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I feel these movies do stand alone and you do not need to read the books. It does help for the sake of comparison or supplemental information, but there is absolutely no need to read them to know what's going on.
I don't fully agree, in that I've shown the movie to some people who had not read the books and they found alot of the politics and cultures to be a bit confusing and hard to absorb on first viewing. My wife was a bit confused by some of it but upon repeat viewings has gained a strong udnerstanding of middle earth (what is it in the middle of?????)
I do think the movies stand on their own, but I also think some stuff is a bit confusing for those unfamiliar with the source material.