Extended Versions of Fellowship and Two Towers

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Before any king can return, New Line Cinema will re-release of the first two "Lord of the Rings" pics worldwide, this time with additional scenes and footage added.

 

Just two weeks before the Dec. 17 release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" -- the final installment of the Peter Jackson-helmed epic trilogy -- the first two "Ring" entries will be unspooling worldwide.

 

In memoranda sent to exhibitors on Wednesday, New Line laid out a game plan to promote the third film by refreshing filmgoers' memories with "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers."

 

Plan calls for putting the films on 100-150 screens in top 10 U.S. markets. Many other U.S. cities will have one cinema participating in the special extended edition screenings. Running times for the extended editions are 208 minutes for "Fellowship of the Ring" and 214 minutes for "The Two Towers."

 

Advanced ticket sales are scheduled to begin in late September or early October on exhibitor Web sites and movie ticketing sites like Fandango, MovieFone and Movietickets.com.

 

"The release of the third film affords us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give audiences a compelling new theatrical experience of Peter Jackson's sprawling vision for this trilogy," said Rolf Mittweg, prexy and chief operating officer for worldwide distribution and marketing.

 

The cost, one New Line insider estimated, will be between $10 million and $15 million. Due to the extended length of the new prints, the move is being cast as a promotional tool rather than a moneymaker.

 

"It is important to note," the memo says, "that these events are produced as a marketing/publicity stunt and not as a revenue generating opportunity" and that media support will be limited largely to the Internet and participating theaters.

 

Starting the week of Dec. 5, the extended DVD cut of "Fellowship of the Ring" will be released in some 100 or so theaters in the U.S. and in 20 theaters in Canada.

 

Then, the week of Dec. 12, sequel "Two Towers" will unspool, just a month after having preemed on DVD, leading up to a worldwide Dec. 16 daylong marathon, during which all three films will be shown back-to-back. Exhib guidelines call for a 3 p.m. showing of "Fellowship" followed by a 7 p.m. screening of "Two Towers" and then an 11 p.m. screening of "Return of the King," which will carry over into Dec. 17 -- the day of its global release.

 

Overseas, it's not yet clear whether all exhibs will be showing the new footage-added prints of the previous "Rings" pics. According to one New Line insider, the decision is being left to exhibs, which will make their requests known to New Line in the next few weeks.

 

Italy and Japan will not immediately be included in the foreign promotional blitz. Italo comedies dominate that country around the holidays, and corporate sibling Warner Bros. will be carpeting Japan with the next "Harry Potter" pic. Triad of "Rings" pics will instead screen in January in Italy and February in Japan.

 

"King" is produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Jackson, with a screenplay by Walsh & Philippa Boyens and Jackson, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

I see that they will be showing all 3 movies in a row, which would run over 10 hours. Not a bad idea I suppose, and its the extended versions of the first two, so thats a bonus. I doubt my theatre will get them though, and Im not even sure if I can sit through 10 hours of movies, especially Two Towers (which was really boring for the first hour and a half..

[Mole 0]

There is no way I could watch a movie for 10 hours in a row, even though they are some of the greatest movies ever.

 

I am sure there are plenty of people who will do it.

[Guest El Satanico]

If it came to a theater near me I'd consider going to the marathon showing.

 

I made it through 7 hours of a marathon for the original Star Wars trilogy during the re-release. There's no reason why I couldn't last 4 more hours. I just hope they would include intermissions.

[WukenBloodstar 0]

I'd so be there for that.

[Nevermortal 0]

Hopefully they have intermissions in between the movies.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

The end credits in-between the showings should be long enough to take a bathroom break and make a trip to the snack stand...

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I wonder if they'll charge a 3 movie fee or if they cut a deal, like say half price for the first two and full for the last. Given that the first starts during a matinee hour, theatres should at least show Fellowship at a discount rate.

Theres no way they could get everyone out, and back in line for tickets to each show, so it will have to be some package deal. I've got a feeling that theatres will charge full price for all three since theres a limited amount of space and probably a huge demand, just for people who would want to see Return of the King early..

[Guest El Satanico]

I'd say the best deal we can look forward to is a buck off each ticket for a total of 3 bucks off.

 

That is unless New Line specifies and enforces a special deal for the marathon.

[Nevermortal 0]

20 bucks for all three flicks would be reasonable.

[Lightning Flik 0]

This will be interesting. I could definitely see myself going to that.

 

Hell, the whole family would be there.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

I'm not sure about the all day thing

 

I think I'll opt for the FOTR EE at theater one week, TT EE the next week, and ROTK the final week.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

An update. Please, please, please don't have this in the Pittsburgh area...

 

Source.

 

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Echoing Gollum's covetous cries of "My precious!" fans of "The Lord of the Rings" are competing with one another over the precious few tickets to New Line Cinema's special marathon showing of the "Rings" trilogy, scheduled for Dec. 16.

