This year marks the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings exploding into theaters and changing the face of blockbuster fantasy cinema forever, and it’s unsurprisingly coincided with plenty of movement on a number of on and offscreen endeavors connected to J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythology.
Amazon’s mega budget TV series recently announced a Season 1 premiere date, before pissing off both the fans and Elijah Wood by announcing that the second run of episodes would be the first LotR project to shoot outside of New Zealand. Animated prequel War of the Rohirrim is also in development at Warner Bros., while Jackson’s trilogy was remastered in 4K before scoring a brief IMAX theatrical run this past February.
At this stage, most people have seen both the regular and extended versions of all six chapters in the Middle-earth saga ten times over, but how does a 31-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set with an exclusive never before released bonus disc, a 64-page booklet, seven travel poster art cards and a collectible slipcase that transforms into multiple display configurations sound?
Amazon are now listing The Middle-Earth Ultimate Collector’s Edition for pre-order, and while it’s priced at a hefty $249.99, it’s a must-have for franchise completionists. Unfortunately, the exhaustive Lord of the Rings collection is only available in the United States for the time being, and even then, you’ll have to wait until October 26th to get your hands on it.