The highly-anticipated Blu-ray release of the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy doesn't have an official announcement yet, but retailers are revealing further release details, including special features and number of discs. Also, according to Canadian retailer Futureshop, it will come out on June 28.
Amazon has put up a useful comparison table summarizing the contents present in all previous DVD editions, the BD of the Theatrical Editions released a year ago and the upcoming Extended trilogy on Blu-ray.
Reportedly, the box set will consist of 15 discs in total, most of them DVDs for the special features: in all likelihood, they will include the six discs from the extended-edition DVDs plus the three discs from the theatrical and extended limited-edition DVD set released in 2006.
Digital copies will be available online.
Contents of the extended LOTR box set
Special features will reportedly include:
The Fellowship of the Ring
Commentaries:
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens
Design team
Production/post-production team
Ten actors, including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
Easter egg: MTV Movie Award Spoof (The Council of Elrod)
Costa Botes Documentary: The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes (on DVD)
The Appendices (on DVD)
Part 1: From Book to Vision
Peter Jackson introduction
J.R.R. Tolkien: Creator of Middle Earth
From Book to Script
Visualizing the Story
Designing and Building Middle Earth
Middle Earth atlas interactive
Part 2: From Vision to Reality
Elijah Wood introduction
Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
Visual effects
Post-production: Putting it all together
Digital Grading
Sound and music
The Road Goes Ever On...
The Two Towers
Commentaries:
Writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Design team
Production/post-production team
Sixteen cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto
Easter Egg: MTV Movie Awards clip (Gollum accepting award)
Costa Botes documentary: The Two Towers: Behind the Scenes (on DVD)
The Appendices (on DVD)
Part 3: The Journey Continues
Peter Jackson introduction
J.R.R. Tolkien: Origin of Middle Earth
From Book to Script: Finding a Story
Designing and Building Middle-Earth
Gollum
Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)
Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth
Elijah Wood introduction
Filming The Two Towers
Visual effects
Editorial: Refining the Story
Music and Sound
The Battle for Helm's Deep is Over
The Return of the King
Commentaries:
Writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Design team
Production/post-production team
Costa Botes documentary: The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes (on DVD)
The Appendices (on DVD)
Part 5: The War of the Ring
Peter Jackson Intro
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
From Book to Script
Designing and Building Middle-earth
Home of the Horse Lords
Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage
Re-releasing the same commentaries on DVDs is just plain stupid and lazy on WB's part. Is this just to inflate the box...? where's the logic here? Then again, 'logic' isn't the strong side of WB, lately.
They better deliver at least on the PQ/AQ front...or else they'll be a massive order cancellation (I hope!) a-la Gladiator 1.0
So does this mean that all three movies will be on one Blu-ray disc each, or split across two each? I can't fathom how Warner will fit ROTK extended on one disc without some extreme compression (ie. bitrate starved)
sweet, i was worried we'd have to wait until closer to the release of the hobbit next year, This is great news and seriously just another reason to live this year
Looks like it's the "milk it for all it's worth George Lucas" treatment?
Do you suppose a future release with all the special features in BLU possible?
6 BDs ... I guess that means that we are getting the feature split out over two discs like the DVD release. That really blows, too bad they aren't releasing a bare bones movie only version with one film to one BD. I will probably wait for stripped down versions, no need to spend a fortune on all the material that we already have.
Looks cool, but I think I'm gonna wait until individual releases are announced for the Extended Editions...I'd love to see the EEs on Blu, but I don't care for most of the special DVDs.
Are we getting the Theatrical Versions in this release too? I was under the impression it was just the EE ... or maybe I'm just reading your post wrong lol
I sold my extended editions on DVD when I picked up the theatrical editions on BD -- I knew they'd eventually carry over the same features, so whether the special features are on DVD or BD, I don't care, just as long as they're present. And the set shown above looks mighty handsome!
Good to hear they'll be including all the excellent bonus material from the DVD sets. I really have no problem with them being on DVDs - Standard definition is still standard definition, whether on Blu-ray or DVD.
Why put all the Special Features on DVD? Why not place them on 1 or 2 BD/movie? Wouldn't that be, at most: 12BD vs 6BD/9DVD.
I have to agree that WB really goes out of their way to gouge the fans for every penny. When will studios ever learn that BD fans buy BD for....wait for it....BLU-RAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We pay a little more for the added quality/space that BD has to offer. When you take a huge trilogy like this that a lot of fans have been waiting for and then give it, what appears to be, a total recycled treatment...it just reeks of corporate greed.
As other posters have said, if the PQ is the same as the theatrical releases, this could be a HUGE disaster on WB's part.
This actually makes the Star Wars set even more appealing(if that's possible).
i'll definitely be waiting until the EE's are released separately. Who wants to be double dipping 9 "DVD's?!" Definitely not worth it to me. Where's the sense in re-releasing DVD material that probably 99% percent of fans of the movie already own? Even if the special features were on blu-ray, it still wouldn't matter. There's nothing new here. Just give me the EE movies with good pq/aq please!
Guys, splitting the movies across 2 discs will be a GOOD thing! Look at Ten Commandments - spectacular results because they split it over 2 discs. Do you guys want worse PQ? Well that's almost a guarantee if they put them on one disc.... especially ROTK.
The movies split across two discs is definitely a good thing. I can't believe people are complaining about this. People complained when just the theatricals were released. Now that the extended versions are coming out there are complaints on this??? Be happy they are coming. If you want to wait for a release sans the special features then wait.
Awesome. Granted, I'm regetting all the bonus features from the DVD EE box sets, but I'm still getting the long documentaries and, of course, the films in HD, so it should still be cool. Yeah, WB could've fit all the SD material on one or two Blus, but I won't let that spoil my excitement of this release. Some people just can't be satisfied.
