In an early announcement to retailers, New Line Home Entertainment in
conjunction with Warner Home Video have revealed the cover art for '
The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy' Blu-ray and Amazon has begun taking pre-orders. The
release currently does not have a release date, but it is expected to be
released later this year - most likely during the holiday season.
No technical specs or special features have been revealed at this time, but
you can expect to see 1080p VC-1 video accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD
soundtrack.
The only potentially negative news here is that the films will be presented in
their theatrical versions instead of the more popular (and more faithful)
extended versions. This is not entirely surprising as Warner made it well
known early on that the theatrical versions would be released first, with the
extended versions coming sometime later (likely around the theatrical release
of '
The
Hobbit'). However, any hope of the 2009 release using seamless
branching to show both versions has now been washed away.
But, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is indeed 'The Lord of the
Rings' - three films which together grossed more than $1B domestically - in
high definition. This is one of the releases Blu-ray fans have been begging
for, and you can bet this is going to be one of the best selling Blu-ray titles
this year.