Back in November 2013, Warner Bros. released The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition. This came about six months after the 3-disc Blu-ray set. Apparently, fans didn't mind the double-dip, because the studio is doing it again with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Warner Bros. just announced plans to release The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition on November 4, 2014. It will be available as a 5-disc Blu-ray 3D set or you can score a regular (2D) 3-disc Blu-ray. Both will include a new cut of the movie with an extra 25 minutes. And it looks like Warner Bros. traveled to Middle-earth to scrounge up a few additional treasures; the set will also include more than nine hours of new special features.
The new collection includes a commentary track with Peter Jackson, the director/producer/screenwriter, as well as his producing/screenwriting partner, Philippa Boyens. There's also "The Appendices Parts IX and X," a multi-part history of the filming of Smaug, which covers a lot of the pre-production, including principal photography, training, the work done on set and in the world of its digital effects. The release will also have a featurette titled, "New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth - Part 2." Both sets include an UltraViolet Digital Copy.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second installment of The Hobbit. It finds Bilbo Baggins, Wizard Gandalf and the 13 Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, on an epic quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. It stars Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, with Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. The rest of the cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Orlando Bloom, and countless others.
The 5-disc Blu-ray 3D set of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition will retail for $54.98 (MSRP), with the 3-disc Blu-ray going for $35.99. Both sets will be released on November 4. The timing is perfect; you should be able to get through the new version of the movie and all of the extras before the December 17 theatrical release of the third and final film, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
And if you like Tolkeinian tshochkes, a special Limited Edition boxed set will be available as well. This includes everything from the standard set plus an exclusive statuette from Weta depicting the Dwarves' epic river barrel escape. This will be available in both 2D and 3D versions, exclusively on Amazon (links are below).
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