'The Hobbit' Trilogy Extended Edition Heading To Theaters This Fall

If you thought you were done with Peter Jackson's trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit, think again. The Hobbit trilogy will be returning to theaters this fall, but in the longer extended edition format that until now has only been available on home video.

Hit the jump to find out when you can catch The Hobbit trilogy extended edition theatrical release!

Far Away Entertainment (via TheOneRing.net) revealed plans for The Hobbit trilogy extended edition coming to theaters, which will be happening on a few different nights, beginning on October 5th, one month before the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition is slated to hit home video on November 3rd. Here's the event information:

Fathom Events and Warner Bros. are partnering to present the extended editions of all three Hobbit movies. Shown over three nights, the epic Peter Jackson trilogy will be the first time the extended editions have ever been released in theatres. Also included will be an exclusive introduction by director Peter Jackson. First night showing starts Monday, October 5th, 2015 at 7:30pm local. Tickets will be regular admission prices for each movie.

For fans who don't want to spend half a day in a movie theater, showing each movie on a different night is probably a smart move to get the maximum number of people in theaters for these event screenings. However, it's not clear if the showings will be on consecutive nights or spread out over the month of October.

The website where this information comes from lists an October 13th date under The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition title as well, as does AMC Theatres. So this event could easily be spread out over three days between October 5th and October 13th, but we'll have to wait and see how it goes. We also don't know which theater chains will be showing The Hobbit trilogy extended edition just yet.

Since one of the most consistent complaints with The Hobbit trilogy was that the movies were too long for a book that doesn't have enough meat to fill three of them, seeing the extended editions of each movie isn't exactly high on my to-do list. And this is coming from someone who saw all three extended cuts of Lord of the Rings in theaters in one day.

For those curious, here's the extended edition running times for each movie:

  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 182 minutes (theatrical: 169 minutes)
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – 186 minutes (theatrical: 161 minutes)
  • The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - 174 minutes (theatrical: 144 minutes)
  • So each extended edition of The Hobbit trilogy adds anywhere between 13 minutes and 30 minutes to the movies, which isn't quite as epic of an event as The Lord of the Rings trilogy extended edition. Still, for hardcore fans of Peter Jackson's second journey into Middle-Earth, this will likely be something fun to do this fall.

    Will you go see The Hobbit trilogy extended edition in theaters this fall?