A Lord of the Rings/Hobbit Marathon, Three Years Hence?

With the first part of The Hobbit coming to theaters mid-December, I started thinking about the inevitable 24-hour marathon watchings that will start taking place roughly three years from now. My logic goes something like this:

  • December 2012: The Hobbit, Part 1 released in theaters
  • Fall 2013: The Hobbit, Part 1 released on BluRay (or equivalent)
  • December 2013: The Hobbit, Part 2 released in theaters
  • Fall 2014: The Hobbit, Part 2 released on BluRay (or equivalent)
  • December 2014: The Hobbit, Part 3 released in theaters
  • Fall 2015: The Hobbit, Part 3 released on BluRay (or equivalent)
  • December 2015: The Complete Extended Edition Hobbit released on BluRay (or equivalent)

It makes sense that the individual BluRay versions would be released shortly before the next installment as a primer for fans. This means a release of the final film on BluRay in the fall of 2015 with no new movie coming out. However, there will be, of course, the extended editions, which might arrive in time for the holidays of 2015. If that is, in fact, a rough schedule of events, then we can expect to start reading about the first marathon 24-hour watching of all 6 films back-to-back in late 2015 or early 2016, little more than three years hence.

I recently rewatched the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy (makes long plane rides speed by) and I think it clocks in just shy of 12 hours. Figure that the extended editions of The Hobbit will come in around the same (ironic for a single, much shorter book) and that’s where I get my 24-hours from.

I can imagine the parties being planned in advance and announcements flooding the social media three years in our future. And it would actually be a fun thing to do were it not for the fact that it is utterly predictable. Still, I’ll be interested to read those first posts from folks who give it a try–writing, of course, a day or more after the event when they’ve finally managed to catch up on sleep.

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