Terrell

Yep! If this thread was about Lucas doing this with the Star Wars DVDs, people would be burning him in effigy right now. But since it's not Lucas, it's okay. It's called being a hypocrite.

Hell, why not. They've only made 2 films and they've already managed to release 3 different DVD sets of each within a span of 4 months, something Lucas never did. 2-disc, 4-disc, and 5-disc gift set. It's perfectly okay if you're fine with that, but don't go defending this and then bitch like a baby when Lucas puts out more than one set.

jekbrown

i'd be pissed if they DIDNT offer an uber-box set!!! if any films ever deserved to have one, its LotR!!!!!!!!

j

jekbrown

forget that, I want the 500 DVD set that shows the making of LotR in real time.

j

Gyno Rhino

The point here, though, is that Jackson and Co. TOLD US before even the 2-Disc version was out that the four and five disc versions were coming.

darqleo

Jackson's doing it for the money, huh?

Q: What happens on the extended version of this one?

JACKSON: The extended versions are interesting because I do the extended versions for the fans, really. To me every time I put a scene in it, it's mucking up the momentum. The theatrical versions are very carefully worked out. We spent a whole year trying to get the best possible cut. I do the extended cuts because we have 30-40 minutes of footage that people are interested in, fans of the books. It's usually related to something that's in the book. It's a legitimate part of the adaptation of the Lord of the Rings and you can either have it lost forever or you can put an extended cut out. So I do these extended cuts thinking that people will like to see these scenes. But I'm aware every time I put something in [that] the momentum of the scene going to be slow. This is going to slow the first act down. Every time I think I'm spoiling the film, but I'm doing it because people want to see it and they'll see it in their home. The DVD has a different dynamic. You can watch it over two nights or you can pause it and make a cup of tea. The whole pacing on the DVD seems to have a different requirement or level of commitment from the audience. Then I read these reviews that say this is so much better than the theatrical version. And I think, 'Oh God!' The big question is, if you took this 3 hour and 40 minute version of the Two Towers and released it in the cinemas, what would people have thought of it? Everyone would have criticized it for being too long. Yet on video, they think it's better. I'm finding it fascinating because it's new. It's a whole different development in filmmaking that's because of the new technology and the way DVDs are establishing themselves. Packages for fans, the documentary materials, it's interesting. I don't know quite what the rules are.

Q: How do you address how long to make the extended versions?

JACKSON: I read criticism about us with the discs, but I don't know quite what the answer is. I don't know what it is that people want in actual fact so I don't know what the criticism is. If people are saying, 'Why can't we have a set that has the theatrical version and the extended version?' I'm not sure it's what they want, because if you do that it's going to cost more money. If we release a four-disc set, if you want the theatrical version and the other stuff, it's going to be a six-disc set and you're going to be charged for a six-disc set. What we're trying to do, we've tried deliberately to be good people. We put out the theatrical version for people who just want the movie in their collection. That's done with a disc with special features, so they have extra stuff and they have the theatrical version and it's as cheap as it can possibly be. Then we think the only people who are going to want to have the six hours of documentaries are going to be the aficionados and presumably they're going to be happy that we're giving them an alternative version of the film. If the theatrical version is all you want then that's the only one you'll have to buy. If you want everything, you're going to get charged for it.

Q: What's the definitive version of these films?

JACKSON: The theatrical versions are the definitive versions. I regard the extended cuts as being a novelty for the fans that really want to see the extra material.

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/445/445262p1.html

BlackBeauty92

PJ

Kumar J

Peter Jackson is truly a great guy!

Jepthah

Of course, Jackson et al. have on numerous occasions quietly let slip that they (along with the more devoted fans) definitely prefer the extended versions..."definitive" indeed...

chucks888

Where?

Qui Gon Jim

WORD!

Qui Gon Jim

They ALL do it for the money. Lucas, Jackson, New Line, Jacques Cousteau! None of them are self-sacrificing! Get it through your thick skulls!

Also, he is pandering here. I love PJ and LOTR as much as anyone; they guy has vision and the films are great. The real reason the EEs are not the released theatrically? The theaters don't want 4 hour movies. It cuts into the number of repeat showings per day. The studios work with with theaters to place movies, and you would not see LOTR in 4 or 5 different rooms if it were 4 hours long. Without question, the EEs are more complete both as adaptations of the books and as movies.

However I have always been a supporter of New Line's release strategy of the films. This too is win/win. They get JSP's $20 for the theatrical cuts. They don't scare away the impulse buy by making the movies very expensive. If these were 6-disc sets then they would be in the realm of $45 -per. It's easier to justify $25 for the EE versions a few months after spending $15 on the theatrical cut. I have always seen these as 6-disc sets.

NOW, if GL says in advance that there will be multiple versions of SW on DVD, I don't wanna hear anyone bitch!

sracer

For a bunch of people who proclaim "everything is relative", "there is no black or white...only gray" I find it interesting that one must lump Jackson and Lucas together or be called a hypocrite.

The two situations are very different, but I can see that if one were to take a high-level superficial view of it, they would appear to be the same.

I'll admit though, that if we are to believe the truthfullness of Lucas and Jackson equally, then the differences aren't as great as they appear.