 

Rabid fans lined up around blocks and jammed online sites last week to attempt to buy tickets to New Line's "Trilogy Tuesday." To promote the third film in the trilogy, "The Return of the King," which bows nationwide Dec. 17, New Line arranged for marathon public screenings in limited theaters Dec. 16, with showings of the extended versions of director Peter Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" to screen before the midnight debut of "King."

 

But demand proved so overwhelming, many would-be ticket buyers left empty-handed as New Line's attempt to herald the conclusion of the epic turned into a cultural phenomenon with tickets selling out in a matter of hours at the 99 U.S. locations that will host the marathon. That, in turn, has spurred angry e-mails and inflated eBay prices.

 

Tickets, which went on sale Oct. 9, ranged from $25-$49 each and drew so many fans that online ticketing sites became clogged, forcing theaters to open their box offices to handle the demand for what had been originally designed as an online promotion.

 

According to AMC Theaters spokesman Rick King, the Kansas City, Mo.-based chain sold out its 15 theaters within the hour, switching to box office sales after its Internet exclusive offer crashed its Web site, MovieTickets.com, within 10 minutes of going on sale.

 

At Fandango.com, the online ticketing agency that services Regal Entertainment's theaters, Loews theaters and others, its 42-theater inventory sold out in a matter of hours.

 

"It was really phenomenal," Fandango.com CEO Art Levitt said. "It's the most successful promotion we've ever experienced -- there is no question about that. There really was tremendous pent-up demand. The majority of our customer service inquiries in the last two weeks have all been about the trilogy."

 

All that success has been much more than New Line can -- or even wants -- to handle. Requests have flooded the company, coming from exhibitors, who are undaunted by the logistics of keeping patrons in the theaters for 11 straight hours and also coming from many unlucky fans.

 

"Obviously, at the outset we advocated for more (houses), but this was a promotional deal, and we accepted that," King said. "Clearly, this is the fastest sellout rates we've ever experienced."

 

Added Regal spokesman Dick Westerling: "We did have discussions with New Line about expanding it but agreed to limit it to the initial number of theaters and auditoriums. Obviously, demand exceeded the capacity, but that was the announced strategy that we had agreed to stick with."

 

New Line has no plans to expand the promotion, even though that means it won't be able to please the trilogy's entire fan base.

 

"We've been asked to make more theaters available, but the problem is we can never provide enough," said David Tuckerman, president of distribution at New Line Cinema. "This was originally done as a marketing initiative to pay back the fans who want to see it all in one swoop. It was never intended to be a moneymaking deal for us."

 

In addition to the marathon Dec. 15 showings, New Line also will prime the pump with theatrical bookings of the extended version of "Fellowship," playing by itself, from Dec. 5-11, followed by the extended version of "Towers," which is set for Dec. 12-15.

 

But while New Line and the exhibitors are purposely leaving some dollars on the table, individual ticket holders are still profiting. Late Wednesday, 34 pairs of tickets were being auctioned on eBay, with the highest asking price coming from a San Francisco seller, offering tickets at $455 a pair.

 

"It's a one-time thing," said "Rings" fan Bruce Steele, who got his tickets Oct. 9 at Pacific Theaters' Cinerama Dome. "This is the only film I'd sit through 11 hours of movie for, but as long as you can see the extended editions on screens, you might as well see them all together."

 

That kind of fan commitment probably augurs well for New Line in the long run. Even though the company is not fully exploiting the current demand for the trilogy, it may offer theatrical engagements of the entire "Rings" cycle in the future. According to one studio insider, New Line could issue a special release of the trilogy five to 10 years down the road. Although the current "Rings" hysteria will have long since died down, a "Rings" revival could make for a tidy annuity for the studio. "It's great job security," the insider joked.

[tpww7 0]

Damnit..how the hell were you suppose to know they went on sale?

[cabbageboy 0]

Here is what I'm confused about. Are all of these ticket sellouts just for the trilogy showing or is EVERY showing of the extended versions of FOTR and TTT sold out?

 

I think anyone who would stay in a theater for 11 hours is insane, even if it is LOTR. I know that I wouldn't enjoy ROTK as much after having endured the marathon of the first two movies (in LONGER versions mind you).

 

Add to it that the only theater showing it near me is the Stonybrook 10, a theater I've long hated. I don't even want to see ROTK there anyway, I'd much prefer seeing it at the Showcase Cinemas where I can see it on a HUGE ASSED screen.

 

Thus, I might well check out both extended versions at Stonybrook in the 2 weeks they are out, and then check out ROTK at Showcase Cinemas in their huge auditorium.

 

Incidentally what is with newer theaters being so lame? They are all crackerjack box size, and the screen isn't all that big. When I go to the theater I want an experience.

[razazteca 0]

Still waiting for the DVD release of the 12 Hour epic! I must have Lord of the Rings, Kill Bill, Matrix uncut versions!