Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Theatrical Versions) - April 6, 2010

[minarets77]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

Well, I haven't read the Hobbit since I was 7 or 8. I'm 32 now. My memory of it is pretty much nonexistent. Still, what the hell does the bridge film cover after the Hobbit?

Again, after watching the prologue in Fellowship, do we really need more information?

That's what I'm getting at. That's how good that prologue is.

I agree that it is a fantastic prologue (and probably one of my most favorite parts of all 3 films). The Hobbit will be its own little contained story about Bilbo helping the dwarves get their treasure back from Smaug. Should be entertaining, but not nearly as deep or epic as LOTR.

I think the bridge film would be great if they managed to fit in origins of the Istari... But for reference, here is everything thathappens in between The Hobbit and LOTR:

# June 22, 2942 - Bilbo Baggins returns to Bag End
# 2951 - Sauron reveals himself in Mordor, and starts raising Barad-dûr anew. Estel, later known as Aragorn, comes of age and is told about his heritage; the Corsairs of Umbar officially ally themselves with Mordor and destroy great monument commemorating Ar-Pharazôn's victory over Sauron
# 2953 - Last meeting of the White Council. Fengel, fifteenth king of Rohan, dies. His son Thengel returns to Rohan to succeed him.
# 2956 - Aragorn first meets Gandalf the Grey
# 2957-2980 - Aragorn as Thorongil serves in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan, and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor
# September 22, 2968 - Frodo Baggins is born
# 2978 - Birth of Boromir
# 2980 - Arwen pledges her hand in marriage to Aragorn; Frodo Baggins loses both of his parents in a boating accident; Aragorn, in the service of the Steward of Gondor Ecthelion II leads a taskforce south and kills the Captain of the Haven, ruler of Umbar; Samwise Gamgee born;[15] Théoden, son of Thengel, becomes seventeenth king of Rohan after the death of his father.
# 2982 - Birth of Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry)
# 2983 - Birth of Faramir
# 2989 - Frodo Baggins comes under the guardianship of Bilbo Baggins; a company of Dwarves, led by Balin, try to recolonize Moria
# 2990 - Birth of Peregrin Took (Pippin)
# 2991 - Birth of Éomer
# 2994 - Balin is killed; the dwarf-colony in Moria is destroyed
# 2995 - Birth of Éowyn
# 3001 - Bilbo Baggins turns 111, passes the One Ring on to Frodo Baggins, and leaves the Shire. From now on Aragorn and Gandalf intermittently hunt Gollum

[perdition]

that'll be so sweet if we get the EE's this year. I'll be just as happy buying them as I was buying the normal versions this past year

[RYJAPE21]

Oh boy I hope that rumor is true. I've been waiting ages for the EE set.

Geez with Star Wars, Jurassic Park, both of the final Potters, and the possibility of LOTR:EEs coming out this could be the best year for blus

[I_Like_Movies]

I've held of buying the trilogy in hopes of the EE coming out, glad to hear its rumored for this year.

[drichter33]

Originally Posted by minarets77

I agree that it is a fantastic prologue (and probably one of my most favorite parts of all 3 films). The Hobbit will be its own little contained story about Bilbo helping the dwarves get their treasure back from Smaug. Should be entertaining, but not nearly as deep or epic as LOTR.

I think the bridge film would be great if they managed to fit in origins of the Istari... But for reference, here is everything thathappens in between The Hobbit and LOTR:

# June 22, 2942 - Bilbo Baggins returns to Bag End
# 2951 - Sauron reveals himself in Mordor, and starts raising Barad-dûr anew. Estel, later known as Aragorn, comes of age and is told about his heritage; the Corsairs of Umbar officially ally themselves with Mordor and destroy great monument commemorating Ar-Pharazôn's victory over Sauron
# 2953 - Last meeting of the White Council. Fengel, fifteenth king of Rohan, dies. His son Thengel returns to Rohan to succeed him.
# 2956 - Aragorn first meets Gandalf the Grey
# 2957-2980 - Aragorn as Thorongil serves in the armies of King Thengel of Rohan, and Steward Ecthelion II of Gondor
# September 22, 2968 - Frodo Baggins is born
# 2978 - Birth of Boromir
# 2980 - Arwen pledges her hand in marriage to Aragorn; Frodo Baggins loses both of his parents in a boating accident; Aragorn, in the service of the Steward of Gondor Ecthelion II leads a taskforce south and kills the Captain of the Haven, ruler of Umbar; Samwise Gamgee born;[15] Théoden, son of Thengel, becomes seventeenth king of Rohan after the death of his father.
# 2982 - Birth of Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry)
# 2983 - Birth of Faramir
# 2989 - Frodo Baggins comes under the guardianship of Bilbo Baggins; a company of Dwarves, led by Balin, try to recolonize Moria
# 2990 - Birth of Peregrin Took (Pippin)
# 2991 - Birth of Éomer
# 2994 - Balin is killed; the dwarf-colony in Moria is destroyed
# 2995 - Birth of Éowyn
# 3001 - Bilbo Baggins turns 111, passes the One Ring on to Frodo Baggins, and leaves the Shire. From now on Aragorn and Gandalf intermittently hunt Gollum

Are you saying as another movie after the 2 Hobbits? Or integrated?

