I did not watch the movies before i played this one hundreds of games.
Without this machine i probably had not watched lotf like i did now. Cause i started to like the movies somehow with this pin in my mind i guess.
But....... When you ask me is this pin fun when you dont know shit about loft, some above say. It would be handy to first watch the movies.
But i say, dont! The thing i liked the most back then, was you are stepping into an adventure, learning about trolls, hobbits, orcs you never saw.
Olay and learn about it. Its a story game, and you get sucked into it. You want to know more and more.
If you see the movies you already know everything.
I would go for not seeing the movies anytime i could again.