The Lord of the Rings movies are coming to IMAX 4K for the first time

Starting today, you can see Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies on IMAX screens in glorious 4K. Also available on home video.

Seeing some of the breathtaking battles from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies in stunning 4K on the big screen is a dream come true for a lot of fans. And thanks to Jackson’s determination to update both those movies and his Hobbit trilogy, we’ll soon have the opportunity, as they will be available to watch in IMAX theaters. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring premieres today, on February 5, while The Two Towers and The Return of the King both open on February 12.

The bad news? The remastered movies will premiere during a global pandemic when going to the movies isn’t something a lot of people are eager to do. Even if there’s an IMAX theater in your area that is still open, many fans wouldn’t feel comfortable going to the ones that are open. Let’s hope for a re-release when normality returns.

Alternatively, you can currently purchase the remastered 4K versions of both The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies separately. Released in December, this is the same version coming to theaters, just not in glorious IMAX.

According to Polygon, the movies will be available in 141 locations in the U.S. with discounted prices.

I was certain Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies had been remastered to 4K and released in IMAX theaters before, but apparently, this is the first time. The UHD remaster will iron out every imperfection and overall clean up both Middle-earth trilogies. The original trilogy started in 2001 with The Fellowship of the Ring, concluding with The Return of the King in 2003, making it over two decades old. Despite their age, they still hold up pretty well in the modern-day. Not perfect, perhaps, but far from terrible. However, that’s not good enough for Jackson.

Since it was made in a time when filmmaking techniques were rapidly evolving, the movies utilized a range of different styles. As a result, Jackson sees large parts of it as lacking cohesion. Speaking in a behind-the-scenes video from Warner. Bros in December, he explained what technical details he’s changing:

"It was interesting going back and revisiting these films because I realised how inconsistent they were. And that’s really due to the way in which The Lord of the Rings trilogy was shot first, about 20 years ago. The Lord of the Rings was shot on 35mm. The color timing was done on an old-fashioned mechanical way for the first Lord of the Rings movie. Then we switched to digital color timing for the 35mm negative for the next two."

The remaster is all about making the beloved movies look as good as the possibly can so they can hold their own next to newer blockbusters. “This process, the way I see it, it’s not about making the film different. It’s simply taking a 20-year-old movie and making it feel like it’s a modern film.”

It seems like a great time for a remaster given the recent resurgence of interest in the franchise, since Amazon is developing a live-action Lord of the Rings prequel series. Book your tickets here.

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