DVD Talk Forum - LOTR - Return of the King

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- - LOTR - Return of the King - 4+ hrs long! (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/291367-lotr-return-king-4-hrs-long.html)

Quote:

Originally posted by SunMonkey
A few points.

* Theaters would likely LOVE being able to have an intermission since most of their revenue comes from concession sales. An intermission would mean more money for them. In fact, when TT came to my local discount theater, they did add an intermission.

problem is, how long would an intermission have to be to accomodate a PACKED theater all getting in line for concessions at once? thats another hour!

Three hours and 15 minutes would be okay, but I think four is definitely asking too much out of people. I think the EE DVD format is around for a reason with these films.

I don't thnk 4+ hours is really too much.

Hell, in the 30's and 40's, 4 hours was a typical day at the movies (2 flicks, newsreels, trailers, shorts, cartoons, etc.)

And when I saw Branagh's "Hamlet" at the movies, it was a much easier sit than expected.

I do think an intermission, however, will be a necessity.

Personally, since I know this would be an issue for theatre owners, I would love to see a two-tier release. In select theatres, run the 4-hour version, while letting others run a shorter version. Sort of like they did back in the day with Saturday Night Fever playing in theatres in both PG and R rated versions.

Quote:

Originally posted by Panda Phil
I'll believe 4+ hours for the EE DVD version. Doubtful for the theatrical release.

Anybody have a copy of the book handy? How does the page count compare to the first two parts? It's been a long time since I read the series, but i seem to recall a lot of the book was made of background notes and appenix's. And we already know the scouring of the Shire won't make it to the sceen.

Seems to me that even the 3 hour version is going to require some padding.

The book Return of the King is significantly shorter than FOTR or TTT, due to the lengthly appendices and indexes at the end. Of course, there is still some significant action from TTT that has not been covered yet, so ROTK will be 3 hours at a minimum, even with the scouring of the shire removed (it's not that long in the book anyhow).

Jackson has already stated that ROTK will be as long as it needs to be. There's really very little in ROTK that can be cut, although I imagine the ending will be tightened a great deal.

I'd rather see a longer theatrical cut that flows better than a quicker, but choppier movie like TTT, even if it cuts into the ability to make the Extended Edition much longer than the theatrical cut.

The 4 hour+ rumor has been denied over on theonering.net.

I'd bet on 3 hrs, 15 minutes, the same as Titanic.

4 hours, finally a reason for $8 movie tickets.

Quote:

Originally posted by Cusm
4 hours, finally a reason for $8 movie tickets.

Although I wouldn't mind a 4 hour finale, I think the theatrical version will be much shorter. A 4 hour movie would not "cycle" enough for revenue purposes. You'd have to provide many more theaters showing the movie to get the runs needed for the demand. It won't happen. It's hard enough with 3 hours. My guess is that it will be barely over 3 hours, and that the "extended" version cut released on DVD will be around the 4 hour mark.

I'm curous to see the final DVD set of all three stringed together in extended form --- 13 hours 30 minutes. Now THAT would be a great movie.