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[EdReedFan20]

So, I recently rewatched the Lord of the Rings Extended Trilogy. The movies (on Blu-Ray) are split into two discs (as they are on DVD). I wanted to figure out how long each "half" movie was. The result was pretty crazy. Each half movie was essentially a feature length movie in its own right.

Below are the results. I did not include credits as part of the length, as the first parts obviously do not contain any credits:

FOTR- Part I: 01:45:43 (105 Minutes, 43 Seconds)
FOTR- Part I: 01:35:01 (95 Minutes, 01 Second))

TT- Part I: 01:46:39 (106 Minutes, 39 Seconds)
TT- Part II: 01:48:16 (108 Minutes, 16 Seconds)

ROTK- Part I: 02:07:40 (127 Minutes, 40 Seconds)
ROTK- Part II: 01:53:56 (113 Minutes, 56 Seconds)

LOTR Extended Trilogy: 10:57:15 (657 Minutes, 15 Seconds)

Not that I'd like to see them do this, but if NewLine/WB ever got desperate enough, they probably could rerelease the movies like this as a six-picture saga. As for the Hobbit Extended Trilogy, the results are still impressive, just less so, as they are, on the whole, shorter movies.

Edit: For completion sake, here's The Lord of the Rings (theatrical edition) and The Hobbit (theatrical and extended editions), which again do not account for end credits.

FOTR: 02:50:42 (170 Minutes, 42 Seconds)
TT: 02:51:37 (171 Minutes, 37 Seconds)
ROTK- 3:12:10 (192 Minutes, 10 Seconds)
LOTR Trilogy: 8:54:29 (534 Minutes, 29 Seconds)

AUJ: 02:39:32 (159 Minutes, 32 Seconds))
DOS: 02:30:55 (150 Minutes, 55 Seconds))
BOTFA: 02:11:35 (131 Minutes, 35 Seconds))
Hobbit Trilogy: 07:22:02 (442 Minutes, 02 Seconds)

AUJ- Part I: 01:39:05 (99 Minutes, 05 Seconds)
AUJ- Part II: 01:13:20 (73 Minutes, 28 Seconds))

DOS- Part I: 01:36:05 (96 Minutes, 05 Seconds)
DOS- Part II: 01:20:07 (80 Minutes, 07 Seconds))

BOTFA- Part I: 1:30:54 (90 Minutes, 54 Seconds)
BOTFA- Part II: 01:00:04 (60 Minutes, 4 Seconds))

Hobbit Extended Trilogy: 8:19:35 (499 Minutes, 35 Seconds))

As a result, if you were crazy enough to watch the Middle-Earth Saga in one sitting, this is the runtime for both theatrical and extended:

ME Theatrical: 16:16:31 (976 Minutes, 31 Seconds)
ME Extended: 19:16:50 (1156 Minutes, 50 Seconds))

 

[louiedog]

I tried to marathon the extended trilogy shortly after ROTK hit DVD and very much regretted it. I just don't have the movie stamina.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I marathoned the entire extended trilogy in a day once. Once.

Usually I stick to one a day, two tops during my annual watch.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Still remember in college when my roommate asked to watch my copy of LOTR

I said sure whatever and of course forgot I had both versions

3 hours later he comes back to me asking how the hell long these movies are

lol

 

[EdReedFan20]

I tried to marathon the extended trilogy shortly after ROTK hit DVD and very much regretted it. I just don't have the movie stamina.

Could you imagine if NL/WB decided to release them as shown above, where instead of the franchise being from 2001-2003, they were able to stretch it to 2001-2006?

Also, I did my marathon the week after Christmas 2004, after getting the ROTK EE. Yup. Probably never again. Though, it definitely was a much more cohesive experience than when I did a marathon of the Original Star Wars Trilogy. As they are not truly one long story, a marathon is not necessary.

I may do a marathon again if NL/WB ever releases a super-edit of the movies into one long movie, simply called The Lord of the Rings, which is technically how the book is/was meant to be, before Tolkien was convinced to split it up into a trilogy.

 

[Gouty]

One disc a night for six nights is the best way to watch the trilogy.

 

[Xe4]

When I have time for the EE I do one per night for three nights in a row. That's the best way to do it I think.

 

[Benzychenz]

Holy crap I didn't realise how extended they were.

I've only ever watched the theatrical versions.

