DAMARISCOTTA — The Lincoln Theater will feature JRR Tolkien’s work, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” for this year’s Stories to Screen program.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, the theater will be handing out 50 special-edition hardcover box sets of Tolkien’s series focused in Middle Earth. These will be doled out on a first-come, first-served basis, one per family, while they last. The theater will show the films based on the books on the big screen Friday afternoons starting Jan. 10, 2020, also for free.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” based on Tolkien’s modern classic that started it all, will be played at the theater at 3:30 p.m., Friday Jan. 10. This prelude to “The Lord of the Rings” series introduces Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure.

The Lord of the Rings saga, in which the future of civilization rests in the fate of the One Ring, which has been lost for centuries, begins on the big screen with “The Fellowship of the Ring” Friday, Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. The second film in the series, “The Two Towers” will screen Friday, Jan. 24 at 3:30 p.m., and the final film “The Return of the King” closes out the series on Friday, Jan. 31 at 3:30 p.m. A daunting task lies ahead for Frodo when he becomes the ring bearer — to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged.

The Stories to Screen program is made possible through the contribution of a generous donor and by Lincoln Theater members. It is offered in partnership with Skidompha Library.

This follows up on last year’s Stories to Screen program, which focused on the “Harry Potter” series.

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