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The Trilogy as One
jmays writes "New Line is re-releasing 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' except this time, in their respective extended versions. When? Once each week for the two weeks prior to the opening of 'The Return of the King.'"
I felt that the extended edition of fellowship was a lot better than the studio version. It will be fun to see it in the theaters.
I'm less excited about Two Towers since I found the movie to be a disappointment. I'll still go check it out though. (who am i kidding, i'll still probably buy the dvd Tolkien whore that I am).
I don't know about the Dec 16th all day marathon though. Something about going to a movie at 3pm and leaving after midnight. Besides, my GF has enough trouble staying awake in a 1.5 hour long movie.
"I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
Perhaps more exciting than the extended edition re-releases is the promise of marathon showings December 16th.
FOTR @ 1500
TTT @ 1900
ROTK @ 2300
Not only can you to see the entire story at once, but beat all the other line-standing fans by 1 whole hour!
That must count for some serious geek points in the grand scheme of things.
Call your favorite theater today and request that they carry this special engagement. If they won't, drive to a big city, this ought to be worth it!
I know that I'm probably going to get flamed by the /. faithful but I really
:-)
did not enjoy the first LOTR film and decided to not bother with the rest of
the trilogy. I couldn't imagine the tedium of sitting through an extended
version.
The problem with them was that they were quite simply boring. Although the
filmmakers had done this incredible technical job of putting the world of
Middle Earth on the screen it felt horribly sterile. Of course it's often
the case that a film doesn't work as well as the way you imagined the book,
but in the case of LOTR the film seemed to have little merit. It was a
long road movie without the depth of the Middle Earth world and relationships
between the characters and the different type of characters lost in the
filming.
Not trying to troll, just that the film had all the look of Middle Earth
without any of the feeling. A bit like Matrix Reloaded: all shiny but
hollow at the same time.
John.
(Of course there was the incomparable Liv Tyler
so it wasn't a totally wasted 3 hours
As if most slashdot members didn't have a bad enough case of office ass...
Check out this Slashdot article.
KARMA TAG! You're it.
Before any king can return, New Line Cinema will re-release of the first two "Lord of the Rings" pics worldwide, this time with additional scenes and footage added.
Just two weeks before the Dec. 17 release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" -- the final installment of the Peter Jackson-helmed epic trilogy -- the first two "Ring" entries will be unspooling worldwide.
In memoranda sent to exhibitors on Wednesday, New Line laid out a game plan to promote the third film by refreshing filmgoers' memories with "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers."
Plan calls for putting the films on 100-150 screens in top 10 U.S. markets. Many other U.S. cities will have one cinema participating in the special extended edition screenings. Running times for the extended editions are 208 minutes for "Fellowship of the Ring" and 214 minutes for "The Two Towers."
Advanced ticket sales are scheduled to begin in late September or early October on exhibitor Web sites and movie ticketing sites like Fandango, MovieFone and Movietickets.com.
"The release of the third film affords us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give audiences a compelling new theatrical experience of Peter Jackson's sprawling vision for this trilogy," said Rolf Mittweg, prexy and chief operating officer for worldwide distribution and marketing.
The cost, one New Line insider estimated, will be between $10 million and $15 million. Due to the extended length of the new prints, the move is being cast as a promotional tool rather than a moneymaker.
"It is important to note," the memo says, "that these events are produced as a marketing/publicity stunt and not as a revenue generating opportunity" and that media support will be limited largely to the Internet and participating theaters.
Starting the week of Dec. 5, the extended DVD cut of "Fellowship of the Ring" will be released in some 100 or so theaters in the U.S. and in 20 theaters in Canada.
Then, the week of Dec. 12, sequel "Two Towers" will unspool, just a month after having preemed on DVD, leading up to a worldwide Dec. 16 daylong marathon, during which all three films will be shown back-to-back. Exhib guidelines call for a 3 p.m. showing of "Fellowship" followed by a 7 p.m. screening of "Two Towers" and then an 11 p.m. screening of "Return of the King," which will carry over into Dec. 17 -- the day of its global release.
