Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits predicted it and I didn’t believe it but here it is, coming to pass – The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Limited Extended Edition is available for pre-order on Amazon.com! Not only has the popular e-tailer listed the set for pre-order but they’ve also been able to secure some details of the multi-disc set along with the package art.

As much light as this listing has shed on the set, a number of lingering questions remain. We know now that it will include all the content from the previously available Extended Edition releases, along with the apparently “rare” Costa Botes documentaries. It also appears that most of the supplemental material will be included on DVD – most likely the exact same discs you already own. What we don’t know for certain is exactly how many discs the set will contain, and what will be on the Blu-rays. Will the films be spread across two Blu-ray discs or crammed onto a single dual-layer disc? I, for one, pray that they will be on two discs, as 4-hour films with several soundtracks and commentaries will push the bit-rate limit beyond its capacity to retain a clean, artifact and noise-free image. Warner has had a tendency to stretch their discs a little thin of late (Kenneth Branagh‘s 4-hour long version of Hamlet and their TV-on-Blu releases are perfect examples) with either visual fidelity or lossless audio the casualties. And lord knows, after the debacle with the transfers on the Theatrical Edition Blu-ray set, Warner needs to deliver nothing but the highest quality image with the Extended Editions!

One final note – Amazon observes that this new Blu-ray box adds the MTV Movie Award Easter eggs: (The Council of Elrod spoof, Two Towers sneak peek, Gollum accepting award), previously unavailable on the Extended Edition DVDs.

We’ll keep you updated on this set as further details are unveiled.

UPDATE: Oops! I forgot to mention that Amazon doesn’t list a release date for the set but instead notes that ““The Lord of the Rings (Extended Editions)” is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray in 2011 or 2012.”

Special Features:

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

• Over 30 minutes of footage incorporated into the theatrical release of the film
• Commentary by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens
• Commentary by the design team
• Commentary by the production/post-production team
• Commentary by 10 actors, including Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen
• Easter egg: MTV Movie Award Spoof (The Council of Elrod)
• Costa Botes Documentary: The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes

The Appendices, Part 1: From Book to Vision (on DVD)

• Peter Jackson introduction
• J.R.R. Tolkein: Creator of Middle Earth
• From Book to Script
• Visualizing the Story
• Designing and Building Middle Earth
• Middle Earth atlas interactive

The Appendices, Part 2: From Vision to Reality (on DVD)

• Elijah Wood introduction
• Filming The Fellowship of the Ring
• Visual effects
• Post-production: Putting it all together
• Digital Grading
• Sound and music
• The Road Goes Ever On…

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

• Extended edition of the film, incorporating 43 minutes of footage incorporated into the film
• Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
• Commentary track by the design team
• Commentary track by the production/post-production team
• Commentary track by 16 cast members, including Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Bernard Hill, and Miranda Otto
• Easter Egg: MTV Movie Awards clip (Gollum accepting award)
• Costas Botes documentary: The Two Towers–Behind the Scenes

The Appendices, Part 3: The Journey Continues

• Peter Jackson introduction
• J.R.R. Tolkein: Origin of Middle Earth
• From Book to Script: Finding a Story
• Designing and Building Middle-Earth
• Gollum
• Middle-Earth Atlas interactive
• New Zealand as Middle Earth (map with video location)

The Appendices, Part 4: The Battle for Middle Earth

• Elijah Wood introduction
• Filming The Two Towers
• Visual effects
• Editorial: Refining the Story
• Music and Sound
• The Battle for Helm’s Deep is Over

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

• Extended edition of the film, with 50 extra minutes incorporated into the film
• Commentary track by writer-director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
• Commentary track by the design team
• Commentary track by the production/post-production team
• Costas Botes documentary: The Return of the King: Behind the Scenes

The Appendices, Part 5: The War of the Ring

• Peter Jackson Intro
• J.R.R. Tolkien: The Legacy of Middle-earth
• From Book to Script
• Designing and Building Middle-earth
• Home of the Horse Lords
• Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship: interactive map
• New Zealand as Middle-earth: interactive map with on-location footage

The Appendices, Part 6: The Passing of an Age

• Elijah Wood/Sean Astin/Billy Boyd/Dominic Monaghan intro
• Filming The Return of the King
• Visual Effects
• Post Production: Journey’s End
• The Passing of an Age
• Cameron Duncan

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