...then the question becomes, why do people (myself included) find Lucas to be a bit more disingenuous?

darqleo

NOW, if GL says in advance that there will be multiple versions of SW on DVD, I don't wanna hear anyone bitch!

Why would they bitch, I thought that is what the people wanted? I think people would be doing cartwheels in dvdtalk land if the Original Theatrical Version and whatever Edition he feels he needs to concoct were both released.

Giles

Not to reiterate too much of what others have posted here, but the fact of the matter is that rough cuts of the films were tremendously long, and while it wouldn't be necesary to add all footage back into the films for an "uber-cut" of the Trilogy, I would be curious if another version of the film does get released on DVD, where devout fans could see all the footage shot. Secondly, on a technical side, a new DVD without the mega extras and commentaries could possibly free up the 'compression' and improve the video (and audio) aspect of the DVD (ala 'Superbit').

Spiky

Hmm. Maybe this is why there's a new version of the book out that has Viggo on the cover and is only one volume, no breaks.

Jepthah

I don't have the time to fish around right now, but I've read it in more than one internet-published interview and even in one magazine article, I think...check theonering.net and tolkienonline.com.

talemyn

I disagree with you on this one (except for New Line). Money will only get you to work so hard . . . to do what these guys have done/are doing, with all of the work it involves and all of the crap that they have to pur up with, you have to be doing it because you love it (the movies and/or the work). PJ and GL do it because they love the movies, the stories, and they love directing . . . Cousteau did it because he loved being a scientist. Money is secondary.

TCG

^^^
i largely agree with you, talemyn.

anyway, to buy another SE of LOTR would require even longer extended versions (hopefully as one film). i dont think there are any more extras that i want, but maybe if PJ went back and added in Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow, more Huorn footage, and that already filmed scene where Frodo appears as Gollum (on TTT:EE disc 4), then I'd probably buy it.

demonio

I agree with talemyn as well, those guys put too much of their life in the movies, especially Lucas, he had more than enough money before and he didn't have to do this last trilogy (and alot of you wish he didn't but he did) , but when its all said and done at least 10 years of his life has gone by working on it.

One word......Passion!

Qui Gon Jim

I think I was misunderstood. What I meant is that for all these filmmakers, making movies is their job. PJ and GL definitely love what they do, and it shows. I just hate when I hear "so-and-so isn't in it for the money, but obviously so-and-so is." Of course PJ got paid for LOTR, and he deserves it! SO does GL and all the others! Thank god for their passion!

chucks888

Well, you don't have to fish around. This is proof that Peter Jackson "definitely prefer the extended versions" as you say, is completely false.

From aintiticool interview:


PJ: ....You get excited about it, and, really, what, for me, is behind the excitement is the fact that one day this could be a finished movie that you could look at and other people could see.

AIC : Which film do you consider that: the theatrical or (the Extended Editions)?

PJ: The theatrical versions. The DVD versions… it’s so interesting, because it’s all so new, this DVD thinking, a new way of thinking about filmmaking. It’s just kind of fun. (Pause.) I mean, the films that we’ve cut and released theatrically I regard as being the best versions of the movies that we should have in theaters. The motivation for the DVD’s is to give the fans the stuff that we couldn’t include in the films. And it has only grown out of the fact that we have so much footage. We didn’t ever think we were doing extended cuts when we were shooting the movie, but when we started to cut the films, and we realized there were all of the scenes that weren’t going to be in the movie, we just thought, “Well, these are good scenes, they’re legitimate parts of the book, they’re scenes that people would be wanting… or expecting to see.” So, we put them in this alternative version of the fans. At the time, I felt that I was sacrificing pacing and momentum in order for these scenes to go in, but I figured that the theatrical version exists, so this is like a version for the real aficionados who want to see this extra material. Clearly, the dynamics of DVD is different: you can get up and have a cup of tea anytime you like, you can pause it, you can watch it over two nights. Now, I read reviews where people say that the extended cuts are much better than the theatrical cuts. That’s the response that some people are happening. The unknown factor that you can never really know is would the extended cuts have gone down so well if they were the theatrical releases, and you had people sitting in the cinema for three hours forty minutes instead of three hours. Who knows? I don’t really regard them as the definitive versions of the movies, but I’m happy… every time I see a review where someone says, “Oh, this is better than the theatrical version.” I’m happy because they like the DVD version. That’s a nice thing to read. But I’m too close to it. I don’t really know.

I've never read/heard/seen anywhere where PJ stated he preferred the EEs. Don't know where you got that idea.

Qui Gon Jim

I am sure that PJ is being a bit political here. He won't come out and say "the studio and theaters put a 3 hour time limit on my fim." Clearly the EE's are the intended cuts of the films. The pacing and character development is so much better in the EEs. I love the thearicals, but the EE's are definitely superior.
The success of FOTR and even bigger success of TTT has put the ball back in PJ's court, and I am sure that is why ROTK has a longer running time.

Gerry P.

...or maybe he's being honest.

djtoell

Why not? Directors say this all the time. Jackson wouldn't ruffle any feathers to say it. Sorry, but your rationalization doesn't hold any water.

DJ

chipmac

Count me as one who thinks PJ prefers the EEs. He's said that the EEs are for the fans of the book and that they would want to see these scenes added and I think we can agree that he's one of the book's biggest fans.