The splitting of the movie in two discs is good; however, the repackaging and relabeling (is there another name for it?) of the special features is just laziness on WB's part, they don't want to spend money on making one or two new blu-rays to have all the features. Heck, that includes them not wanting to put the special features in HD if that's available. Sorry WB, this deserves the FAIL stamp.
I still have not seen LOTR on BD, because I refused to buy the "Reader's Digest" versions previously put out. The review here, gave FOTR a bad review. I hope this site reviews the proper versions before release date, so we can see if the first movie has been fixed
heres a crazy idea why don't they give a coupon code for 10 or 20 bucks for the people that already have the EE on dvd. thats what disney does all the time. that what george should do to that money hungry screwing fan prick.
I am nervous about this extended release that seems rushed and contains the same material (same DVD's) as in earlier box sets. If the LOTR Trilogy EE's are superior P/Q (most likely the sound will be awesome) that's great but I don't want all the extra's. As much as I want the EE's I will wait until they are released seperately unless I decide to wait until the Ultimate Box Set is released after the Hobbit movies.
@vsidhu: Or in the alternative you can have someone pick it up for you as a birthday present
@CYMBOL: More like cheep
@flyfree: Would it be considered a double dip though since the EE hasn't been release on blu? I suppose it could be since the theatrical edition came out on blu a while back, but on the other hand it was already well know that this was coming when it was released. Meh, I suppose you could consider this a personal dd if you already owned editions with the various special features on DVD but that's up to you.
oh my god... this is some news...
but I surely hope they have remastered the qualities... I wont be too happy if the video quality is like that of the theatrical editions... they were good, but films like grandeur of LOTR deserve much more.
I'm looking forward to the extended movies on Blu-ray and everything, but as for the loads of special features DVDs, I don't know what to say, really, except that I wasn't expecting that. Still...we'll see...
Meh it sucks if they split up the movies on two disks. Can't quite see why that would be necessary, the extended versions aren't *that* much longer than the standard versions. Another thing is that I surely hope we can get just the movies without all the fluff. I want the Extended Trilogy with just the movies..
I'm not paying for 6 supplemental dvd's I already own. You suck, WB! I'll definitely be waiting for the stand alone releases and just buy them individually. I was fortunate enough to grab the Theatrical Edition boxed set when Target had them for $7.99 on Black Friday. That's the only way I would have bought what is normally a ridiculously over-priced set. I don't know about the films being split on 2 discs. If that means we'll be getting immaculate transfers at super-high bitrates, then I'm all for it!
I'm happy with my current EE's of LOTR's DVD and it's supplements and the Blu Ray theatrical box that I have. If there is a marked improvment of the picture quality over the DVD versions, I'll wait and buy each movie when they are released individually. Now if I can get the entire box set for $30, that'll be another matter.
I find the lack of high-definition special features quite disturbing, especially since it's an epic trilogy like TLoTR. I can virtually guarantee Star Wars will have (at least some) HD features, they've said as much during the interviews preceding the SW Blu-ray announcement.
If people are spending more than $80 for three movies, the least they'd be expecting would be high definition editions of the special features, at the very least. All this proves is that this is nothing more than a quick cash cow for WB and they don't give a shit for the fans. Soon they'll be coming out with an Ultimate Edition and then an Ultimate, Ultimate Edition paired with the Hobbit films. No one will want to pay for a rehash like this.
can they please release the Extended versions of the movies, with NO DVDS. ONLY BLU-RAYS? Even if that means no special features. I really won't end up watching special features if they're on dvds. I just want the "extended versions" of the movies on Blu-ray, without all those 12 dvds.
Star Wars Bonus features were filmed on film... a lot of LotR bonus features were filmed on Mini DV, which is digital, and in SD. A lot of the features cannot be upgraded to HD like older films can (Star Wars, Alien) If you put it on BD, it actually will not look as good, because BD players will upscale your DVD's (maybe some players will upscale SD content on a BD, but mine won't)
Sorry, they were not miniDV cameras, they were handheld SD digital cameras tho...
OK, it is admittedly annoying that the special features will not be in HD... if we are paying for the upgrade, EVERYTHING should be upgraded, but honestly, they are just special features and will look perfectly acceptable upscaled. What's more annoying is if we already have all of these features on the EE DVDs, that we gotta pay for the exact same stuff again. Oh well, its a nice looking (and hopefully the definitive) LOTR Set... I am curious about those Costa Botes docs... never had those before, but lets hope this set comes down to a more reasonable $60...
Its the films PQ that I am most excited about... I really hope that the films are indeed split across two blus each... give each film room to breathe, and make sure that every second of this extended trilogy looks as good as it possibly can. Lets hope they actually take advantage of this though... hopefully WB learned their lesson from the Theatrical release.
Who cares if it was shot on film?? When i buy a Blu Ray set, i expect to buy BLU RAYS. Not just the same DVD's i already own! If that were the case then the Alien Anthology would have like 10 discs! But it doesn't... It's only 6 BD's big, because they were so smart to include nearly all the Documentaries on one disc. I don't care about remastering behind-the-scenes stuff in HD, it would just be practical to gather them all on one Blu Ray disc.
This is beyond ridicules. What's more ridicules is that the entire set has more disc than the original Extended Trilogy set and that was DVD! I don't know what the "Costa Botas" documentaries brings that the Appendices didn't, but were they really needed? Were the Theatricals special features needed?
In anycase, I didn't say all the special features had to be in HD, of course not all of them were going to be, due to technical limitations and such. But for the sake of space, and it being Blu-ray, they should have at least created some new features for this release, put the old ones onto BD like others have said.
