Ten years after its debut, “The Lord of the Rings The Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition” ($119.98) debuts again this week for the first time in HiDef for home viewing in Warner Home Video’s new 15-disc Blu-ray Disc collection.
The long-awaited debut was celebrated in a manner befitting the magnitude of this trilogy franchise that was equally commercially successful and critically-acclaimed — fireworks/laser show at the stroke of midnight at a Best Buy store in Santa Monica in California. Actors from the movie were on hand to sign autographs for costumed fans as the discs went on sale.
The new Blu-ray set is packaged with typical stylish detail by Warner. The entire remastered extended edition of each movie looks pleasingly clear and contemporarily crisp in HiDef.
The 26-hours of extras are the same as previous editions, and only in standard-def on none DVDs.
Those standard-def DVDs won the DVD Premeire and DVD Exclusive Awards each year for Best Special Edition, Best Audio Commentary, Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes, Best Original Retrospective Documentary, and Best Overall New Extra Features.
— By Scott Hettrick