Amazon is offering a big price drop on The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy, which includes both extended and theatrical editions, in 4K Ultra HD. Right now you can get this set for only $49.99 shipped. That's definitely one of the least expensive ways to get physical copies of every edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although we've seen this deal before, it's usually only during big sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Since Prime Day is months away, this is an excellent opportunity to pick up the set now without having to wait.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (4K UHD) for $49.99
There are quite a few The Lord the Rings movie sets out there, which can definitely get confusing. This particular set includes the three movies in the main LotR trilogy, which includes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Each movie is available in both its theatrical and extended edition formats, and all are mastered in 4K UHD. The three theatrical editions are each on one separate 4K UHD Blu-ray disc. The three extended editions are each on two separate 4K UHD Blu-ray discs because they are simply too long to be put on a single disc. That totals out to 9 discs. Unfortunately no bonus extra special features disc is included in this set.
If this completes your Middle Earth collection, here's how to watch every movie in chronological order, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Hobbit trilogy, and The War of the Rohirrim animated feature. If you also want to include Amazon's Rings of Power TV series, then you'll want to start with that first because it takes place thousands of years earlier.
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How Different are the Extended Editions from the Originals?
The theatrical vs. extended debate has raged endlessly ever since The Lord of the Rings movies have been available on home video. Because New Line Cinema couldn’t expect your average audience to sit in their seats for more than three hours three Decembers in row, the movies were trimmed a tad, and now exist as the official theatrical cuts. There’s nothing wrong with these versions of the movies; they’re just a little shorter (they’re all still well over two hours), and some would argue that they’re tighter paced and more action-driven than the meandering extended versions.
But the extended versions have much more stuff, adding scenes here and there, elongating a few other ones, and offering context you wouldn’t necessarily get (or know you needed) if you were watching the shortened versions. The main difference is length: The Fellowship of the Ring extended runs about 30 minutes longer, The Two Towers about 45, and The Return of the King has nearly an hour of extra footage you don’t see in the theatrical cut. Sure, they’re a lot longer, but if you get to spend even more time in Middle Earth, can you really complain?
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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