Many many epochs past, before claiming its rightful status as the beloved Oscar-winning trilogy known the world over, “The Lord of the Rings” was planned to be a single movie, directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare In Love,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“). Obviously, that didn’t come to pass, and Peter Jackson went in the opposite direction.
Given a nearly unlimited canvas to paint on, and buoyed by global success, the theatrical cuts of each movie were supplemented by extended footage on home video. And when Jackson returned to helm “The Hobbit“ after Guillermo del Toro‘s exit, it wasn’t long until the planned two-movie saga was expanded to yet another trilogy. In short, Jackson has an inexhaustible supply of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s material to put on the big screen, and today at Comic-Con he suggested even more could be coming from “The Lord of the Rings.”
During what was reported to be a pretty dull panel for “The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies,” Jackson casually revealed that even more material from ‘LOTR’ is sitting in a vault somewhere in Arizona, and “if there’s enough interest out there…” it could see the light of day. Sheesh.
No word on what exactly that material constitutes, but does the world need even longer cuts of these films? Your own mileage may vary, but the bread and butter of any blockbuster is how often it can be re-packaged, and we wouldn’t be surprised if WB is already thinking about how to re-re-re-present ‘LOTR’ to audiences down the line for various anniversary box sets, re-releases and more. Thoughts? You know where to leave ’em.
https://twitter.com/empiremagazine/statuses/493107834515517440
https://twitter.com/totalfilm/statuses/493107612171247617
https://twitter.com/joblocom/statuses/493107449440657408
https://twitter.com/EricVespe/statuses/493107438619328512
I wouldn\’t mind this at all. It would be more of something I like. How is that a bad thing? It\’s not like buying them again will bankrupt me. A lot of people are captivated by Jackson\’s vision (as well as the source material) and would love to see more of Jackson\’s hard work. And there are definitely places where you can see that painful cuts were made, particularly in odd, rushed pacing of RotK in the last hour or so. Maybe some additions could improve the films?
I would buy an extended 5-hour edition of all six films IN A HEARTBEAT. I would hope Jackson would include the whole Tom Bombadil and Barrow Wight scene – the scariest scene in the whole book!
Dude! Just let it go man! Obviously it's a cash cow, but how about you create another cash cow?
I would love to see more. Cant wait for the extended Desolation to come out and of course Battle of Five Armies. I have studied JRR for a long time and have started an Elvish reenactment group here in Texas. Love you Peter.
Fine by me. Assuming what he's going to add is drawn from material actually found from the books and not more of the apocryphal extravaganzas he apparently loves to throw in there
How about the version where treebeard was not a stoner, but a wise and ancient being, denethor not a glutton but an ascetic, theoden not a suicidal militarist but a redeemed man seeking a heroic end, and faramir didn't want to turn frodo over to his dad.
Only if I get to see an extended scene with Tom Bombadil and Lady Goldberry and also the Barrow Wights.
If these longer cuts don't include Tom Bombadil and/or the Scouring of the Shire, then Peter Jackson can go stuff it.
well the originals were too long.
I felt that the last one is still going on and on, with 38 different scenes of people saying goodbye that we didn't need.
Enough! These bloated Hobbit movies have already been the "Star Wars prequels" to the original LOTR movies, diminishing their reputation retroactively. (Do you know anyone who has been excited about the Hobbit movies? I don't. People seem to be going to them out of a sense of obligation.) The last thing we need is for the corpses of the LOTR movies to be dug up and strung from wires and made to dance again, like what happened with "Arrested Development". Leave them be.