Filmstalker: Lord of the Rings documentaries cut for DVD

I can hardly believe this, and I'm trying to refrain my cynical mind from assuming this is a ploy for another DVD release, but news is out that the Director of the Lord of the Rings documentaries is somewhat unhappy at cuts made to his films. Cuts made by the Studio without him being present.

From The Guardian:

He shot about 800 hours of footage, starting work a year before the cameras rolled with Jackson's full blessing.
[Cotes Botes]...said: "I had no opportunity to take part in this at all. They just shut me out completely.

The cuts they talk about in the story aren't really major ones, although they do sound quite odd. Orc extras singing "Stand by Me", scenes of blaring radios at Weta HQ and shots of the mountains in New Zealand.

Apparently New Line didn't want to pay for the song rights, and the mountains weren't shown due to Maori request. However no word on why the radio scene was removed, perhaps showing Weta in a non-commercial light that might not endear them for future contracts?

Who really knows? I'm not that bothered about any of those scenes, although the singing Orcs might really have been funny, sounds like Cotes is just a tad annoyed he couldn't get in on the edit. As an aside, he's not receiving any royalties from the DVD sales.

My real concern is does all this extra footage mean we could see another DVD release? Perhaps on new format and with more documentary footage?

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We already have one more release in the pipeline, and this missing footage is veeeeery suspicious.

Whether or not they plan to use it later, for another release, I think it's safe to say this isn't the last we've seen of LOTR on DVD.

10th anniversay edition anyone? The Hobbit preview maybe? Why not just mug me and get it over with?

Posted by: Rynndar | July 3, 2006 4:17 PM

Not really interested no. Sorry my precioussss.

Posted by: Simone | July 3, 2006 6:23 PM

I can guarantee we'll have 10th, 35th and 50th anniversary sets of these films.

Although to be frank, I think New Line blew their bolt too soon with the Extended Editions. No matter how much you adore these films, for most fans, the EE's are THE definitive editions. It would have been smart for New Line to release the 2-disc editions, then repackage them with a 3rd bonus disc and alternate extras.... and THEN the 4-disc extended cuts.

I know for a fact that if even if I had been suckered into double-dipping, the prospect of having the trilogy with EXTRA MEAT would have been far too tempting to turn down.

But now the whole "new documentary" is a step backwards. There's only so much behind-the-scenes stuff you can see, or want to see for that matter... but actual extra scenes from the movie is a whole different ball game.

Posted by: spidey1703 | July 3, 2006 6:57 PM

Jackson has often talked about how many deleted scenes he has which he has been holding back for the "High Definition" release (whilst also saying they would NOT be integrated back into the film the way extra scenes were for the Extended Editions). Even as interviews etc were being made for the extended DVDs additional material was being recorded ready for these. I think we're a few years away from an HD set, but it is undoubtedly on its way.

In the meantime I've seen the EEs for as little as a tenner a piece all over the place so this seems an ill-thought out move given the surplus of stock on the market already. Tolkien fans have been very generous to New Line merchandising over the last few years but I think the bubble has burst on that particular exploitation.

Posted by: Ian Smith | July 3, 2006 7:32 PM