Overseas, it's not yet clear whether all exhibs will be showing the new footage-added prints of the previous "Rings" pics. According to one New Line insider, the decision is being left to exhibs, which will make their requests known to New Line in the next few weeks.
Italy and Japan will not immediately be included in the foreign promotional blitz. Italo comedies dominate that country around the holidays, and corporate sibling Warner Bros. will be carpeting Japan with the next "Harry Potter" pic. Triad of "Rings" pics will instead screen in January in Italy and February in Japan.
"King" is produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Jackson, with a screenplay by Walsh & Philippa Boyens and Jackson, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Call me a pawn of 'the man', but I will be there in the theaters for both of them. The military-entertainment complex will thank me, but my bladder won't.
Three and half hours... Why don't they have intermissions anymore?
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
Just to be clear, these are being released in the theaters. Not on VHS / DVD, which was my immediate thought.
Reminds me of an old Foxtrot cartoon....
The sister asks her kid brother and his friend where they are going. They say they're going to watch 3 Star Wars movies. She says, "All three? back-to-back?" They reply, "No, all three...three times in a row."
My only... my precious...
I've heard Tolkien originally wanted the three series into one large book. The title of this submission "The Trilogy as One" got me thinking. I wonder if they'll splice all three movies together when the next generation DVD comes out. Then you could take it all in as JRR intended. Sure, it'd be a marathon... but I think lots of geeks would dig it.
You obviously missed the Fellowship expanded version then; the new scenes *greatly* enhanced the storyline, especially for someone who hadn't read the books.
Man that theatre is going to smell bad. Dec 16th = Smelly LOTR day.
My Ass hurts.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that New Line is going to release the ultra mega super insane LOTR pack about a year after LOTR:ROTK comes out. I am waiting until then to buy the dvd. This dvd will contain all the full length movies and a huge stack of extras. They might even throw in a big full color map or something like that. It will probably be unbearable expensive, too.
Help I'm a rock.
I'm NOT gonna survive on theater popcorn, hotdogs and mega-jumbo Cokes for 11 hours. I hope they have intermissions between the films so we can hit the mall food court...
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
I don't know, but I had the chance to see (and got my book signed by ;-)) John Howe in Geneva earlier this year. Well amongst an awful lot of interesting things, he said he had seen (all or part of?) the new scenes that would form the extended version, and he totally loved it. He added they really pushed the movie to a new standard, even making it look like a new movie. The new footages is 42 minutes long.
Besides this, he addressed interesting issues (people could ask questions) like the presence of Elves in Helm's Deep and such other things. He answered really calmly and smartly, with precise and interesting arguments.
I really doubt PJ could even manage to do a bad movie with RotK after having seen the two other ones, but I can't wait to find out. And I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
theefer
So? New Line was forward thinking enough to take a leap of faith and let Jackson film all three at once (with obvious benefits to the viewers). Why not let them reap the rewards of their big millions gamble (it could have flopped. big.)
No, reelly I don't!
catheter sales expected to rise 1200% for the month of December.
---
WARNING:Slashdot karma not redeemable in the afterlife.
How DARE you express such an opinion! I flame thee, sir! Feel my flame! I liked the movies and will not tolerate your going on a PUBLIC forum and having the UNMITIGATED GALL to state a difference in taste! Flame! Take that! And that!
FLAME FLAME FLAME
- Just wanted to make your prophecy come true...
teach your self how to self catheterize your self during the movie
/ 00 3972.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Complete concurrance. I can't make it through the books. I've tried three times, and I always get bored/apathetic/annoyed after they leave the mushroom farmer guy for another 100 pages of trail walking.
The first movie felt very true to the books. Long, dull, lots of walking and hiding. To paraphrase John Goodman in Barton Fink, my butt was sore after the first 45 minutes.
The second movie (to which I was drug by my wife) was actually quite good, IMHO. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. The Gollum/Smegiel (sp?) sequences have to be seen to be believed.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
They never should have made the movies. If they wanted to bring it to the screen, they should have done it in a series format. 1hr * 52wks * 3yrs would have given plenty of time to do the books justice...
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
As the article points out, this is not meant to be an attempt to generate revenue, but merely a promotional tool.
