The Corner Penthouse

Warner Brothers recently released The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy in two separate 4K UHD sets just in time for the holidays. Read on to find out more about them...


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy includes The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). These films tell the tale of meek hobbit Sam (Sean Astin) and his eight companions, who set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the evil Sauron. The Hobbit Trilogy includes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). These films, which take place before the Rings trilogy, tell the tale of reluctant hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home, and the gold within it, from the dragon Smaug.


No matter how many times I have seen these movies, watching them in 4K Ultra High Definition was like watching them again for the first time. The HDR helps make these epics look...well, more epic! You get the theatrical AND extended versions of ALL six films in beautiful 4K UHD with HDR. The picture quality is absolutely stunning.


That said, I need to point out that BOTH OF THESE SETS ARE MOVIE-ONLY RELEASES. There are no bonus features, be they the plethora of bonuses from the old DVDs, or anything new. As long as you understand that going in, you'll be fine. For The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, each theatrical cut gets a disc to itself, with the extended cuts split between two discs each, giving you nine discs total. For The Hobbit Trilogy, each film is on its own disc, giving you six discs total.


All of the films are presented in their original 2.39:1 aspect ratios. Audio languages include English, French, and Spanish for the Extended versions; and English and Spanish for the Theatrical versions. Subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, and a slew of other languages.


Both trilogies include digital copies of both versions of each film.


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy are both available for purchase now. If you already own all of the previous DVD releases, with all of the bonus features, and are just looking for the visual upgrades to the movies themselves, both releases are highly recommended. However, if you'd like a more complete package, I would suggest holding off until Summer 2021, when Warner Brothers will be releasing a 4K UHD & Blu-ray mega set with all six movies and bonus features. Here's the press release to tell you more:

In addition, it was also announced that a 4K UHD "Middle-earth" Ultimate Collectors' Edition featuring the theatrical and extended versions of all six films, along with new bonus content, previously released Blu-ray discs of The Hobbit Trilogy, and remastered Blu-ray discs of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy will be released in the summer of 2021.

Hopefully the kind folks at Warner Brothers will send me this set next year so I can give you all of the details about it.






All images were provided by Warner Brothers. These items were provided by Warner Brothers for review on this site.