LOTR: Return of the King Release Date (1 Viewer)

[Kami]

Interesting to see Bloopers and Outtakes. You think they'd save those for the Extended Edition. Heck I think even PJ said they wouldn't be ready for even the ROTK: EE but may be released several years down the road.

It's also slightly worrying that they may cram a 201 minute movie onto a single disc. With a dolby 5.1 track, and alternate language track, subtitles, and the menus all on disc 1 you leave about 4.6Mbps average bitrate for the video. Pretty low, though FOTR and TTT were probably around 5.5Mbps average.

This is part of the reason I am reluctant to post my custom covers yet (I've already made 11 ROTK ones, with more to come). Maybe it'll be 3 discs or stay the same at 2 discs with 1/3 of the feature on disc two or something.

The cover art also says "nominated for 11 academy awards" which seems premature. I think they would rather mention the wins.

This isn't the final cover art...for sure. I guess I will wait til early march to post my covers on my site (see sig) so I can have accurate specs.

AWESOME news about the May 25th release date though. WOOHOO!

 

[Chris_Marin]

I'm pretty certain that The Two Towers theatrical DVD set mentions the nominations.

 

[Kami]

In theory yes, but not with the filtering New Line has been putting on the LOTR releases :frowning:


Really? Well I guess that is different set of cirumstances. Only 4 noms and 2 wins for TTT, makes more sense to mention the noms. If ROTK wins best/pic best direction you can bet your ass it would be mentioned somewhere.


Edit: posted some previews of my ROTK covers on my site. I really like the front of the first one there. I will be making 2-3 different backs for that puppy.

 

[Ric Easton]

LOL! Thanks for the reminder! I'll have it done before the release date. Just hope the May date is true! And here's hoping that the EE gets here sooner than November too!

Ric

 

[Brian W.]

I think you hit the nail right on the head, Colin. I'm sure that's the main reason.

Also, TheOneRing is reporting from a "source" at the DGAs that Jackson again quoted the running time of the EE as 4:10... but this time he said there will be "50 minutes of new scenes." So that would mean the 4:10 INCLUDES credits, since the theatrical version ran 3:12 up to the credits.

 

[NiklasKarlsson]

I saw that exact coverart on DVD CoverArt´s forum yesterday, before the news started to pop up. It was clearly a fan made cover that somebody was working on. It was completely identical with the exception of the listed specs.

My theory is this. Somebody jacked the coverart and basically made up the special features. The sent this out to one news site and then...well you get the idea.

I have got two things that I think supports my theory:

1. The special features on the back are listed really far apart.

2. There is one more thing, but I cant say for sure since I dont know how the spine of FOTR and TTT looks in the UK. But what is that white logo at the top? It just doesnt look right.

But hey, thats just my opinions...

 

[Moe*A]

Its the UK distributors logo

 

[Artur Meinild]

I think the cover is a mockup. A very good one, but it's false. Therefore , I also think the features are made up...

 

[Brian W.]

That raised a red flag for me, too. I'm also skeptical about the bloopers spec.

 

[Haggai]

Oh, hell, you're probably right. Guess I gotta temper my expectations on that one.

 

[MarkHarrison]

That's one way of looking at it. On the other hand, this is the third and final movie. At this point I don't think they need Christmas to help pump up sales. It's going to sell regardless of when it's released.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Definitely - I don't think they NEED to wait until November for it to be a hit. But on the other hand, there's no particularly compelling reason NOT to wait until then. That gives the theatrical cut a few extra months to sell (if it indeed comes out in May), gets the fanboys all the more excited, and still capitalizes on Christmas season sales. A November release makes sure it's front and center on the most prominent retail racks - an August one might shuffle it to the back.

Again, it'll do well at any time of year, but I think this kind of release would particularly benefit from a Christmas season positioning, especially since it's relatively expensive (as DVDs go). And why tamper with success?

 

[Burke Strickland]

Looks like it's "official" -- May 25 for the theatrical release DVD of Return of the King.

ROTK DVD News

 

[oscar_merkx]

good news indeed

 

[DanFe]

The National Geographic special will be on it. Glad I didn't buy that one, but I figured it would be on the 4 disker or the 2 disker.

 

[Mikah Woodward]

Guess that means that they won't use the National Geographic disc as a pack-in in the giftset. If the pattern holds, they'll have to have some sort of extra disc for the set. What could it be? The wait is killing me.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Here's the complete press release from The DVD File site:

Link to Press Release

Where's the Into the West music video??

As we all know, the music video for the first two films was exclusively available only on the theatrical editions of the movie.

 

[Kami]

Not sure where the music video is but I won't really miss it if it's anything like the Gollum's Song music video. It looks like it was randomly generated or whipped up in 10 minutes. Clips were just thrown in whether they fit with the music or not.

BTW my ROTK dvd covers are now up (see link in sig)

 

[Brian W.]

According to The Digital Bits, that unattractive box art for the three-disc set that's been floating around is something that's being released this year, not 2005. It's just the three theatrical versions packaged together.

 

[Jon Mercer]

So whats included in the gift set????
Why oh why would they show it wrapped up is some silly cloth and not show us the goodies??