Typically, I use this blog to review movies. However, something came up and I need to talk about it for this particular post. It was just announced that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition would be coming to Blu-Ray at the end of June. The set includes 15 discs. 6 Blu-rays which are the movies spread over two discs each. Reason for that is to maximize picture and audio quality. Understandable. These are movies that deserve the very best. The remaining 9 discs are where my problem lies. They're DVDs. Not high-definition Blu-Ray, but standard def DVD. And those have the special features for each and every movie. They include all the special features of the Extended and theatrical releases. This wouldn't be an issue, except that I have all those features already, because I have the theatrical versions of the trilogy on Blu-Ray, which include the special features of the previous theatrical release on DVD. I also have the Extended Editions on DVD, which have extensive behind-the-scenes features. The movies themselves are epic in every way. My main issue is the pricing. The MSRP is about 120 USD. For three movies? Even for the extended versions, that's excessive.
Don't get me wrong: I love boxed sets. I have the Alien Anthology, Avatar, X-Men and Star Trek Next Generation Films on Blu-Ray. Fantastic sets, all of them. But each one that I just mentioned has features that their DVD counter-parts don't have, particularly the Alien Anthology and James Cameron's Avatar. Now, when I say the MSRP for the LOTR Extended Edition Trilogy is about 120 USD, that's usually not the case. That's the price the manufacturer suggests, but it's usually up to the retailer to sell it at a certain range. Amazon themselves have it on for 83 bucks. That's much better, but it's still too much. And before I'm labeled a hypocrite, I DO have the Star Wars Saga pre-ordered on Blu-Ray from Amazon.com. BUT, the Star Wars Saga is SIX movies, not three, and there's an extra disc that has special features that haven't been seen by the general public yet. So, I'm fairly particular about the boxed sets I DO buy. It just doesn't make sense for me to buy the LOTR trilogy AGAIN on Blu-Ray for nearly a hundred bucks. So....I'm going to wait for the individual releases before I buy the trilogy again. Granted, each movie would retail for about 25-35 USD depending on where I go. The total price I would actually pay would probably just as much if not a little bit more than the set itself, so it IS a bit of a quandary, and it's not an easy decision to make, particularly because I'm a HUGE fan of the Lord of the Rings. But it's a situation I'm keeping an eye on.
Blu-Ray has only been available since 2006, but it's been picking up steam. Prices for the discs and players have become more affordable for the general public since then, but for boxed sets, prices are still a little too much to swallow. Depending on where you go, the price for boxed sets, particularly for big movies like the Alien Anthology and Lord of the Rings, will range between 70 and 140 brand new. If you're going to pick this set up, shop around, and you can find the LOTR Extended Edition Blu-Ray set at a bargain price.