Releasing 3+ hour long movies in 3 successive weeks in few select theatres with little fanfaire (at least according to the article) doesn't sound like over-exposure. Sounds more like a treat for the fans.
As for a 10 hour movie, while that certainly would be interesting, it would a) involve lots of work by jackson et al. to interweave the films (rather than simply playing back to back) and b) would be expensive as hell. (as two sets of different prints would have to be sent out to the theatres, depending if they were showing ROTK or the entire trilogy movie, or both if they having two different sets.) and c) would be financially disasterous for the movie theaters. (as a 10 hour movie for the price of one, means they are losing admission on at least 2 to 4 films).
As for other arguments regarding milking the cow, New Line and Jackson have ALL along stated that each DVD would be released as a theatrical and an extended edition. True fans who wanted both could buy both, others could pick which one to get. as I recall, there were even signs up at the stores (or stickers on the dvd) when FOTR came out reminding people that the extended version was still to be released.
... that 9 months from December, we'll see a sharp decline in the number of babies born.
"Derp de derp."
I'm so glad I didn't buy any of the DVD's for the LOTR trilogy, just because I feel really bad for all the fans who have a "sucky" version or have spent tons of cash on all the different versions of the dvd's. Because of this i'm just gonna wait till the summer after ROTK to buy whatever becomes the "almost-most-fulfilling-3-dvd-set-of-themoment" then at least i'll have all 3 and of only paid one price instead of owning 6 versions of each of the first movies AND the trilogy as a set.
Ave Molech Setting
Wow, how long have you been saving that link for an opportunity to get a +5 funny?
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
Actually ...
Sauron Defeated (book 9 of the history of middle earth) contains drafts of JRR Tolkien's planned
"Epilogue" to LotR. "The Peoples of Middle-earth", Vol 12 of HoMe, contains drafts of a planned sequel, "The New Shadow".
So there actually sort of was a book 4.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
For those too lazy to click a few links. ;)
- Extended opening, in which the hobbits scale a cliff face using the rope Galadriel gave Sam, including a better build-up to the arrival of Gollum.
- More friction between the Uruk-Hai and the Orcs as they transport Merry and Pippin back to Isengard, which better sets up the fight over food that takes place later.
- More scenes of Saruman breeding his army, creating better pacing as the invasion of Rohan begins
- Terrific scene in which Eomer finds the body of Theodred, Theodens son.
- Additional scenes with Merry and Pippin, including extensions to existing Treebeard scenes and the Ent Draught sequence, in which the hobbits grow. In another scene, Treebeards soporific poetry works its magic.
- Theodreds funeral scene, with Eowyn singing a lament.
- A wonderful introduction to Aragorns horse Brego, who we learn was Theodreds horse. Aragorn requests Brego be set free, which places his later rescue in better context.
- Additional scenes between Eowyn and Aragorn, including one in which he attempts to eat a bowl of evil-looking stew.
- More scenes between Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, which expand upon the films politics (including the union between the two towers Gandalf scene from the trailer, though that line is missing from what I can remember).
- More of Sarumans musings, setting up themes that will be explored in The Return of the King.
- Flashback to the circumstances surrounding Boromir being sent to Rivendell for the Council of Elrond, taking place during the re-taking of Osgiliath by the Gondorian army. This sequence briefly introduces John Noble as Denethor, a major character in The Return of the King. I was worried this sequence would seem like an indulgence, but its difficult to imagine the film without it; not only is the character of Faramir, much maligned by fans of the book, given added depth, so too is Boromir enriched by this addition.
- Just before the Ents storming of Isengard, the Huorns mobilise and leave to attend to business elsewhere; they reappear at Helms Deep to kill the Uruk-Hai as they flee.
- New ending, with Merry and Pippin finding a larder at Isengard, including two barrels of pipe-weed; a hilarious scene in which Gimli and Legolas compare their scores after the battle of Helms Deep; Frodo, Sam and Gollum are shown the way out of Osgiliath by Faramir, who threatens Gollum; theres even a brief moment in which Sam and Gollum appear to make peace.
- Along with all these major additions, many more scenes are subtly extended to give more information or reinforce themes already present.
Hell is being intelligent in a world full of idiots.