While Amazon revealed the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit 4K UHD collections prematurely, the official announcement for the new releases has arrived. Both of the iconic trilogies are coming to 4K on December 1, featuring both theatrical and extended versions of all six movies.
Both of the trilogies will be available for $90 each. The remastering of the movies was overseen by director Peter Jackson. And addition to these releases, a Middle-Earth Ultimate Collectors' Edition featuring all six movies--both theatrical and extended releases--has been announced for the summer of 2021. This new collection will also feature new bonus content.
While links for these originally were revealed on Amazon, they are gone now. However, they may reappear on Amazon Prime Day, which takes place on October 13. Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in LOTR announced the release of the three films along with all The Hobbit movies in a recent video.
As is usually the case with Amazon pre-orders, if you're at all interested it would be wise to pre-order sooner rather than later as pre-orders automatically get locked into whatever the lowest price before release might wind up as. Either set up on Amazon currently would be ideal for fans who have been holding out for the ultimate version. However, you'll more than likely have to wait until next week for them to go live again, but we'll keep you updated.
These sets have been rumored for much of 2020, and are likely popping up in connection with the growing crop of new Lord of the Rings goodness just over the horizon. Amazon also has its upcoming prequel TV series preceding the prologue to Fellowship of the Ring reportedly set in the same continuity as the films.
Then there's also the recently announced Lord of the Rings video game centered on Gollum, set for Xbox Series X and PS5. Titled The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the game promises to be a stealthy adventure focusing on one of that world's sneakiest creatures. In the game, you'll reportedly start in a story parallel with Frodo, but on a different side of Middle-earth completely.