Page 1 of Has there been news about LOTR DVD yet?

It is the 26th, was there not to be some sort of annoucement?

pasted from hive4media american dealer site

'Lord' to Rule Video in Two Seasons
Author: ENRIQUE RIVERO
orevire[at]moc.ratsnavda
Posted: March 26, 2002

There may be "One ring to rule them all," but there are two video editions.

As anticipated, New Line Home Entertainment will release two separate DVD editions of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring — one in the summer and one in the fall. A two-disc set containing the theatrical cut streets Aug. 6, while another, more elaborate, four-disc set with an extended cut of the film arrives Nov. 12.

The supplier will also bypass rental pricing and release the August videocassette edition of the megahit at a sellthrough price of $22.94. Another cassette is due in November to coincide with the second DVD edition.

Prebook for the theatrical-cut DVD and VHS is July 2 (June 25 for merchandisers).

The August DVD release, priced at $29.95, arrives in separate widescreen and full-screen versions with the 178-minute theatrical cut of the Academy Award winner on one disc and more than two hours of extras on the second disc.

Content includes a 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of The Two Towers, the second installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy opening in theaters Dec. 18; three behind-the-scenes featurettes called Welcome to Middle-Earth, The Quest for the Ring, and A Passage to Middle-earth; 15 featurettes created for lordoftherings.net; theatrical trailers and television spots; Enya's music video of the Oscar-nominated song "May It Be"; a preview of Electronic Arts' video game, The Two Towers; and a peek at the November DVD edition.

The August cassette will be available in full-screen only in both English and Spanish-dubbed editions.

The November four-disc edition's release is timed to roughly correspond with the second installment's theatrical release. Added value content for the four-disc edition has not yet been set, according to a New Line spokesperson. But it will contain a version of the film that is about 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and will likely receive an 'R' rating. About six hours of content developed specifically for this edition will take up the other two discs. The extended cut will also be available on VHS. Pricing and prebook dates for this edition have not been set.

Director Peter Jackson's published comments sparked widespread speculation that New Line would release the theatrical and extended cuts of the film in separate editions, the first this summer, the other close to The Two Towers' theatrical debut (Video Store Magazine, March 17-23).

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring received 13 Academy Award nominations and won for best original score, best visual effects, best cinematography and best makeup. It has so far grossed $298 million at the domestic box office.

See this link http://dvd.ign.com/articles/356/356226p1.html

Extended edition (4 discs!!!) in Nov will have 30 minutes extra footage - details listed in that link above - including the Galadriel gift giving which was so blatantly missing.
Also interesting that the audio will be Dolby Digital EX - no DTS!

This item was edited on Wednesday, 27th March 2002, 07:32

there`s also rumours of a boxset coming out with the 4 disc edition and some statuettes or something, it may also contain the current National Geographic LOTR dvd thingy

<OB>

there are gonna be three dvds and the dvd specs are on the dvd world website.
2 disc set SE release august 6th 2002:
http://dvdworld.co.uk/product_body.asp?pf%5Fid=63912
4 disc set dts collectors edition release 12th November:
http://dvdworld.co.uk/product_body.asp?pf%5Fid=67115
4 disc set dts Extended edition release 12th November:
http://dvdworld.co.uk/product_body.asp?pf%5Fid=67114

What is the bloody point in all this? Why cant they just make 1 dvd collection with all the features? I am confused as to which version i am going to get.

I can only guess is the marketing strategy is to sell loads of the two disc set from August till September for those who cannot wait untill November or feel that the two disc set and price is sufficent for them. Either way I fully expect both sets to set new selling records. I guess I will wait untill November.