LOTR on Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[JackKay]

From a Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro's HOBBIT webchat:

icaroz. Will the Ring trilogy get a blu-ray release around the time of Hobbit? or sooner?
Peter Jackson. Hi Icaroz - We are working on a blu ray version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment, not sure when it is due for release. It certainly won't be this year.


LINK Weta Holics: Updates and News about what's happening @ Weta - An Unexpected Party Chat transcript now available!

 

[TonyD]

appreciate the info but "LOR"

 

[Jim_K]

The $1,000,000 question is will they bend us over with a theatrical cut only release or will they do the right thing and give us the EE's or even better "both cuts".

 

[Jari K]

This is one awesome news! We all knew that it´s coming at some point, but this is that "confirmation" what we all waited (that it´s actually "in progress" and PJ is involved).

It has been some time when I watched the trilogy last time and I´ve been kinda waiting for the BD-release(s) to watch it next time. Well, next year!

I hope that both "Theatrical" and "Extended"-versions are included and all the extras from the previous releases (then again, quite a lot of those if you also count that 106-min doc from the "Limited Editions", so..). Perhaps we see those "deleted scenes" and bloopers this time around (I believe PJ has mentioned those in some interview).

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Yes, someone might want to amend the thread title to "LOTR on Blu-Ray."

I'd like to say I'll boycott the release if they don't give us the EEs right off the bat, but FOTR is my favorite film, so I doubt I'll have the resolve.

My personal wish would be for New Line to essentially release the limited edition DVD discs on blu--EEs and theatricals available via seamless branching, with the new(ish) documentaries included, which I have never seen. I don't have much desire for all the EE extras to be ported over, thus jacking up the price for material most of us probably already have.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Cees Alons]

I agree.


Cees

 

[TravisR]

Considering that they'll probably wait for a couple years to release this so it can tie in to The Hobbit's theatrical release, there's no excuse for not having everything (and maybe even more) from the DVDs on it.

 

[TonyD]

i would buy these instantly if they have all that has come before, and probaly if they were movie only.
but no purchase if not long version.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I hope we don't have to wait too long. Personally, I'd be fine w/ just keeping my existing DVD sets for most of the extras, if they provide both the EE and theatrical cuts together (via seamless branching) along w/ the commentary tracks and great HD PQ/AQ. I don't really need stuff like the full, extra lengthy documentaries that were on the original EE sets. I suppose it could be nice to have some amount of PiP commentary (w/ that stuff and maybe others) though considering how much they put into those full docs.

_Man_

 

[Peter Raber]

Personally, and I may be asking too much here, but I would like them to put out 2 different sets.

The first one is the movies only. Of course, both the theatrical and EE on the same discs.

The 2nd one is a mega-set with the aforementioned movies plus extra discs with all the special features, and I mean all of them.

That way everyone can be happy and choose what they really want. Some people might not care about the extras as they have most of them already anyway. Some, like me, would want everything out there in one set.

I don't know how cost prohibitive that would be for the studio, but I am fairly certain they would recoup whatever they invest into this release and then some.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

That will likely depend on when exactly they release them since the BD market is still very small right now.

For what you're suggesting, they're probably best off releasing a full blown version in the near future (for most of us early-ish adopters who'd care) to be followed by a stripped down version *later* (for the average consumers who probably wouldn't care much about extras or even owning 2 different cuts).

The current market probably doesn't justify them doing 2 different simultaneous releases.

_Man_

 

[Peter Raber]

I don't know Man-Fai. That sounds like it punishes anyone who hasn't already jumped on board. Of course, according to what we hear from Peter Jackson this isn't happening until next year anyway so maybe punishing is not the right word. That said I can't really see them releasing the whole ball of wax right off the bat and then a bare bones release a few months later.

They released two versions of Blade Runner recently, 3 if you count the Ultimate Edition which I would certainly expect some type of super special Ultimate Edition for LOTR as well. The bare bones Blade Runner was released first followed by the Ultra Edition. I didn't like that when they did it, because I knew going in that I was only interested in the Ultimate Edition, but I'm sure there were people who grabbed that up and then the Ultimate set 3-4 months later.

IF, and that's still a total unknown at this point, they do more than 1 release (bare bones and ultimate set), then I just hope they release them concurrently. I really don't want them thinking they can gouge us by releasing a bare bones set of just the movies and then the following year release the whole thing. I know there will be a lot of people willing to buy the set twice, but I am not one of them.

 

[Ray H]

I don't know the limitations of Blu-ray. Could they fit the 4-hour 11-min version of ROTK on one disc? They probably could, but quality might suffer. Whatever they decide to do, they could probably include all of the extras on one Blu-ray disc depending on whether they decide to do them in HD as well.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

What barebones Blade Runner on Blu-ray are you talking about? If you're talking about DVD, well, *all* the recent releases are basically double-dips.

FWIW, I jumped into Blu-ray when I did (in late Dec) largely because of the Blade Runner release -- and the fact I wanted the Work Print version included w/out having to buy the briefcase edition.

_Man_

 

[Ric Easton]

I certainly hope they can do it. It would be great to have the whole films uninterrupted by a disc change.

Nevertheless, I'll be first in line when these come out.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

The file size of longer movies is usually closer to 20 gigs than 30 (POTC for instance). I think it highly unlikely they wouldn't keep the LOTR films to a single disc.

 

[ChadMcCallum]

How would everyone feel if all of the extras from the previous three releases were included but in standard definition on a blu-ray disc? I'm sure you could fit everything on one disc (per film) and it would help keep the cost of the set down. You might even have space left over to include deleted scenes and trailers in 720p/1080p. Personally I would be fine with that solution. I don't need talking heads in HD and I didn't mind that the extras Blade Runner set were in SD.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

I doubt that any of the extras were even produced in HD, though it's slightly possible given the extreme effort put forth.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, in general, I think most extras do not need to be in HD, *but* if there are worthwhile deleted scenes and such, I'd want them to be in HD (though it wouldn't be any kind of dealbreaker of course).

Personally, for some titles, I don't even mind just keeping my old DVDs for most of the extras (and the ability to view those films on any old regular DVD player). Offhand, only extras I can think of that probably *need* to be ported are feature-length commentary tracks (or similar) that would run alongside the film, instead of separately from the film.

_Man_

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would definantly prefer the EE as well as they are the version of the movie I watch instead of the theatrical. But I want these movies bad so lets see if I am week or not.

At least we know that they are working on it at this point which is alot more than we know about other titles like Raiders, BTTF, JP or SW to mention a few others that I am dying to own.