Many many epochs past, before claiming its rightful status as the beloved Oscar-winning trilogy known the world over, “The Lord of the Rings” was planned to be a single movie, directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare In Love,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“). Obviously, that didn’t come to pass, and Peter Jackson went in the opposite direction.
Given a nearly unlimited canvas to paint on, and buoyed by global success, the theatrical cuts of each movie were supplemented by extended footage on home video. And when Jackson returned to helm “The Hobbit“ after Guillermo del Toro‘s exit, it wasn’t long until the planned two-movie saga was expanded to yet another trilogy. In short, Jackson has an inexhaustible supply of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s material to put on the big screen, and today at Comic-Con he suggested even more could be coming from “The Lord of the Rings.”
During what was reported to be a pretty dull panel for “The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies,” Jackson casually revealed that even more material from ‘LOTR’ is sitting in a vault somewhere in Arizona, and “if there’s enough interest out there…” it could see the light of day. Sheesh.
No word on what exactly that material constitutes, but does the world need even longer cuts of these films? Your own mileage may vary, but the bread and butter of any blockbuster is how often it can be re-packaged, and we wouldn’t be surprised if WB is already thinking about how to re-re-re-present ‘LOTR’ to audiences down the line for various anniversary box sets, re-releases and more. Thoughts? You know where to leave ’em.
Want more Lord of the Rings? Hie thee to a mountain somewhere in Arizona for there lies unused footage from the movies. Guarded by a dragon?
— Empire (@empiremagazine) July 26, 2014
Jackson teases even longer cut of Lord Of The Rings – "if there's enough interest out there…" #SDCC
— Total Film (@totalfilm) July 26, 2014
Peter Jackson just implied there are even LONGER cuts of LORD OF THE RINGS that might be released one day.
— JoBlo.com (@joblocom) July 26, 2014
Peter Jackson confirmed there are some scenes from LOTR that haven't been seen yet.
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) July 26, 2014