Bullshit, what a load of fucking bullshit. This set should be 7 discs maximum because all 9 of the bonus discs could be put on 3 BD's. Warner has just completely lost their minds when it comes to stuff like this and it seems most of the studios are following Paramount's suit of needlessly splitting movies just to drive the costs up. Yes that's what Paramount did with Ten Commandments and that hideous boxset with dvd copies of everything and forcing you to buy the eyesore and dvd copies of everything just to get the 1923 version and a brand new documentary on blu-ray.
What's even more asinine is that for the release of Gettysburg and the extended version of Gods and Generals coming up in June, THEY'RE GONNA BE ON ONE DISC. Gettysburg is 271 minutes long and Gods and Generals 280 minutes. Anything under 3.5 hours has absolutely no business being split. 3.5 to 4 hours, unless it's a very good reason(jacking up a price doesn't count) is a slippery slope but 9 times out of 10 shouldn't be split. 4 hours plus, split them everytime for quality's sake.
This is what the breakdown should be for this set:
FOTR: 1 BD for the movie, 1 BD for extras
TTT: 1 BD for the movie, 1 BD for extras
ROTK: 2 BD's for the movie and 1 BD for extras.
"Looks like it's the "milk it for all it's worth George Lucas" treatment?"
Hmm... If this was a release by Lucas, it would been done right the first time. The hypocritical Lucas bashing really has to stop because it makes anyone who does it look quite foolish. Star Wars has one DVD release with great special features and PQ. The rest were single disc budget releases (which every studio does) LOTR had 3 DVD releases all with different material. Now LOTR is on it's second BD release. While Star Wars hasn't even come out yet. And even than, the Star Wars BD is already doing things right by offering 3 different options for retailers and not forcing those still whining to buy the prequels.
Disgruntled Lucas fanboys (since you guys ARE fans) should stop whining and consider yourself lucky Lucas isn't milking the video release as much as he could. I never saw some elaborate DVD set with plastic bookends (a la LOTR) priced 3 times as much. We got a great DVD boxset done right the first time. Same with the Indy DVD. Heck, even King Kong got milked more.
So in conclusion, Lucas bashing = hypocritical and pathetic.
i am excited: just sold my EE DVD set for 66 bucks last week. That means I am actually paying only about 25 bucks for my set. Though, to be honest, given that there will be 9 DVDs in this set it truely does seem like too much money to ask for if you will be paying the full 89 dollars price.
Anyone knows if all the special features from the EE DVD set are included? I don't have my set anymore so i can't compare it.
Completely agree. I love every single SW film, and am getting The Complete Saga, happy and excited about it, kudos to those getting either of the other editions, but then we should stop there, and be happy. Of course some of the complains (i.e. restoration on the OE's being "too expensive" - Billionaire Lucas) may have some validity, but they ultimately should not detract from what, from a technical, not personal point of view, should be a top quality product.
I would have thought these movies could have been put on single discs. Doesn't anyone find it extremely annoying to have to switch discs out in the middle of the damn movie? Look what Avatar did... Seriously there's a lot of room on one disc. The packaging is a huge disappointment as far as the DVDs go. WTF, why even offer a BD set if the majority of the package is DVDs. That makes no sense; except to pocket money from fans because of a half-a$$ed effort. This announcement just killed the release for me. I'll stick to my DVD set until a proper treatment happens or individual extended editions are on sale for Black Friday. Bummer, I was really looking forward to this
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that considers the inclusion of 9 SD DVDs completely ridiculous. How about 1 or 2 BD-50s for ALL of the SD specials? Oh yeah, that'll screw up their target MSRP. My bad.
Will the digitial copies included be of the EE version ( only version I want to watch I might add ) or the regular ( blah! ) theatrical version. I travel a lot and would love to finally add this to my ipad.
DVD's - what did you think ? That they will upconvert behind-the-scenes from 97-03 ? Or you think they shot it on 35mm ? My concern is the picture quality. If it will be the same crappy blocking picture - screw it. I won't even download it. How can you push 4 hours of complex source (RotK) on 46gb ?
I don't mind if the Docs are in SD. Many of them were shot with DV cameras. But I suggest everyone take the Alien anthology as a great example of a set done right. 6 DVDs worth of special features, plus the laserdisc features, all nicely organized across 2 BD 50s. All 4 Alien films, each with 2 cuts, with over 60 hours of bonus features, were all put across only 6 BDs.
Unless the film is being spread out across 2 BDs, there's no reason to have more than 6 BDs in total. One for the film and one for all it's features in SD. There's no reason to have DVD being involved, especially 12 of 'em! Oh well, it's the PQ that I want to know about. As long as the PQ is good (remastered/restored) than I'll purchase the set once the price goes down.
What a tub of bullshit , Im not buyin' a bunch of DVD's that I already have , Only a fool would do that. All those recycled extras could have been put one BD for the majority of people who will bored not to watch them a second time
rosscav, insomiac, Eclipse: What good does it do to put DVD SD content on blu-ray? Have you ever viewed SD on Blu-ray? It won't look any better than DVD SD. It's moot, and not worth fussing about.
ShellOilJunior: You said: C'mon do it right? OK, just sprinkle some fairy dust on the SD DVDs. Say: Abracadabra! Now you got your special features in HD 1080p on BD! Maybe at least NLC or WB should supply the fairy dust for you in the box set.
It's the space basically, it would save unecessarily large numbers of DVDs. And you could say that about every Blu-ray with SD-DVD special features. Again, point to the Alien Anthology, there's simply no need for loads of DVDs. Even if they're not in HD, we won't have to go through loads of DVDs to access them.
All of these people complaining about the extra features being included AGAIN... and on DVD no less. What are people going to do with their EE DVD versions of this set? They aren't going to keep them anyways. So, in most likelihood they will try to sell them. Now, try selling that DVD packaging with only the 2 DVD discs per film included and see how many people will bite on that offer. "Wait a minute. What's with all of these empty disc spots? I don't want this bulk packaging taking up room on my shelf without anything in it. Forget it. NO SALE!"
