Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring has achieved the UK's biggest-ever first week DVD and video sale - sinking Titanic's record.

The epic film version of the first part of the JRR Tolkien fantasy sold 2.5 million copies during its first seven days in UK shops - 700,000 ahead of Titanic's total in 1998.

The film was shot in New Zealand

The Fellowship Of The Ring had already set a new record for first-day sales, selling 1.27 million on its Tuesday release.

The first-day sales even beat the 1.25 million achieved by Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

Preview

A spokesman for the Rings video release said: "The figure is all the more remarkable because August is normally one of the quietest months for video and DVD sales."

The Fellowship Of The Ring is the first of three films telling the whole Lord Of The Rings fable. The DVD includes a sneak preview of the second film, The Two Towers, due out at the end of the year.

Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood are among the stars

It also contains behind-the-scenes footage of the film, which was shot in New Zealand, and uses stunning special effects.

Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Ian Holm were among the stars employed by director Peter Jackson to tell the story of the party of hobbits, humans, elves and dwarves crossing Middle Earth.

The epic fantasy film swept this year's Baftas and MTV movie awards, although it was overshadowed by A Beautiful Mind at the Oscars.

The total budget for the trilogy is estimated at £190m.