hours and 45 minutes.

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Jackson is contractually obligated to deliver three PG-13 rated films to New Line Cinema, and it was recently confirmed that The Fellowship of the Ring did in fact receive a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The only aspect of the movies that could potentially come into question with the ratings board is violence, which may have to be toned down slightly to receive a PG-13. This in no way means that the epic battle scenes will have to be "tame," only that Braveheart-style gore is not an option. And not to worry, Jackson has stated that if anything has to be trimmed or modified to appease the ratings board, it will be added back for the DVD release of the films in the future.

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According to the latest news, The Fellowship of the Ring is scheduled to be released on December 19, 2001, with the other two movies following at one-year intervals (The Two Towers around Christmas 2002, and The Return of the King around Christmas 2003). However, these dates are tentative and may change again before the actual release of the films.

Release Date Page

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It’s unlikely that the release dates will be moved up, considering the amount of time that will be consumed by postproduction work on the films, such as visual effects, editing, musical scoring, and so forth. If any change in the target release dates occurs, it will probably be a delay rather than a moving up. Most fans are in agreement, however, that it would be better to wait longer in order to give Jackson and crew enough time to get all aspects of the movies right, rather than rushing to get the films in theaters earlier. The trilogy will likely be worth the long wait.

Release Date Page

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There is no definite word on the release pattern for the three movies, but since New Line Cinema is in charge of distribution, a good guess would be that they will follow the same release pattern as most big-budget films: a wide United States and Canadian release to begin with, and a gradual spread to other countries across the globe. The latest news does, however, indicate that New Line is working to organize a simultaneous worldwide release of at least the first film in the trilogy. It would seem only fair that New Zealand would get to show the movies at the same time as the United States, since filming took place there and many residents of the country were involved in the production, but fairness is not necessarily a consideration in the movie business.

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There are no confirmed plans as of yet for a future film version of The Hobbit. However, it seems likely that if The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is as successful as it very well could be, a Hobbit movie will be produced in order to further capitalize on the success of the franchise.

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The likelihood of a film version of The Silmarillion is largely dependent upon the financial success of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The story of The Silmarillion would be difficult to translate to film, however, and there are no plans for an adaptation at this point.

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Rumors indicate that more trailers for The Fellowship of the Ring will hit theaters this autumn. Since three previews have already been released to overwhelmingly positive response, and also considering the fact that fans around the world are anxiously awaiting the release of each theatrical trailer, it’s safe to assume that New Line will want to capitalize on this anticipation and continue building the hype as much as possible.

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No, the film scripts are top secret material and have only been viewed by a lucky few. Even cast and crew members who are working on the movies are not allowed unlimited access to the screenplays.

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