Anyone who wants to get rid of their EE DVDs will most likely have to part with all of the extra features anyhow. So, suck it up and get the EE of the films on BD and enjoy the fact that you will still have all of the amazing special features... all in a much more compact storage unit than previously available.
The only thing I don't like is that the special features are on DVDs. Come on, WB and New Line. I'm buying it anyhow. This will be my fifth time investing in these movies (quint-dipping?).
I love the idea of release the Extended and Theatrical cuts of both films (I never got the films on DVD) as I usually don't get 3 plus hours to watch a movie usually, but I won't settle for just the theatrical cuts, it's just the option.
I can see how the DVD special features can suck, but I guess it will lower the price for me, and I'm not all that bothered about what they offer being it HD, as long as the films look as good as they can, I'll be happy.
I'll definatly try to pick these up (Hopefully June sounds nice)
The ability of studios to both delight and enrage us is quite remarkable. I'll think about getting this set, no LotR DVDs (have the EE's on the late great VHS, RIP), but seperate EE releases may be better. We'll see.
ya i'm disappointed to hear they are including the DVDs in the bluray EE Editions, but my real question is why are the special features in standard def. Were they filmed that way or is WB to lazy to to include the High def footage. As for the movie itself it better have amazing picture quality for as long as it took them to bring us the EE cuts.
I will not be buying these movies if I have to get up and change disks in the middle of the show. I cannot comprehend that in 2011 I have to break immersion to get up and change a disk.
The Lucas treatment............how many times has Star Wars been packaged for consumption?
More than once I'm sure.......VHS pan/scan, VHS widescreen, Laser disc, DVD's, theatrical re-releases....etc.
Now if you think this upcoming SW release on Blu will be the last, think again!
3D anyone?
And how many times did Lucas hold a gun to people's heads and force them to buy it? Just about every movie has gone from format to format as the technology increases, how the hell would it not happen? So a movie should just stick with one format and that's it? As for Star Wars in 3D? He'd be financially stupid not to do that. I don't care about 3D, I'm sticking with this BD and that's it. I've Star Wars on VHS only atm, I didn't need to go through the whole cycle of formats.
I couldn't care less about LOTR in either version, but what astounds me is how people on here always find reasons to complain about sth.! I thought they were only complaining about SW, but this is truly funny.
You got the theatrical releases, but cried foul, because all you care about are the EE. Now you are going to get the EE, but you are still unhappy! Wow, people! Just Wow!!!!
That's why even if George Lucas did release the UOT on BD, people would still find reasons to complain, so why should he bother.
If warner wants to play cheap, I'll play cheap as well: bootleg BD copies of just the EE movies inside my beautiful EE packagings along the the DVDs, I won't spend more than that.
BluYoda is right, EVERY single post on here COMPLAINS when a Blu Ray release LEAVES OUT content from the DVD release and then turns around and COMPLAINS when content you "already own" is ported over.
EVERYTIME a movie get's announced and it is NOT the Directors Cut the forum explodes with post after post of bitching but when Star Wars directors cut gets announced everyone cries George Lucas is milking or some stupid shit they can't back up with FACTS. Then when you GIVE FACTS that disprove their claim they just ignore you and rant on and on.
There is NO PLEASING you people DAMN!. Why in the hell should anyone even bother. Just be HAPPY the movies are getting released AT ALL and SHUT UP. If it's such a big deal why not just DON'T buy any movies and wait till the next format comes along and forget about buying anything.
And the IDIOTS, YES I CALLED YOU IDIOTS, who think the price is affected by all those DVD's you have NOBRAINS you know that! It costs MORE to make Blu Rays and it costs next to nothing to add a few extra DVD's. IF the content is SD it makes more sense to be on DVD than Blu Ray because SEVERAL Blu Ray Players, Including everyone's beloved PS3, will NOT upconvert SD content unless it is on DVD.
So here you can go line by line and DISPUTE ever single complain these IDIOTS have and I bet my post gets burried by haters who have NOBRAINS.
SD DVDs vs. SD on BDs:
Yes, we have ALL seen SD content on BDs. To ask the question is stupid. And YES we all prefer SD content on BDs. DUH! Check out the Alien Anthology to see how to do a set like this right!
All LOTR suppliments filmed in SD:
I call BS on this. New Line knew what they had with these films, particularly after Fellowship hit. I find it hard to believe they did all those high production and extensive documenting with consumer-grade cameras. Just because the content was shot on DV does NOT, I repeat NOT mean it must be in SD. We have a MiniDV camera at my work that's about 10 years old and it shoots in 1080i. It's a step or two above consumer grade and I'm sure New Line had access to FAR better equipment. And remember, Jackson has always been an extras geek. He had a 4 1/2 hour documentary on The Frightners Laserdisc....LASERDISC! So if he could film his extras in high quality, he would!
So unless any of you have some sort of link PROVING all the features were shot in SD, I am simply dismissing that claim because I think it originated in someone's colon.
this is a decision by the studio not by P. Jakson so it is no use complaining about him doing it right or not. The studios can do basically anything they want. It is up to us to either buy it or not. Simple as that. I am going to buy it, but I do feel it sucks to have so many DVDs since to be honest I wont be watching them again--already watched all of it on the EE DVD set I had. so I am getting this just for the movies and the DVDs will sit in the box cause no one will watch them. To be honest, I used to lvoe watching special features a couple of years ago, but I feel often so busy and so tired from work and school that I never even watching special features anymore, even though I think they add a lot to the experience of a movie.
NOBODY is complaining about the content being present. We are complaining about the DVDs being RECYCLED and CHARGED A PREMIUM FOR!
