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"King" Video Bowing Early
This King is quickly expanding his domain.
On the heels of last month's Oscar coronation in which The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King pulled off a historic 11-for-11 sweep, New Line has announced plans to bring the final chapter in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy saga to home video on May 25, months ahead of schedule.
The two previous installments, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, were both released in August.
Matt Lasorsa, senior veep of marketing at New Line, says that the bumped-up release was due in part to King being the final film in the trilogy. Unlike its predecessors, which featured teasers of the subsequent theatrical releases, King won't need to be strategically launched at the end of summer to hold over viewers until December, when each of the Rings flicks opened theatrically.
"This year without another film following in the franchise we've been able to get it out under normal release date timing," says Lasorsa. "The benefit to the consumer is they won't have to wait as long and enjoy ROTK sooner and for us we're able to piggy-back on all the Academy Award wins."
King tied Titantic and Ben-Hur for the most Oscar wins, including statuettes for Best Picture and Best Director. The film has so far raked in more than $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales, making it the second-highest grossing film of all time just behind Titanic and bringing the franchise's total haul to $3 billion and counting.
The two-disc DVD, retailing for about $30, will be available in both wide-screen and full-screen format and feature the three-hour, 20-minute theatrical version on one disc with behind-the-scenes footage, featurettes, trailers, and a preview of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy videogame from Electronic Arts. The VHS version will sell for appromixately $25.
As with the previous video releases, Hobbitheads obsessed with every nook and cranny of Middle-earth will have to wait a little longer for the four-hour extended edition of King. That four-disc set, featuring even more extras, is slated for a holiday release.
Combined DVD and VHS sales for Fellowship and Two Towers have surpassed $634 million, with an additional $70 million generated from rentals. It is estimated that New Line will take in about 85 percent of the home video profits.
New Line is also beginning work on a slip-sleeve set that will hold the three theatrical versions of the film and will be due out in May along with Return of the King.
With Frodo's tale finished, there's been lots of talk of Jackson directing The Hobbit, Tolkien's prequel to The Lord of the Rings
But there are several hurdles to the film. First, Jackson's going to have his hands full for a long time with his remake of King Kong. Second, there's a battle over who will release a celluloid Hobbit. New Line currently owns the rights to adapt the book, but MGM controls distribution rights.
"I guess MGM's lawyers and New Line's lawyers are going to have a huge amount of fun over the next few years trying to work it all out," Jackson said following the Oscars. "I'm obviously busy for a couple of years on King Kong, so those lawyers can just go at it for a long time."
Jackson has indicated that should he do The Hobbit, he'd want the prequel to have the same look and feel as the Rings trilogy, as well as the participation of key cast members, including Ian McKellen reprising his role as the wizard Gandalf.
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