This summer, New Line and Warner Home Entertainment will bring the individual extended editions of the three films in director Peter Jackson's Academy Award-winning The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to Blu-ray.
These releases mark the first time the extended cuts have been available separately on the HD format.
The trilogy includes:
Each individual five-disc set presents the features in their 2.39:1 original aspect ratio with 6.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track; Warner's press release has not specified if these new sets offer additional A/V upgrades from the previously available fifteen-disc extended edition trilogy. The packages also contain all of the bonus supplements that the earlier edition had.
The individual Lord of the Rings extended editions street on August 28th.
Well it was only a matter of time. As of now Ive seen the box set recently at costco for $49. So the prices on the individuals will probably reflect that.
well the box set is certainly a good deal now that it has gone down, but I have actually been one who has waited out the individual releases. I just prefer to get these films individually for whatever reason. Now I'll probably wait even longer for the prices on the individual titles to go down so more waiting for me. LOL.
Some people might want extended versions of one or two but not all three, so this could make sense. I personally prefer the theatrical length version of The Two Towers to the Extended Version, but would rather have the extended version of the other two. Doesn't matter though. I already have the EE trilogy.
"unkie fester @hubunkey, im with ya one of the major selling points of BD, is that stuff like movies split on two disk wouldnt happen"
That was never specifically a "selling point" of blu-ray. It's all about the quality of image... no reason to forsake the ACTUAL selling point of blu-ray for a made up one just so you don't have to get up and change discs.
I see best buy has the box set for $50 right now. Will have to see what they'll be individually. Didn't buy the Blu box set originally cuz the special features were on DVD. Wasn't keen on dropping the cash for the movies on Blu but the extras exactly the same as my DVD set. I'd even be ok if it was JUST the movies (extended editions) without the extras
I'm going to hold out longer and hope they do a movie-only edition.. I have the DVD sets for all three so I have all those bonus features in the exact format already and just need the movie..
and maybe they'll make the movies on 1 BD instead of split across two, if I'm watching a continuous movie I don't want to have to get up and switch discs.
That they've split the films on two discs each doesn't bother me in the slightest. I never could muster seeing them from beginning to end uninterupted anyway, so for me that's an advantage. Not putting all the special features on one blu-ray disc though is not acceptable, and I'll probably just hold out until a 5-film über-set is released in 2-3 years. Hopefully by then they've worked out all the kinks...
Pretty cool for those who do want them but personally, LOTR is the last trilogy where individual releases would work. Me and my family had a marathon of all three extended films on DVD (I know, gotta change that ) and it played very much like one film. You can argue that all film series are basically one story, especially Star Wars, but LOTR is not a trilogy: it's a film split up because most people don't sit through a 12-13 hour film (have that amount of time ready if you try a marathon too .) Just my thoughts.
Also, totally agree that a blu-ray would've fit the three DVDs of special features. Still would've been a respectable nine discs. Yeah, three discs are good if everything is HD.
Still don't get why these films are spread over 2 BD's when you can get over 9 hours of HD material on a 50 GB disc. Even if you take into consideration the audio tracks, they should fit easily onto one BD. Maybe the audio takes more space than I'm aware. Someone enlighten me please if you know.
Eh, I have the box set and I'm pretty sure these will be the same transfers/extras just repackaged, so no thanks. I'm in the minority here I'm sure, but I actually don't mind Fellowships transfer honestly, but I can say it's the weakest of the three movies in the set.
If memory serves me right the box set has the three movies packaged in their own individual Blu-ray cases. So, if you want to have them individually you already can. Just get the boxset and discard the outer box.
I bet the next thing they'll do in a year is release a 'limited edition' with both theatrical and extended cuts of the film, just like they did it in dvd.
I'm pretty sure they're going to be the exact same versions released last summer.
1. They (WB/New Line) would have said they were going to have updated transfers if that was the case.
2. They would probably announce an exchange program for a non-green-tinted FOTR transfer, since so many people complained about it.
Since neither have happened, it's pretty obvious that they're just going to be the existing one's, released individually, don't hold your breath for non-green-tinted FOTR.
Damnit! I was kinda hoping it would be just the movies w/o all the extra stuff that I already have from the EE DVD releases! I really don't need those extra discs on DVD if I've already got them! I'm not expecting them to ever provide HD versions of the supplement material (namely because a lot of it wasn't shot in HD, if I'm not mistaken), but there's absolutely no (good) reason they couldn't dump those extras onto a few Blu-Ray Discs instead of all the extra DVDs!
I was so excited, until I saw that they were releasing the bonus discs with these releases. For me, it's either $9.99 a movie, or $29.99 for the box set. I love the original DVD packaging and plan on keeping that and just swaping out the discs. I'm not going to pay extra for the DVD extras discs that I already own.
I can't believe people are still complaining about splitting the AVC encodes across 2 discs, as opposed to forcing the fit of inferior VC-1, or heaven forbid, MPEG-2 encodes on single discs, like the theatrical cuts. The Blu-ray format is about having the best PQ/AQ possible, which would be unattainable when keeping it all on one disc, in the name of convenience. Aside from the FOTR green tint, which TBH, is only really noticeable in the first half of the movie, these are solid transfers.
) and it played very much like one film. You can argue that all film series are basically one story, especially Star Wars, but LOTR is not a trilogy: it's a film split up because most people don't sit through a 12-13 hour film (have that amount of time ready if you try a marathon too 
For me, it's either $9.99 a movie, or $29.99 for the box set. I love the original DVD packaging and plan on keeping that and just swaping out the discs. I'm not going to pay extra for the DVD extras discs that I already own. 