Give us the content, OF COURSE, but don't make us buy the same discs we already have, ALL 12 OF THEM and tell us how lucky we are!
At the VERY LEAST offer a movie-only set for those of us that ALREADY OWN THOSE EXACT DISCS. Charge $50 for it. We would all be very happy to pay that.
Better yet, DO IT RIGHT with 7 discs and we'll hand over the $90 they want. Although a bit reluctantly because it offers NOT A SINGLE new feature, HD or otherwise.
Do you understand NOW phatrat1982? Do you finally GET IT? I doubt it. Just keep calling us idiots and voting for the tea party.
It is all just too much! I for one would be very happy with an economy version of just the extended release / theatrical release selected through seamless branching and NO extras on 3 Blu-ray discs. They could shorten all three films by some 20 minutes by removing the never ending list of "mates of the Ring" that dragged on interminably at the conclusion of each part.
(Revised comment)
THIS SUCKS!
We get 6 DVDs of which most of us already have, and 3 DVDs that probably very few of us are at all interested in, because all they offer are those "new documentaries" that they advertised about in order to get people to double dip. And LASTLY we get the 3 extended movies on two BDs each but with basically no extras. What a fucking joke!
I will probably wait for an individual release and buy them separately instead of investing in a heap of JUNK that I don't want and/or have already paid for. Plus this box set will take up too much space for the content in it to justify the size.
WB makes me wanna throw up. They seem to make sure they rape both the movies and us fans!
Now I'm just waiting for the reviews after this is released telling us that the transfers are failures as well.
I mean, after all this, it seems we need a miracle to expect anything else...!?
I think some folks are firing off negative comments without seriously thinking about the situation before posting.
Regarding the movie spread across 2 discs: I see this as extremely positive.
The previous theatrical cut Blu-ray versions of the LOTR movies were already compromised in terms of image quality due to severe compression levels. Fitting the extended edition versions on single BD-50 discs would significantly worsen the image quality yielding a product not worthy of purchase. I, for one, am very happy WB is spreading the movies across 2 discs so they can maximize the video bandwidth.
Regarding the extras on DVD, yeah it kind of stinks that it's content from the previous 4-disc and 2-disc DVD editions many of us already own. But what else is WB going to do? Little if any of that content was produced natively in high definition. The only extras I'm hoping are reproduced in high definition are the movie trailers.
At this stage in the Blu-ray lifecycle, having SD bonus discs is just ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. I would have upgraded from the Theatricals if they had had the extras in HD.
I really don't get why these films would be spread across two blu-rays. The original DVD Extended Editions were spread across two 10GB discs, each with four commentaries and I think four different audio options. So that's 20GB on two discs.
By my calculations that still leaves 25-30GB of space on a dual-layer blu-ray. I'm guessing the multi audio options (Dolby Digital, DTS EX 6.1 and Dolby Stereo) will be replaced by a far superior DTS-HD, just like last year's theatrical editons. So I stand by my figure of 25-30GB of spare space.
It doesn't really matter if the SD stuff is on blu-ray, what matters is ensuring it's all there. So what if it's 480p, as long as we can watch it without too much faff (and too many discs) what difference does it make.
Once again this feels like a cheap and easy option from Warner Bros - they're using 25GB discs instead of the 50's. They've probably got a shedload of Appendices knocking around (along with the 2006 bonus DVD) so they'll get those recovered and used up. Given this trilogy is far more popular than certain space operas that also have blu-ray releases this year, it's about time the studio stepped up to the plate and delivered.
Here's hoping the next three months will see some sort of turnaround, and see a reduction in the number of discs in the set!
these comments are hysterical...
with all the very real problems in the world right now, if the thing that's "raping" you is a few DVDs in your big expensive blu-ray box set, perhaps you're overreacting just a little bit.
While we are at it: How about a shorter version of those films. Each movie could have been about 90min. long and it would have been more than enough. Cu tall the unnecessary repetitive walking, and endless talking about the bloody shire, the darn annoying Gollum. We got it, Gollum is a schizo. Don't need to show us 2000times. We got it, Frodo and Sam miss the shire. No need to tell us a million times. Oh, and please cut out the supremely embarrassing "Wizards" fighting in pajamas, and re-do all those horrible VFX, and get rid off Liv Tyler, and superimpose another actor's face on top of Hugo Weaving, as well as replace the god-awful Orlando Blooms with an actual "actor", oh, and please remaster them, because they don't look very good on BD at all.
Oh, and no, I don't call myself a LOTR fan. That's just the kind of garbage SW fans have to listen to/read all the freaking time. Lol
The more I think about this release, the more it annoys me. If it contains both cuts of the film via seemless branching (which it most likely wont) then it does essentially have everything I could want but it just looks like there is a distinct lack of effort involved in making this a 15 disc set. Like, I imagine all the DVDs will be EXACTLY the same, I wonder if even the menus will have changed? So yeah, count me in as pretty pissed they couldn't make this a far neater package. 3 DVDs of extras for each film - 3 dual layer DVDs would easily fit onto one BD.
Also: IT WAS NOT PUTTING THE MOVIES ONTO ONE DISC WHICH CAUSED PROBLEMS WITH THE THEATRICAL BD RELEASE! It's compression done badly, not compression in and of itself which causes such problems. Look to Criterion's Thin Red Line: it has like 4.5 hours of full 1080p content, when you take into account the extras and the film, and it has 5 star ratings across the board on this site. Return of the King would be pushing it for 1 disc, granted, considering the commentaries and stuff, but the other two would be fine. So yeah, this could be a 7 disc BD-only set easily, that's less than half what it is now.
