Another source says LOTR: Return of the King will have a very long running time!!!

[kami]

Yup, just like the extended edition of FOTR was supposed to be 5 hrs long.

And the theatrical release of TTT was supposed to be 3 1/2 hrs long.

ROTK will be no longer than 3.5 hrs at the most. I'm thinking 3:15.

The 5 hour thing was baseless though...wishful thinking. yeah he had a cut that long once but that's about it. No one official ever said anything.

TTT theatrical was rumored to be 2:45, then 3:30, then 3:00 and finally it was confirmed it was 3:00.

This ROTK thing is more hopeful because #1 PJ has been quoted as saying "it will be as long as it needs to be"...#2 Elijah Wood accidentally let something slip in an interview, and now #3 Dark Horizons who has been pretty accurate with LOTR info in the past, #4 they moved many things from TTT to ROTK and they will need the time for them (Palantir/Post-Isengard destruction, Shelob, etc. ring a bell??? )

I'm not saying it's TRUE, I'm just saying when you take all of this into account there's a pretty good chance it will indeed be that long.

 

[kami]

Here's a guy who took a DAMN LONG time to think over what needs to be in the film and how long it might be. An interesting analysis...
linkage

By his guesses, he thinks it can be done in 3h 26m (not including credits).

 

[HappyPuppy]

I'll wait for the DVD, thank you.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Damn...

Lord of the Rings could have easily been broken into six 2-hour movies. I'm still amazed at how much was left out of the Two Towers and it still runs 3 hours!

Yup, Im reading the books for the first time and I got to the part in the two towers where they deafeat Saruman and thats not even HALF of the book. Yet the movie ends with the defeat of Saruman. However, I was reading ahead a little bit(couldnt wait to see whats going to happen ) and I realized that the other half of the book is probably about Frodo/Sam.

 

[TallBill]

you people seriuosly cant hold yer bladder for 4 hours? i pee twice a day. once in the morning, once at night

 

[HendrixFan]

It should be easier to put out if the running time is longer. From what Ive seen the most difficult part of making the last two was paring down the movies to fit the 3hr constraint. Given their multiple camera angles for hundreds of hours of footage, trimming all that down to a smaller running time while maintaining good flow and clear storytelling is tough. Going with a longer cut would actually be much easier on the editors, who IMO have the toughest job on the trilogy.

Ive read about problems with the FX, and reshoots being needed. Are the two related?

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
I'll wait for the DVD, thank you.

I think you mean DVDs.

 

[joohang]

Longer = not necessarily less money.

A lot of people watched it more than once.

 

[HendrixFan]

Longer means they will have to show less times each day. Spiderman got a huge boost by being able to fit in twice as many showings per day as Two Towers. Same number of reels, same number of screens, but twice as many showings.

 

[Skel]

Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Skel
Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

ugh, that would have been aweful to watch in pieces. 3 is bad enough.. i'd prefer a 12 hour movie

 

[zephyrprime]

It seems possible to me that they might split the movie into 2 movies if its running time is really so long.

 

[ElFenix]

woot!

cathoder? wth is that?

 

[kami]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
It seems possible to me that they might split the movie into 2 movies if its running time is really so long.

never gonna happen.

Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

Would HBO be able to fork up $300+ million? I don't want a low budget LOTR!

 

[KokomoGST]

I feel a lot of people don't want to see it more than once in a movie theater... honestly, my eyes need a break...
It's good that the extended edition DVDs have a break in them... and you can watch at your own pace.

How well does LOTR do in video sales in comparison to Spidey?

 

[Skel]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: Skel
Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

ugh, that would have been aweful to watch in pieces. 3 is bad enough.. i'd prefer a 12 hour movie

But it would have rocked when they all came out on DVD...

 

[Skel]

Originally posted by: kami

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
It seems possible to me that they might split the movie into 2 movies if its running time is really so long.

never gonna happen.

Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

Would HBO be able to fork up $300+ million? I don't want a low budget LOTR!

I don't think it would have taken $300+ million in order for it to Rock, look what they were able to do with Band of Brothers...

 

[kami]

Originally posted by: Skel

Originally posted by: kami

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
It seems possible to me that they might split the movie into 2 movies if its running time is really so long.

never gonna happen.

Another reason that I thought they should have been a miniseries on HBO/Showtime, then in the theaters..

Would HBO be able to fork up $300+ million? I don't want a low budget LOTR!

I don't think it would have taken $300+ million in order for it to Rock, look what they were able to do with Band of Brothers...

Are you nuts? :Q Did Band of Brothers have the Ents, Gollum, Helm's Deep, the two big battles in ROTK (which are bigger than Helm's Deep), The Balrog, etc.?? $300m is stretching it. The only reason they were able to keep it so low is because they filmed it all at once.

The only way I can see a mini-series doing any good is for The Silmarillion. Each episode could be another story from the book.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Karsten
Whoooohooo...

(is it time yet?)

 

[440sixpack]

Originally posted by: 01
My ass numbs just thinking about theater seats for that long.

But I could handle it.

AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

But I'm drooling at the thought too. I'm bringing in my own cushion for that one.

 

[Dragnov]

I'll believe it when I see it.

I remember the huge hype jsut like this regarding FotR (wow, a whopping 30min. addition in the Directors Cut thats barely noticeable) and especially the TTT.

 

[Spikey217]

Originally posted by: 01
My ass numbs just thinking about theater seats for that long.

But I could handle it.

 

[kami]

From IMDBPro:

"Rumors in early 2003 have it that the first cut is six hours long because of the amount of material from Tolkien's original story that remains to be covered."

This gives a little more hope to the chance of a nice 3.5-4 hour theatrical cut

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

they should just split the last one and make it a 4 part series. i don't want to be incontinent later in life just because PJ thought he needed to get everything in within 3 parts, without intermission