Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat  Strangely enough, I'm the exact opposite. I refuse to watch (or more accurately - purchase) the extended versions on the grounds that, if this is what was meant to be seen, then it should have been released to the cinema going public. After all, these were the first people to gamble their cash and make the trilogy a success. I think that these people are the ones losing out.
A trip to the cinema is normally much more expensive than waiting for the DVD. When you take into account cost of travel, tickets, the inevitable popcorn, it seems to me that the least a cinema viewer should expect is the definitive version. |
With most films, I'd tend to agree with that. But, having watched American audiences, there is absolutely no way the mass of the audience would have sat through the things. Far too many people complained about the length of ROTK as is... and I've heard plenty of complaints about the length of the others, as well. Had they even attempted to put what became the extended version of FOTR out, it would have bombed over here. And, frankly, I've never much cared for the theatrical version myself, and would have preferred the extended version, so it's not a matter of preference. Much as I dislike this, looking at the attention span of the general movie-going audience, it's a matter of practicality as far as getting them to both sorts of audiences, really.
There have been a few theaters that, when the final film came out, booked extended versions of the other two as well, but only the true Tolkien fanatics tended to attend them. (I wish I could have gone, as there was such a showing here in Austin; but was unable to due to other commitments. Still, that would have been something like 10 or 11 hours at the theatre... a fair amount of time to be seated in one place!)