Tokyo host's last ever premiere of Lord of the Rings

(22 Jan 2004) JAPAN SAYS FAREWELL TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS

After several years of production, three feature length movies, billions taken at the box office and dozens of film awards, the epic 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy reached its final chapter in Tokyo.

Thousands of excited Japanese fans turned out to welcome the stars of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' to Tokyo, for the last ever premiere of the final installment of the trilogy, Thursday (22JAN04).

Director Peter Jackson joined his stars on the red carpet at the ancient buddhist Zojoji temple in central Tokyo. The temple offered a backdrop of a traditional red Japanese facade and the Tokyo Tower lit up at its rear.

Public entry to the temple courtyard was limited to winners of a special lottery, but some fans still stayed up all night to reserve their places. The crowd almost broke down the barriers when the stars arrived, in their eagerness to get closer.

The fans were not the only ones getting overheated. On Wednesday, over 500 journalists packed into the press conference venue hours before the scheduled time.

The movie has now won a string of award nominations, including 4 Golden Globes and 12 BAFTAs, and is considered an Oscar hopeful for Best Picture.

The stars arrived in Japan earlier this week ready for the launch. Wood and Jackson were joined by Viggo Mortensen, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan for the last premiere in the movie's international release schedule.

To launch the event, Elijah Wood dropped a ring into a fire lit on the temple altar.

The final instalment finds hobbits Frodo (Wood) and Sam (Astin) pushing further into the evil land of Mordor to try to destroy the ring of power. Traveling with them, in an uneasy alliance, is the untrustworthy Gollum (Andy Serkis), who leads them into the greatest peril yet.

Meanwhile, the warrior Aragorn (Mortensen), reveals himself as the lost heir to the ancient Kings of Gondor.

Together with the remaining members of the fellowship - Gimli the dwarf (John Rhys Davies), Legolas the elf (Orlando Bloom), hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) - he must help the people of Rohan and Gondor make a final stand against the evil Lord Sauron.

The last adventure includes an army of undead soldiers, airborne, dragon-riding wraiths and an enormous CGI spider.

The film opened in the United States on Dec. 17 - and stayed at the number one spot at the US box office until 'Along Came Polly' replaced it last weekend. The movie is still at the top of the UK box office.

At 3 hours, 11 minutes, it's the longest of the three movies, all of which were shot in New Zealand over the past few years.

New Line Cinema, a Time Warner subsidiary, is predicting at least US$1.3 billion from the third film.

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