Cause as it's been said above, there is no "bridging" movie anymore. And honestly, in that list unless there are some wars or other action going on, there are a ton of births, but not really enough to make a full movie, let alone an interesting one.

My fear is that they are going to find unnecessary ways to bring all these actors / characters back as some big re-union and over saturate the simplicity and fun of the Hobbit.

But, as long he has been refreshed and not bored with the material, then I have faith that PJ will assemble a fluid screenplay that will make sense and truly be the Hobbit story.

[miller_time22]

Originally Posted by RYJAPE21

Oh boy I hope that rumor is true. I've been waiting ages for the EE set.

Geez with Star Wars, Jurassic Park, both of the final Potters, and the possibility of LOTR:EEs coming out this could be the best year for blus

Agreed. 2011 is going to rock!

[minarets77]

Originally Posted by drichter33

Are you saying as another movie after the 2 Hobbits? Or integrated?

Cause as it's been said above, there is no "bridging" movie anymore. And honestly, in that list unless there are some wars or other action going on, there are a ton of births, but not really enough to make a full movie, let alone an interesting one.

My fear is that they are going to find unnecessary ways to bring all these actors / characters back as some big re-union and over saturate the simplicity and fun of the Hobbit.

But, as long he has been refreshed and not bored with the material, then I have faith that PJ will assemble a fluid screenplay that will make sense and truly be the Hobbit story.

I have seen people on here say that there is no bridging movie anymore. I didn't read it anywhere else until I just googled it. I don't see why there needs to be two parts. The whole story could be told in one 2.5 hour movie (with time to kill).

I wasn't saying any of that SHOULD be in a movie. It was just a response to a poster who said nothing happens in between The Hobbit and LOTR.

[Darkhawk9587]

I really hope the rumors are true that the EEs are going to be released this year. I'd buy them day 1 for sure.

[ces-worshiper]

Originally Posted by perdition

that'll be so sweet if we get the EE's this year. I'll be just as happy buying them as I was buying the normal versions this past year

I don't think I can be as happy buying the EE's as I was the Theatrical Version set. I doubt the EE's will be had for $7.99........

I'll pick them up though. I hope they release a box to house all of the movies in EE and Theatrical, like the slipcover you could send in for if your bought all the EE's on DVD over the years rather than waiting for the "boxset"

[Jimmy Smith]

Im one who skipped on the previous Blu-Ray release. Im waiting for the extended cuts and won't buy anything less then a Blu-Ray that includes everything from my extended cut DVDs.

Hopefully the extended cuts will get new transfers. Also hopefully we will get each movie on a single BD-50. During the format war I wanted Blu-Ray to win because Ive always wanted the extended cuts on a single disc and Blu-Ray was the only high def format that could possibly provide that without hurting quality.

Hopefully the Appendices will also be presented in high definition on there own BD-50.

[nathan_393]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

Im one who skipped on the previous Blu-Ray release. Im waiting for the extended cuts and won't buy anything less then a Blu-Ray that includes everything from my extended cut DVDs.

Hopefully the extended cuts will get new transfers. Also hopefully we will get each movie on a single BD-50. During the format war I wanted Blu-Ray to win because Ive always wanted the extended cuts on a single disc and Blu-Ray was the only high def format that could possibly provide that without hurting quality.

Hopefully the Appendices will also be presented in high definition on there own BD-50.

I'm okay with the film being spread out over two discs to keep the quality really high. More than okay with it, actually. Switching the discs =/= a problem for me.

But HD extras would be nice :P It'd be a good excuse to watch it all over again.

I kind of want new extras, to be honest, but a part of me suspects there won't be any. We'll see what PJ throws out at us, or if he even has a role in this at all.

[nathan_393]

Originally Posted by ces-worshiper

I don't think I can be as happy buying the EE's as I was the Theatrical Version set. I doubt the EE's will be had for $7.99........

I'll pick them up though. I hope they release a box to house all of the movies in EE and Theatrical, like the slipcover you could send in for if your bought all the EE's on DVD over the years rather than waiting for the "boxset"

I've never heard of this - what did it look like? Link? Anybody?

