Video: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' trailer

(Monday, December 10, 2001, evening GMT) — The wizard Gandalf enlists a hobbit and a team of adventurers to protect the One Ring from the evil Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, an epic fantasy adventure film that was launched at a glitzy world premiere tonight at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.

Based on the 1954 novel The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the film was directed by Peter Jackson.

It stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm and Andy Serkis.