Although I have this on preorder currently (and am one of the few that does not already own the title in any incarnation), I'm probably going to cancel it and wait for a fairly significant discount, as I'm sure New Line-Warner will issue a Lord of the Rings Ultimate Collectors Edition within a couple years (after The Hobbit has been released, perhaps) with both the theatrical and extended editions, most if not all the existing supplements, plus some new extras with significant improvements in picture and sound quality and maybe a larger proportion of extras in hi-def. There would probably be special packaging and physical collectibles inside it, too. In other words, the "definitive" release so many of us have been awaiting.
But, this extended set will satisfy me in the interim. I'll just wait for a better value.
Quit the whining already. The Extended Editions in HD? I'm sold. The special features were created in SD, so I'm not going to complain about them being on DVD. My EE DVDs were stolen by burglars a couple of years ago, so again, no complaints from me. The price on Amazon doesn't sound excessive and works out to $28 per film.
I don't understand people saying "stop complaining", "enough with the whining", "there's no way to make you guys happy"..... don't we just deserve THE BEST for our money? do you work for warner? or are you just conformists?
highdefdigest.com is now reporting that the audio will be 5.1 despite the theatrical BDs being 6.1!
Let's remember that New Line not only fit the extended editions onto 1 disc, they actually squeezed the theatrical versions in there as well with seamless branching. They did that with 9GB discs with reviews saying they rivaled if not SURPASSED the 2-disc versions! And yet we're supposed to believe that with discs nearly 6 times that capacity it's just not technically possible to do the same with 1080p? They could at least give us 7.1 audio and some new HD extras on each disc. That small concession would win me over for this set.
Jackson said years ago that he was saving all the best stuff for a future release. A release that would include an entire disc of deleted scenes. But here Warner has told him "Ah ah ah...not so fast. These stupid fanboys will buy these films 5 times over as long as we keep slowly dripping out the content over several years." This will be the 6th release of these films on disc and they're still recycling crap.
And by the way, this isn't even everything. Each film's giftset had an extra DVD too. Where are they? Oh, saved for a future release I guess.
This absolutely REEKS of an interum release. You know it. I know it. That's why they took "limited" off the package. Someone want to tell me why we should buy this set?
Man, I'm not sure I'm going to bite on this set. I think I might wait for Jackson's Ultimate Edition, which I'm sure will come shortly after he is done with The Hobbit. I already own 90% of what is coming with this set.
You know, I am a Lucas basher, but I have to admit for once that he is (mostly) doing right by his fans with the way he has been releasing SW on DVD and BD.
Won't be buying this - I kind of like the movies, and would only buy the extended versions - I have no desire for 9 frickin' DVDs on my shelf as well. I'll never watch those special features, and I'm not paying a premium price for them to just stick in some old DVDs I won't watch. There is no reason they couldn't have authored all the same content on Blu-ray on a disc or two - SD or HD, it's just ridiculous to have 15 discs.
I'll just Netflix them, if I care to watch them again.
Then it sounds like you can happily ignore this box set and all those yucky, icky DVDs.
It might be stupid and a waste of space, but it also doesn't really matter one bit for people not afflicted with irrational DVD phobia. WB would charge you the same price for all of those discs squeezed on one blu-ray, and you'd be getting the same thing for all practical intents and purposes.
"The Lucas treatment............how many times has Star Wars been packaged for consumption?
More than once I'm sure.......VHS pan/scan, VHS widescreen, Laser disc, DVD's, theatrical re-releases....etc.
Now if you think this upcoming SW release on Blu will be the last, think again!
3D anyone?"
You're being sarcastic, right? If not, then this is one of most idiotic things I've ever read. So when Star Wars (Or any movie for that matter) was first released on home video, be it VHS, Betamax or Laserdisc, it should have never been released again on any new and superior format? I take it you still hold on to your pan and scan VHS then? No need to upgrade to DVD or Blu-ray. it's all simply a cash grab and not worth the upgrade!
Re-read what you wrote. You're literally faulting Lucas for releasing Star Wars in widescreen... And i thought Lucas bashers couldn't make themselves look anymore pathetic. Congrats!
@fer_2974: I'm neither a conformist nor a WB employee. The extended editions of the films will be in HD, so what exactly is there to complain about?
SD special features being on DVDs instead of Blu-rays? Really, people are going to complain about that? I'd prefer Blu-rays simply because of the anti-scratch layer, but there's no PQ advantage, so I'm not going to complain.
If they hadn't included those special features from the EE DVDs, people would then be complaining that they have to keep their EE DVDs for the special features.
The only thing I can see to complain about is that WB will want us all to buy an ultimate box set in a few years after the Hobbit films have been released, but I love the EEs and I don't want to wait that long to have them in HD. So, again, that won't stop me from buying this.
To even think that they can't fit the EEs on a 50g disc is ludicrous. Drop out the commentaries and give us the movies! If if they can fit the Avatar extended edition on disc, LOTR will be no problem.
If you add it up the TC is about 10 cents a minute and the EE is 12 cents a minute. if I'm paying an extra 2 cents per minute it had better be better quality than the TC. Honestly I'll probably buy it either way, I sold my EE DVDs a few days before this was originally announced so I'll be buying all the special features again anyways. There probably will be a better "ultimate" release in the future. But I think I can buy this and hold onto it until a set that has LOTRs and the Hobbit, with both TC and EE comes out. I dont think we will see that for 2 or 3 years, and if the world does end in 2012 ... i dont wanna go out without having the EE on blu lol
I loved the packaging from the SD Extended and this is no slouch either. Kudos to NL for doing it right. Here's to hoping the transfer is even better than the Theatrical BD.
but Thy Fett Returns, you are not being charged a premium for the DVD's if the content was on Blu Ray it woulc COST MORE because Blu Ray discs cost more to make than DVD's. And I HATE the tea party thank you very much I am a LOYAL Republican not that it matters.
