While everyone is waiting for the promised teaser trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, I thought folks might enjoy revisiting trailers past. So I’ve spent a bit of time delving into our archives to dig up the details of all the trailers for The Lord of the Rings that I could find.
When did they come out? What movies were they attached to? Did you know one actually debuted on US telly with the Joss Whedon series Angel? I had forgotten that!
The other thing that struck me very forcefully was that — in these days of highly managed press events for The Hobbit — it’s easy to forget just how chaotic (and fun!) the rumour mill around The Lord of the Rings could be at times. Just check out this page to see the swirl of yes/no/maybe that surrounded the teaser trailer for The Return of the King for a period of several weeks.
Anyway, enjoy our little trip down memory lane.
The internet preview
Released: April 7, 2000
Fronted: The internets, baby!
Length: 1 min 44 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
The Lord of the Rings trilogy teaser
Released: January 12, 2001
Fronted: Thirteen Days
Length: 1 min 46 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
The Fellowship of the Ring teaser trailer
Released: May 25, 2001
Fronted: Pearl Harbor
Length: 2 min 27 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
The Fellowship of the Ring full trailer
Released: September 24, 2001
Fronted: The television premiere of Angel
Length: 2 min 51 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis
The Two Towers teaser trailer
Released: June 25, 2002
Fronted: Leaked online! Then posted to Apple.com on 1 July.
Length: 2 min 3 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
The Two Towers full trailer
Released: September 30, 2002
Fronted: Exclusive to AOL users (humph!)
Length: 3 min 3 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
The Return of the King teaser
Released: July 30, 2003
Fronted: Leaked to TheOneRing.net (Then New Line made us take it down!)
Length: 1 min 3 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: None, for obvious reasons!
The Return of the King full trailer
Released: September 27, 2003
Fronted: Leaked on TheOneRing.net then attached to Secondhand Lions
Length: 2 min 59 secs
Our frame-by-frame analysis: link
