Ralph Bakshi directed the 1978 animated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The film adapts much of The Fellowship of the Ring and the first part of The Two Towers. It was produced by Saul Zaentz and released in the United States on 15 November 1978. The production used traditional animation together with rotoscoping, a technique involving animation traced from live-action footage.
Bakshi’s film ends before Tolkien’s entire story is concluded, which sometimes causes confusion about its scope. It is distinct from Peter Jackson’s live-action trilogy, released from 2001 to 2003, and from the later Rankin/Bass animated films The Hobbit and The Return of the King.