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by nathan_393

I'm okay with the film being spread out over two discs to keep the quality really high. More than okay with it, actually. Switching the discs =/= a problem for me.

A BD-50 has more then enough space to keep the movies on a single disc and still keep the quality high. I can name many reference quality Blu-Rays with bitrates that average in the upper teens. Troy looked pretty great with a bitrate of 12 megabits per second. The nearly 4 hour Gone with the Wind fit on under 44 gigabytes and looked fantastic. Peter Jacksons King Kong is one of the best looking Blu-Rays ever released while fitting all 200 minutes of it on less then 37 gigabytes.

With a proper amount of compression and transfer artists who do there job I see no reason that the extended cuts can't be kept on a single disc without the movie looking any worse for it.

[detective392]

Really hope it's true and we get them this year. First time seeing the extended versions as I never saw them on DVD.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith

A BD-50 has more then enough space to keep the movies on a single disc and still keep the quality high. I can name many reference quality Blu-Rays with bitrates that average in the upper teens. Troy looked pretty great with a bitrate of 12 megabits per second. The nearly 4 hour Gone with the Wind fit on under 44 gigabytes and looked fantastic. Peter Jacksons King Kong is one of the best looking Blu-Rays ever released while fitting all 200 minutes of it on less then 37 gigabytes.

With a proper amount of compression and transfer artists who do there job I see no reason that the extended cuts can't be kept on a single disc without the movie looking any worse for it.

Troy is rather soft looking, especially in night scenes. It was compressed to meet HD DVD spec. I would not hold it as an example of good "low bitrate" compression.

King Kong looks good on anything because of it's DI. It looked good on a DVD5 screener. Universal sacrified all the extras unfortunately, even when they had room (BD50 actual space = 46.6GB).

But I agree, with careful compression the EE can fit on one disc, provided the only extras are commentaries (and Jackson's introduction). Video based extras would be relegated to another BD disc (4 DVD9s = 2 BD50s). They could even branch the Theatricals into them the same way the reissued DVDs were done.

[Jimmy Smith]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Troy is rather soft looking, especially in night scenes. It was compressed to meet HD DVD spec. I would not hold it as an example of good "low bitrate" compression.

King Kong looks good on anything because of it's DI. It looked good on a DVD5 screener. Universal sacrified all the extras unfortunately, even when they had room (BD50 actual space = 46.6GB).

But I agree, with careful compression the EE can fit on one disc, provided the only extras are commentaries (and Jackson's introduction). Video based extras would be relegated to another BD disc (4 DVD9s = 2 BD50s). They could even branch the Theatricals into them the same way the reissued DVDs were done.

Troy wasn't perfect but given how low its bitrate is its surprisingly good. Its bitrate is little higher then a superbit DVD yet it surpasses many Blu-Rays with twice the bitrate. Im not saying the extended editions should be compressed that low but its a good example of how a movie can look surprisingly good at an especially low rate.

King Kong's video is the same as the HD-DVD version which fit the theatrical cut on under 30 gigs with a picture in picture track and it still looked fantastic. Blu-Rays extra space allowed it to support a lossless audio track and 13 minutes of extra footage but the picture quality is basically the same.

Fitting the extended edition of Return of the King on one BD-50 will require a careful compression job but I totally believe its possible and can looked as good if not better then the previous Blu-Ray edition.

[boxterduke]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

That would be awesome if it's true! Lord of the Rings Extended Editions AND the Star Wars saga in one year? EPIC!

An epic of epic epicness

I did not buy the LotR theatrical blurays and can't wait for the EEs.
Also Star Wars as well, oh yeah...

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by boxterduke

An epic of epic epicness

I did not buy the LotR theatrical blurays and can't wait for the EEs.
Also Star Wars as well, oh yeah...

Gonna be an expensive year, that's for sure.

[boxterduke]

Originally Posted by nathan_393

I've never heard of this - what did it look like? Link? Anybody?

I don't have a link but I think ces-worshiper is referring to The Return of the King EE.
In it there was a promotion that you can send out showing the uPSs from all three movies in EEs DVD and then would send you a box that houses them. That is what I did.
This is how it would look.
http://www.google.ca/images?q=lord+o...w=1387&bih=747
First 4 pictures of this google search I did

[nathan_393]

Originally Posted by boxterduke

I don't have a link but I think ces-worshiper is referring to The Return of the King EE.
In it there was a promotion that you can send out showing the uPSs from all three movies in EEs DVD and then would send you a box that houses them. That is what I did.
This is how it would look.
http://www.google.ca/images?q=lord+o...w=1387&bih=747
First 4 pictures of this google search I did

oh thaaat! I thought he was referring to a special disc case that housed six discs, two for the theatrical and four for the EE. My bad. Thanks for clearing that up!