Pre-Order The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (4k UHD Steelbook) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

I can't watch the Hobbit films "flat" anymore. I own the extended 3D, and they are spectacular.

However, I'm really excited to see the original LOTR films in 4K. I'll be buying those day one.

 

[Wayne_j]

Why does Best Buy and Amazon both show prices higher than the MSRP? (At least in the past 2 days when I first checked them.)

 

[PMF]

Whatever may be ahead for my first-time viewing of “The Hobbit”; along with the collective critiques that came from Tolkien purists and loyalists; I can confidently state that I’m very glad that this project was in the hands of Peter Jackson.

LOTR was a brilliantly bold, daunting and fully realized undertaking. If Mr. Jackson were to never produce another film, his vision of Middle Earth represents an epicenter of genius and mastery, as thankfully seen and experienced within our movie-going lifetime.

LOTR is Mr. Jackson’s “Gone with the Wind”, “Citizen Kane” and “Lawrence of Arabia” all rolled into one. Were he to be searching for another epic and near impossible book to screen project, I would elect for him to take on Joseph Conrad’s “Nostromo”. It is my belief that this once scripted treatment, as penned by Robert Bolt, is still in existence.

 

[David Norman]

Why does Best Buy and Amazon both show prices higher than the MSRP? (At least in the past 2 days when I first checked them.)

I'm not sure, but I'm not 100% sure what the MSRP is supposed to be. The Press release mention ERP which I'm not sure (??Expect Retail Price or Enterprise RP) is the same thing. I'll have to wait until more sites which show MSRP directly to put it up since Amazon and BBY Prices are there own internal list price.

OTOH, with 6-7 weeks before release the price is likely to drop several times anyway so I have a hard time paying much attention to Day 1 listings

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Whatever may be ahead for my first-time viewing of “The Hobbit”; along with the collective critiques that came from Tolkien purists and loyalists; I can confidently state that I’m very glad that this project was in the hands of Peter Jackson.

LOTR was a brilliantly bold, daunting and fully realized undertaking. If Mr. Jackson were to never produce another film, his vision of Middle Earth represents an epicenter of genius and mastery, as thankfully seen and experienced. within our movie-going lifetime.

LOTR is Mr. Jackson’s “Gone with the Wind”, “Citizen Kane” and “Lawrence of Arabia” all rolled into one. Were he to be searching for another epic and near impossible book to screen project, I would elect for him to take on Joseph Conrad’s “Nostromo”. It is my belief that this once scripted treatment, as penned by Robert Bolt, is still in existence.

Absolutely agree. Peter Jackson was the only man for the job and he did an incredible job bringing those books to life on the screen. To compare those films to "Gone With The Wind" and "Citizen Kane" is spot on. For our generation, and those to come, LORD OF THE RINGS is a masterpiece in filmmaking.

Though many of us have a difference of opinion on THE HOBBIT trilogy that followed, Chuck Mayer has an excellent read in THE HOBBIT MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY thread that is well worth a read.

It's always interesting to get a perspective on these films from avid fans who really know the books. I read them all when I was a kid, but can't put my finger on the pulse of it all like Chuck did.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

It's too bad we won't see Peter Jackson's Let It Be documentary this year.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Jackson was involved in the UHD remastering. Hopefully Fellowship looks better than the older BluRay- I have thought the tint was a little off- looked a little green to me (that could be me- I am slightly color blind )

 

[JoshZ]

Jackson was involved in the UHD remastering. Hopefully Fellowship looks better than the older BluRay- I have thought the tint was a little off- looked a little green to me (that could be me- I am slightly color blind )

It's not just you. That disc was decidedly too green.

 

[Mark-P]

I hope this isn’t going to devolve into arguments about the color-grading. The series was purposely color-graded in a manner to look other-worldly and not realistic to our world.

 

[JoshZ]

I hope this isn’t going to devolve into arguments about the color-grading. The series was purposely color-graded in a manner to look other-worldly and not realistic to our world.

The Blu-ray of the first film had additional green added to it beyond how it looked in the original color timing. Neither of the sequels were affected, which makes the green tint on Fellowship stand out very badly.

You can rationalize and make excuses for this all you want, but the fact remains that it was a revisionist color grading decision.

 

[Mark-P]

You can rationalize and make excuses for this all you want, but the fact remains that it was a revisionist color grading decision.

Yes I know that Jackson re-graded the films after the original releases and it was his right to do so. He also recut them into extended editions. Filmmakers are allowed to revise their own works.

 

[JoshZ]

Yes I know that Jackson re-graded the films after the original releases and it was his right to do so. He also recut them into extended editions. Filmmakers are allowed to revise their own works.

And we are allowed to dislike their revisions if the revisions are dumb.

The Lord of the Rings story doesn't take place inside The Matrix. The green tint looks weird and inappropriate. And if that's really what Jackson wanted, why didn't he grade either of the sequels to match it? The first movie now looks very different from the later two.

 

[Robert Crawford]

And we are allowed to dislike their revisions if the revisions are dumb.

The Lord of the Rings story doesn't take place inside The Matrix. The green tint looks weird and inappropriate. And if that's really what Jackson wanted, why didn't he grade either of the sequels to match it? The first movie now looks very different from the later two.

Is anybody saying otherwise? Anyhow, has Jackson ever commented why he made that decision?

 

[JoshZ]

Anyhow, has Jackson ever commented why he made that decision?

I'm not even sure we ever got official confirmation that it was a deliberate decision made by Jackson. The whole green tint could have been a studio error for all we know.

 

[Mark-P]

There was an official statement from the studio that the Blu-ray was correct and approved by Jackson.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Is anybody saying otherwise? Anyhow, has Jackson ever commented why he made that decision?

Well he never did completely grade the first film because they switched to a DI late in the process.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I can't watch the Hobbit films "flat" anymore. I own the extended 3D, and they are spectacular.

Yeah, I'll watch the 2D "Hobbit" trilogy for my review, but if/when I view those films again, it'll be 3D.

Now if the "Hobbit" 4Ks used the 48 fps frame rate, that'd be different, but I saw nothing in the press release that indicated they would...

 

[JoshZ]

There was an official statement from the studio that the Blu-ray was correct and approved by Jackson.

Okey doke. Must have missed that at the time.

Well he never did completely grade the first film because they switched to a DI late in the process.

That doesn't explain why the next two movies, which did have full DIs, don't have the green tint he allegedly wanted. And if he supposedly really did want the whole trilogy to be tinted green (in much the same way George Lucas "always wanted" Greedo to shoot first), why did he only re-grade the first movie when he was prepping the Blu-ray releases for all three? This story just doesn't line up with what actually happened.

I'd say odds are very strong that Fellowship will be re-graded again when it comes to UHD, and will no longer have the green tint, much like the UHD for Ridley Scott's Alien removed all the teal-and-orange crap that Scott had inflicted on the Blu-ray edition.

 

[JoshZ]

Now if the "Hobbit" 4Ks used the 48 fps frame rate, that'd be different, but I saw nothing in the press release that indicated they would...

The UHD format does not support 48 fps. The format does support 60 fps (see Gemini Man), but the Hobbit films were only photographed in 48 fps and would need to have frame interpolation added to them to convert to 60.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I will be purchasing both the LOTR and The Hobbit trilogy's on 4K blu-ray and can not wait! This however like many other titles purchased is the last time I will be purchasing titles over again! 4K is that more than good enough for me and I see no reason to buy anything again after 4K. Did not realize these where coming out till I saw it in my email this morning.