And no I admit I wasn't even trying to understand because you didn't address the other points and I honestly don't care because no I don't get it I don't get how ANYONE could like these movies period let alone be so damn emotional about them.
LOL! Oh no! the extras are on DVD! Really, some of you guys need to get a life. You are acting like it's the end of the world. It's real easy, DON'T BUY IT THEN!!!!!
I am not keen on having to buy the extras again to get the EEs. BUT I do think that WHV could have at least reduce the number of disks by taking all the SD extras and putting them on one or two BDs. Also I have no problem splitting the films across mutiple discs IF they are going to maximize the possible bitrate. Really these movies are between 3.5 and over 4 hours. At that length I don't think it is unreasonable to get up and change discs.
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT IS BUMMED? Bummed that they still have to separate the movies onto 2 discs each AND bummed that NONE of the special features are going to be provided on blu-ray.
While i am ecstatic to be able to finally watch the extended versions in Hi-Def, at the same time I am a little let down by the fact that the only new thing I am getting with this set is blu-ray versions of the movies. THEY SHOULD JUST SELL THE MOVIES MINUS THE DVD SPECIAL FEATURES BECAUSE EVERYONE ALREADY OWNS THE EXTENDED VERSION ANYWAY.
BUMMER!!!!
Wow! This is quite some thread. A lot of irrationality, Ignorance-of-facts and horrible spelling and grammar on both sides of the debate but a lot of good points also. Everyone who buys this set has a blu-ray player so wasting materials and space on all those DVDs is not cool. As for the cost: Although it's true that DVDs cost much less than BDs to produce, that gap is closing and I'm willing to bet that this choice was made to maximise the number of DISCS and hence the feeling of value in the mind of the consumer.
This entire set AND the Theatrical Editions set could actually be done perfectly in 6 BDs. Even if ROTK cannot be reasonably be fit onto one disc (this is debatable as it's running time is right on the edge of acceptability) it can be continued on a ROTK disc 2 which would ALSO contain all of the SD extras (26.1GB).
BD has a facility for branching across discs (Zone B Season 1 of Mad Men being the example I have seen). This would allow the following scenario: When most of ROTK has played, the user is prompted to swap discs. A little bookmark file or some such thing is stored on the memory of the player and as soon as disc 2 is put into the player, the film continues from that point with whatever soundtrack option the user had chosen. After the film, the user is presented with the extras menu. If the user places disc 2 in the player under other circumstances, they are brought straight to the extras menu (with an option to start playing the second section of the film in case the user wants to watch a particular scene or whatever).
Including all of the extras available in the three different DVD editions of the trilogy, the rundown of disc space is as follows:
FOTR: 25.9 GB
TTT: 25 GB
ROTK: 26.1 GB
So it would be perfectly possible to create 2-disc editions of each film even if this "trans-disc" branching is employed to improve sound and picture quality. Of course, this set could also easily include both cuts of each film through seamless branching.
But all of this would take love and care and attention. It would also cost (a bit) more for the authoring. It would require respect for the fans who have made these films such massive successes. WB doesn't seem to be going down that road. But these "lovingly-authored" editions do exist and not just from the likes of Criterion. Fox have done it with The Alien Anthology and WB themselves did it with the 5-disc Blade-Runner (I know one of them was a DVD but it was a damn good package anyway)
I hope that the post-hobbit edition will recieve the requisite TLC but untill then, I will buy this set once it has dropped drastically in price.
@Danielle Ni Dhighe: what exactly is there to complain about?
well, exactly?.... that they want me to pay for something I already own and payed a premium price for it, it's there on my shelf already so there's no point on buying those DVDs AGAIN. Just give me the movies on BD only and I'll be happy, it'll be perfect.... they should release a movie only set separately along with this for all of us that already on the EE on DVD, that'll be global warming friendly actually LOL
Austin Prior listed these movie sizes for the theatrical cut BDs:
FOTR: 25.9 GB
TTT: 25 GB
ROTK: 26.1 GB
File size doesn't mean everything. Warner Bros. is well known for using extremely severe levels of video compression on Blu-ray discs even when there is a lot of space left over on the disc to encode the video at a higher bit rate. WB often uses severe levels of compression to a fault and only rarely uses high bit rate encodes. The studio even does this with its D-cinema virtual prints for movie theaters. Their JPEG2000 movie files are often half the size of d cinema files from other movie studios. Obviously there is a philosophy in place at WB to crush video bit rates down as low as they will possibly go even if it ends up harming the video quality.
In spreading those 3 hour plus movies across two discs WB will have the opportunity to maximize video bit rates and dramatically improve video quality.
Regarding seamless branching: that won't work on these movies. The theatrical cuts and extended editions have numerous editing differences. This is why we didn't get such a thing back when the DVDs were being released.
They have little incentive to give up potential revenue. WB know that if they offer a less expensive set, most people would go for that, and they also know that most of the people complaining will still buy the overpriced set. I think the amazon sales rank pretty much proves that.
Bobby Henderson said "Regarding seamless branching: that won't work on these movies. The theatrical cuts and extended editions have numerous editing differences. This is why we didn't get such a thing back when the DVDs were being released."
Thank You said: "It's much easier to watch content on a third of the number of discs. Imagine everytime you wanted to change the channel to watch something else you had to get up like it was 1960 and manually do it yourself."
If you look at the box set photo, you'll see three volumes inside. Thus actually a third of the DVDs for SF will likely be found along with the BD for the main LOTR feature contained inside the volume set. So you only have to change a few manually. That's what I already have to do in my EE DVD set of LOTR I II III. Nothing's really changed other than all three volume sets are kept inside one box.
You also said: "And the video quality can be less compressed and perhaps even enhanced if they clean up the special features footage. Something that won't happen if they are still on DVD."
