Prime's 'Lord of the Rings' to have early theatrical screening

The upcoming Prime Video series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," set to stream Sept. 1, will have a free fan screening in selected theaters the evening before. With no Long Island venues included, the closest theaters are the Cinemark Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, New Jersey, and the Cinemark North Haven in Connecticut.

The first two episodes of the eight-episode first season, together running 130 minutes, will screen at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, with tickets now available at Cinemark.com. To reserve seats and a $10 snack voucher, you must be a member of Cinemark Movie Rewards, which includes an applicable free tier. Register at cinemark.com/movierewards or via the Cinemark mobile app.

Two tickets are available per account. The snack voucher must be redeemed as one transaction at the theater's concession stand on that day.

A prequel to the J.R.R. Tolkien novels adapted by filmmaker Peter Jackson for his acclaimed 2001-03 "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy and earlier-set 2012-14 "The Hobbit" trilogy, the new epic fantasy-drama takes place thousands of years before those stories. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the ensemble series features characters both familiar and new confronting the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth.

"From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map," reads the official description, "these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone."

The first two episodes are directed by J.A. Bayona (2018's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"). Following the fan screening, they will debut on the streaming service Prime Video at 9 p.m. on Sept. 1, with a new episode premiering early Fridays at midnight through Oct. 14.

Prime Video additionally announced that a new trailer for the series is scheduled to drop Tuesday.