Digitalbits posted this about the 13 minutes of additional footage:

"Finally this afternoon, a number of you Hobbit fans have expressed disappointment that Warner’s newly-announced The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Extended Edition is only 13 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, when apparently director Peter Jackson has said previously in interviews that it was going to be something more like 20-25 minutes longer, and you’ve asked us here at The Bits for an explanation on all this. There’s also disappointment that there’s only one audio commentary track on the set, when the previous Lord of the Rings: Extended Editions had four each. And many of you say you feel cheated because of all this by Warner, etc, etc….

Look… one hopes that Jackson himself will comment on these issues, because we certainly can’t explain his thinking (and don’t wish to speak for him). However, my own suspicion/opinion is that Jackson almost certainly made these decisions himself and not Warner Home Video – if he’d wanted the cut of the film to be longer he could have made it so, and if he’d wanted or had time to create more commentary tracks for the set he could and/or would have. Do keep in mind, he and the cast and crew are under the gun trying to complete The Desolation of Smaug in time for its theatrical release on December 13th. It’s possible that some of the so-called “missing minutes” are being held for the eventual Extended Edition of Smaug. It’s also not exactly “apples to apples” to compare this release to the previous Rings: Extended Editions – those films were each based on a substantial book of their own, with ample material to mine for additional scenes, whereas The Hobbit is a single book stretched into three separate films – and many critics feel that the first film was already too long theatrically. So... some perspective. Nevertheless, we’ve asked for clarification from our sources on the matter and we’ll see what happens.

For those of you who are truly disappointed, we would suggest visiting Jackson’s Facebook page and (politely!) communicating your feelings there. You never know, maybe you’ll get a direct response."

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/column...ts/080113_1345

The theatrical version should've been about 20 minutes shorter. If it were, those scenes plus these new ones would've given us 30 minutes of footage for the extended version.
They should've done the same with ROTK, and had the theatrical version end where everyone's kneeling to the hobbits, and put the rest in for the extended version.

Curious to see what's new, but I'm also not so massive a LOTR/Hobbit fan that I can't rent for now and wait for the completely-and-utterly inevitable box set down the road, especially if it means more commentaries or a few more features.

Any word if Costa Botes is doing similar documentaries for the Hobbit film like he did for LOTR?

I wonder what the over under is if Desolation gets delayed so Jackson has more time.

Big LOTR fan; both the universe and the films. I skipped the regular Hobbit release knowing the Extended would show up by year end. I love the appendices stuff, so for this release that is really what I'm getting it for. The Hobbit film left me feeling a little odd. Maybe because I've become so pampered with the LOTR: EE, and because it feels really weird taking a short book and stretching it for three films.

What I'm really really hoping to see are long chapters at the start of the appendices stuff. I really want to dig deep about what del Toro had started, the fallout, and how Jackson finally came back. That shit will be fascinating, providing they don't completely just glance over it.

I don't think there was any fallout, just that filming was delayed too many times, and Del Toro wanted to commit to his own projects. I'm guessing we won't see anything extensive on that aspect.

Yeah. It wasn't a fallout. He spent so much time and it kept not happening cuz of the rights bullshit. He came on in April 2008 and left in... May 2010. I think. Anyway, it kept getting delayed and it took a long ass time to get to where it went. It was understandable for him to leave.

Del Toro keeps his fingers in a lot of pies. At any given moment, he's attached to direct half a dozen movies and executive produce twice as many more, plus his role as creative consultant for all DreamWorks Animation movies and allegedly co-writing those "Strain" novels and comic books (which are in the works to become a TV series). He drops in and out of projects all the time. That has less to do with bad blood than simply stretching himself too thin.

And somehow he is still lovably a fat Mexican.

Jealous?

Like butter over too much bread.

It's really a shame about Del Toro; he has all of these grand plans for what sound like really great movies, but it seems like they all end up in development hell and rarely come to fruition. He racks up producer credits like nobody's business, but it seems like he only directs one (non-franchise) movie every six or seven years.

Went to three different stores and was only able to find the 3D edition, which I don't have any use for. I'm guessing the sales on this will be a big downgrade from those of the LOTR EEs.

well the print advertising of this is rather pathetic and nearly non-existent.

I stopped in Best Buy over lunch and couldn't even find it at first. Here I assumed there would be a separate display for it. Yeah right. They had about 8 of the 3D and 2 of the 2D, one of which is now mine. Glad I went when I did.

I can't imagine many casual viewers are all that interested in extended versions of much of anything, and the collectors' market would all have to be pretty internet savvy. The LOTR EEs were genuine novelties at the time, this feels more like an also-ran.

It's hilarious what a small deal this release is compared to Fellowship's extended dvd release.

I'm waiting for the UPS guy to get my copy. I'm watching it this afternoon.

Amazon it is for the 3D edition... $29.99

Walmart wanted $39.96, Best Buy in store only has the steelbook which is missing the 2D disc (BB online does have the 5 disc edition but wants $59.99) and Target is out to lunch and does even have it.

yeah, i ordered the SteelBook™ shipped bc i couldn't make it to the store today and didn't want to deal with the hassle it seems some are having. and oddly enough it wasn't even available for in-store.

Does anyone have the BB steelbook yet? I looked at the back and in the fine print it says: "includes 2D extended edition." If this were true, it would have to contain a fifth disc. As it is, the sticker on the front says exclusive 3 disc version while it's clearly at least 4 discs.

The Steelbook does not have the 2d disc. It's Ultraviolet only. The UK steelbook supposedly will have all 5 discs but it's probably going to be a Jumbo Steelbook.

I think the steelbook only has a code to download a digital version of the 2D extended. Disc-wise, it's only the 3D movie and extras.

I wanted the 3D steelbook but I wasn't willing to sacrifice the audio commentary that is on the 2D disc, so I just went with the standard 3d version instead.

I watched it this afternoon and won't ever be going back to the theatrical cut again. I really did like the altered/extended scene of Thranduil