Less compressed SD? That could be, but don't expect to see any significant improvement in the image quality of SD. The SD SF I have seen transferred to BD from other old DVD releases were not improved at all by being on BD.
Clean up SF footage? You can't be serious. The sun would become a red giant star before WB/NLC or any studio would consider doing that. SF are just filler to placate the masses' desire for more content than just the main feature and feel that they are getting their money's worth. It's a handout. Beggars can't be choosy.
@Thy_Fett_Returns : What does the Tea Party have anything to do with this? Are you another propaganda spreader? The Tea Party is NOTHING of what alot of the liberal media make it out to be. None of them are racist at all. Find any proof, you wont, because there is none. I dare you to. Keep to the subject at hand and stop spreading lies and disinformation on a group of people. YOU should "actually know what they are talking about when they make declarative statements" because you very much do not know what you are talking about on the Tea Party.
I'd have preferred the SD extras content to be on BD to save space. Good points about our already owning this content. Why purchase it again? Maybe they'll release "bare bones" versions of the Extended Editions on BD at some later date.
I didn't purchase the theatrical editions on BD (prefer the Extended Editions), but I do hope (from what I've read) that the PQ has been improved over those releases.
And I also hope that each film is contained on a single disc with nothing else crowding the storage space, like the AVATAR film discs. With that much room to breathe, AVATAR looks and sounds better than just about every other BD out there.
Based on the release time frame, there is no way that Warner Bros. went back and remastered this. It'll look just as DVNR'd as the theatrical release. The smearing in TTT is particularly bad.
"Errrrrr.....yes we did:
"Disc 1 will present the Special Extended DVD Edition of the film split into two parts (on two sides of a DVD-18) at the break point of the initial DVD release. The Theatrical version will also be split into two parts (on two sides of a DVD-18) available through seamless branching. "
Dude, what LOTR edition are you even talking about!? Seriously. DVD-18?
I have the 2-disc DVD sets of all three original LOTR theatrical cut releases as well as all three Extended Edition 4-disc sets on DVD. NONE of them are DVD-18 discs.
I repeat, the editing cuts are DIFFERENT between the theatrical cuts and extended edition cuts. Certain things present in the theatrical versions are actually left out of the extended edition versions. The differences aren't easy to notice but are indeed there which makes seamless branching of both versions impossible.
BTW, your Amazon link failed to show any product. Just a "sorry, an error occurred when we tried to process your request." This casts further doubt on this whole seamless branching DVD-18 phony baloney story.
It's a flipdisk and it presents both versions through seamless branching (although they rather sneakily neglect to mention the need to flip anywhere on the box or promotional material).
I have to laugh at the anger over the possibility of the movies being on two discs. How lazy are you that you're complaining about not having the luxury of sitting in the same spot for almost 4 hours with a 2 liter bottle of soda and 10 pounds of snacks. No wonder the country is full of obese people.
If you already own the Extended and the Theatrical blu-rays, you're basically paying $90+ for some extra scenes that add little or nothing to the story.
>>I guess you only like he-man types of movies like "Commando" or anything made by Van Damme or Steven Seagal. <<
Actually your as wrong as can be I HATE all those types of movies. I never said I hate the lord of the rings retard I just said I don't get how anyone could like them as much as you people do and why anyone would get so emotional about it. I feel the same away about Star Wars asshole, it is easily my favorite movie of all time, but it is just a fucking movie. Not that it matters but my other favorite movies include Ghost World, and one of my favorite TV shows is Torchwood so there go your calling me a 'fag hating republican' or whatever you were insinuating.
My PROBLEM with you and people LIKE YOU is you take a movie so damn seriously when first off you act like it is your god given RIGHT to demand your movies be distributed in only the manner in which you desire. You also COMPLAIN about the price of something that is a PREMIUM product and act like you are entitled to own it at a price you set instead of letting the publisher or the one who OWNS the product set their own price.
THEN I have a problem with SNOBS who act like DVD's are infested with cooties and will somehow infect their precious Blu Ray players and cause them to short circuit or something.
Then I have a problem with people complaining like they even have a right to complain about a product that is basically giving you EVERYTHING they have to offer and still expecting it to be practically given to you.
YES you probably earn your pay checks, which judging by the home theater systems you claim to have tells me you make more than enough money to shell out what is the cost of a single xbox video game for a 3 massive three movie set that comes with HOURS of bonus content.
So yeah just because I chose to vote for the party that holds similar VALUES to myself does not have anyting to do with my movie preference. Besides I wasn't the one who brought it up thyfettreturns did and I thought discussion of politics was not allowed anyways so both of you should be given a warning if not banned out right for provoking a discussion that is supposed to be a violation of policy anyways right?
As for the comment of SD content being available on Blu Ray already, first you are HALF right and HALF WRONG. You are right in that most movies CRAM their extras onto the same Blu Ray as the feature film often sacraficing PQ along the way, except most of the time the content offered was never available in HD *AND* the big one you ignore, most of said content is not nearly enough to justify a second disc.
THEN you are half wrong in stating it as a sign this is something unjust because major releases that have so much SD content to offer tend to provide said content on DVD's and as far as I can tell that is the NORM not the exception so this is not NEW and should have been anticipated.
I also find it hypocritical because if you pay attention to usernames you often find the same DVD snobs still own LaserDiscs and VHS players for their precious Theatrical Star Wars or rare films that have yet to find a home on DVD or Blu Ray. So why is owning a Laser disc or VHS tape ok to some but DVD is seen as inferior and unworthy of being in your collections? Either way the argument that putting the extras on DVD is what is driving up the cost is stupid because first as it has been pointed out this set costs LESS than the DVD equivalent did upon release.
You're absolutely right. There will be another release but probably not until BOTH Hobbit films have been made and released. I don't think I can hold out that long.