 

[funkystudent]

They are ridiculously long.


I love em. Hard to find time to watch them with s job though.

 

[EdReedFan20]

Holy crap I didn't realise how extended they were.

I've only ever watched the theatrical versions.

They're even longer if you take credits into account, especially with the EEs. They have credits after the credits that show off names of the Lord of the Rings Official Fan Club members.

 

[SkullHydra]

One disc a night for six nights is the best way to watch the trilogy.

When I have time for the EE I do one per night for three nights in a row. That's the best way to do it I think.

Heretics.

I try and find time to marathon the extended trilogy in a single day once a year or so with my best friend, wife, and brother. We've seen them so many times that we quote most of the series.

The only way to do it.

 

[orochi91]

Me and my sister marathon the Extended trilogy usually once a year, lol

These are such great films.

 

[Strangelove77]

I love the extended versions but I've only ever seen them once. It just feels like a big commitment to rewatch.

 

[GDJustin]

Best way to watch LOTR trilogy:

FotR EE
TT Theatrical
RotK Theatrical

 

[Chichikov]

I tried to marathon the extended trilogy shortly after ROTK hit DVD and very much regretted it. I just don't have the movie stamina.

My friend who is a huge fan of LOTR (both the movies and the book) went to marathon showing leading to the release of Return of The King and he regretted it mighty.
It's funny, as the only movie he ever walked out of was probably his favorite movie of all time.

Personally, I thought the theatrical releases themselves were way too long, I only watched the Fellowship of The Ring extended edition and I thought it made the movie worse overall. But as to the OP's proposal, in broad terms it sounds like a good idea, the question is if there's a place to make that cut that would make sense and wouldn't upset audiences. I don't know where the DVDs/BluRay do it exactly.

 

[EdReedFan20]

If Lord of the Rings was ever made into one movie (not taking end credits into account) it would be this long: 10:57:15 (657 Minutes, 15 Seconds)

Personally, I thought the theatrical releases themselves were way too long,.

They are are long. Again not taking end credits into account, the theatrical versions are:

FOTR: 02:50:42 (170 Minutes, 42 Seconds)
TT: 02:51:37 (171 Minutes, 37 Seconds)
ROTK- 3:12:10 (192 Minutes, 10 Seconds)
Trilogy: 8:54:29 (534 Minutes, 29 Seconds)

 

[Borgnine]

Not even close because you didn't take into account watching all the apendecies for every film.

 

[Madao]

reading this topic, i realized that i've actually never watched all the EEs. i did attend a marathon that had the first 2's EEs way back in the day when RotK debuted in cinemas in 2003 but RotK itself didn't have an EE yet and that was like half a day at the cinema (they had breaks between films because, yeah, these need breaks)

i've had the LotR EE trilogy on Bluray for a few years and still haven't watched them. it's a big time commitment and i feel like spacing them out too much would be bad (i watched the 24 film Bond run at 1 movie per week in 2013 but one week per movie won't work that well here imo). i got the Hobbit EE trilogy recently so it might be a good time to do this early next year (too many games to play by end of the year)

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Me watching extended version of ROTK

"Just get to the fucking top of Mt Doom already for fuck sakes! Holy shit!"

*Golem shows up*

"Oh come on!!!!"

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Recently got the Extended versions and marathoned them. Did FOTR on the 7th. Had to split The Two Towers between the 10th and 11th, but watched ROTK later that day.

 

[nomis]

thanks for reminding me i still haven’t seen that last cursed hobbit film

 

[Evo Shandor]

Remember doing a one day marathon for these films. By the end of Fellowship, we were cracking open beer bottles.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

As a teen I would watch them to fill time during the school holidays. I watched every movie with every commentary track on the extended DVD sets, and I watched all of the special features. Suffice it to say that I'm a bit tired of them. It's probably been 10 years or more since I watched them but I just can't do it anymore.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Shoot now im tempted to buy the Extended Trilogy on Blu-Ray.

Should I go forgot or wait for a 4K version?

 

[arab]

i could watch the original trilogy extended forever

 

[EdReedFan20]

Edit- Added to the original post.

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

For me it flew by. I was super into it.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

More Boromir is always a plus.

 

[EdReedFan20]

While The Battle of the Five Armies is not quite feature length in my mind (just over 60 minutes long). The Middle-Earth Saga can almost be seen as 12 feature length movies. That's insane!