DVD News

ROTK: EE announced...again!

By John Lewis Sep 25, 2004, 20:46 GMT

A couple of weeks ago we posted a story saying that New Line had finally announced the DVD release of the extended version of The Return of the King. The following day they retracted the advert which they had put in Video Store's magazine announcing the release of the DVD. But now lo and behold they have finally announced the title. The release date is still December 12th though which is almost a month later than when the previous two extended titles were released. As promised here's the details on all of the extras.DISCS 1-2: The Feature(approx. 250 minutes) A new version of the final installment in the epic trilogy! The Academy-Award® winning film now has 50 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film for this highly-anticipated video release: - Widescreen (2.35:1) version of the Special Extended - Edition- Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound- DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound- Stereo Surround Sound- English subtitles and closed captions- Spanish subtitles Four audio commentaries by the director and writers, the design team, the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award® winners Richard Taylor, Howard Shore…and many more. Cast commentary also features dialogue between split-personality characters Gollum and Smeagol (Andy Serkis)!DISCS 3-4: The AppendicesTwo discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King::THE APPENDICES PART V:- "The War of the Ring"- Disc intro by director Peter Jackson- "J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth" documentary- From Book to Script: Forging the Final Chapter" documentary- Abandoned Concept: Aragorn Battles Sauron- Designing and Building Middle-earth- "Designing Middle-earth" documentary- "Big-atures" documentary- "Weta Workshop" documentary- "Costume Design" documentary- Design Galleries - 2,123 images- The Peoples of Middle-earth (galleries with docent audio)- The Realms of Middle-earth (galleries with docent audio)- Miniatures (galleries with docent audio)- "Home of the Horse Lords" documentary- "Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship Interactive map- "New Zealand as Middle-earth" interactive map with on location footageTHE APPENDICES PART VI:- "The Passing of an Age"- Disc intro by Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan- Filming The Return of the King- "Cameras in Middle-earth" documentary- Production Photos (gallery) - 69 images- Visual Effects- "Weta Digital" documentary- "The Mumakil Battle" demonstration / multi-angle interactive feature- Post Production: Journey's End- "Editorial: Completing the Trilogy" documentary- "Music for Middle-earth" documentary- "The Soundscapes of Middle-earth" documentary- "The End of All Things" documentary- "The Passing of an Age" documentary- Cameron Duncan: The Inspiration for "Into the West"- "Cameron Duncan: The Inspiration for 'Into the West'" documentary- "DFK6498" short film- "Strike Zone" short film- DVD-ROM CONTENT: Includes access to exclusive online features