Lord of the rings fellowship of the ring extended edition length

There are so many reasons to create an extended version of a movie. Perhaps the theatrical release had to stick to a specific run time or studio interference made the director feel like they didn't get to showcase the film they wanted to make.

Whatever the reason behind it, extended editions often contain extra scenes, different edits and additional effects or music. They can be a source of amazing new material for fans but can also seriously change the pacing of a movie.

We've rounded up the cream of the crop of extended editions to let you know if they're worth your time – or if you're better off giving the original theatrical version another spin.

New Line Cinema

1. The Lord of the Rings

Even before you start to devour the bonus footage, there's some exclusive art to enjoy on the sleeves of The Lord of the Rings trilogy extended editions. Alan Lee has painted the travellers entering Moria and the Moria Gate on The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf's Return and a Rohirrim Sun Symbol on The Two Towers and the Grey Havens and the White Tree of Gondor on The Return of the King.

Many existing scenes in the films have been extended, while new ones have also been added. All three movies also contain extended "fan credits", where the names of people who had paid to be on there were added to the credit roll.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Not counting the fan credits, The Fellowship of the Ring adds 30 minutes of new material in the extended edition to take its running time from 178 minutes to 208 minutes.

While many of the additions and extensions might seem minor, it's the smaller elements within them that strengthen the film. Material at the start of the film tells us vital information about the Hobbits themselves, while the extended gift giving scene also focuses more on the magical items our heroes are given.

The following scenes have all been extended: Prologue: One Ring to Rule them All...; The Shire; Very Old Friends; A Long-expected Party; The Nazgul; Flight to the Ford; The Sword That Was Broken; The Council of Elrond; The Departure of the Fellowship; The Ring Goes South; The Pass of Caradhras; Moria; A Journey in the Dark; Balin's Tomb; Lothlorien; Caras Galadhon; The Mirror of Galadriel; Farewell to Lorien; The Great River; The Breaking of the Fellowship; Boromir's Last Stand; The Departure of Boromir.

These are the entirely new scenes that have been added: Concerning Hobbits; At the Green Dragon; The Passing of the Elves; The Midgewater Marshes; Gilraen's Memorial.

Warner Bros.

The Two Towers

The Two Towers contains 44 minutes of additional footage, taking the film from 179 minutes to 223 minutes.

It's clear that much of what has been re-added to this film was trimmed to get the theatrical running time closer to the three-hour mark. However, the pacing has been maintained despite the extra 42 minutes of content.

Most additions merely add a few more details to what we already knew but the biggest winners are Hobbits Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and the CGI character TreeBeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies). Their scenes, as fun as they are, are still not essential viewing.

It's the addition of a flashback between Boromir (Sean Bean) and Faramir (David Wenham) that is the standout. It concerns the way their father Denethor (John Noble) chose who should go to Rivendell for the meeting of the Fellowship in the first film and shows that Denethor believes Faramir to be inferior to his older brother. This goes some way to explaining why Faramir is so keen to take the ring from the Hobbits and give it to his father.

The following scenes have all been extended: The Taming of Smeagol; The Uruk-hai; The Burning of the Westfold; The Banishment of Eomer; Night Camp at Fangorn; The Passage of the Marshes; The White Rider; The King of the Golden Hall; A Daughter of Kings; Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit; Dwarf Women; The Evenstar; Helm's Deep; The Window on the West; The Forbidden Pool; The Glittering Caves; Last March of the Ents.

These are the entirely new scenes that have been added: Elven Rope; Massacre at the Fords of Isen; The Song of the Entwives; The Heir of Numenor; Ent Draft; The Funeral of Theodred; Brego; The Ring of Barahir; One of the Dunedain; Sons of the Steward; "Don't Be Hasty Master Meriadoc!"; Fangorn Comes to Helm's Deep; The Final Tally; Flotsam and Jetsam; Farewell to Faramir.

New Line Cinema

The Return of the King

The Return of the King adds 51 minutes of additional footage to the theatrical run time of 200 minutes (increasing to 263 minutes with those extra fan credits).

Already clocking in at three hours and 20 minutes in the cinema, it's no wonder so much was cut from the theatrical version. Some of what's been added back in does feel worthy, even if it is often extremely brief.

There's not much extra from Frodo (Elijah Wood), Samwise (Sean Astin) or Gollum (Andy Serkis), as their story had to play out on screen. But we get a confrontation between Gandalf and the Witch King and see Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) using the palantir to bait Sauron. The long-spoken-of Mouth of Sauron scene – which appeared in set photos but was one fan-favourite element that didn't make it into the finished film – is also remarkably short.

A deeper look at the battles of Helm's Deep and Isengard gives them more weight, while the romance between Eowyn (Miranda Otto) and Faramir also gets a chance to breathe.

The longest addition is also the most satisfying – even though it diverts massively from the source material. Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) were very important characters in the second film and in the theatrical cut of The Return of the King audiences were left wondering what happened to them. The restored scenes at Saruman's tower bring their tale to a close.

The following scenes have all been extended: The Finding of the Ring; The Road to Isengard; Return to Edoras; Minas Tirith; The Paths of the Dead; The Siege of Gondor; The Tomb of the Stewards; The Pyre of Denethor; The Battle of the Pelennor Fields; The Last Debate; Mount Doom.

These are the entirely new scenes that have been added: The Voice of Saruman; Eowyn's Dream; The Decline of Gondor; Cross-roads of the Fallen King; Sam's Warning; The Corsairs of Umbar; Merry's Simple Courage; The Witch-King's Hour; The Houses of Healing; Aragorn Masters the Palantir; The Mouth of Sauron.

2. The Hobbit

Similar to his work on The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson was keen to create extended editions of all three films in The Hobbit trilogy. It's amazing there was any extra material to work with, given that the 300-page book it was based on had already been stretched into three massive film scripts.

Warner Bros.

An Unexpected Journey

The first film in the trilogy contains just 13 minutes of additional footage. That sees two new scenes added (Mr. Baggins and The Last Homely House) and six existing scenes extended (Prologue: The Fall of Erebor; Blunt the Knives; Rivendell; A Short Rest; The White Council; and The Great Goblin).

While 13 minutes doesn't sound like a lot, it actually stretches an already thinly-plotted movie beyond breaking point. The sequences in Hobbiton are the best but you're buying this version for the nine hours of engrossing bonus features, not the additions to the film itself.

Warner Bros.

The Desolation of Smaug

The second film does a much better job of adding value. It also includes the most new material in The Hobbit trilogy, with 25 minutes of extra footage on offer. That still sees only three all-new scenes (Queer Lodgings; Where the Shadows Lie; and Son of Thrór), with 11 other scenes benefitting from lengthier retellings (The Quest for Erebor; Elven-gate; Mirkwood; The Master of Lake-town; The World of Men; The Prophecy; A Warm Welcome; The Parting of the Company; The Lonely Mountain; The Spell of Concealment; and The Enemy Revealed).

One of the best additions is Queer Lodgings, which gives us more of the shape-shifting character Beorn. Gandalf also finally gets to meet Thráin – as was promised in the first teaser trailer. Even though this takes some extra re-editing on Jackson's part to fully introduce a character who was left out, the addition of the maddened Dwarven king also allows for a flashback to the battle of Moria.

Warner Bros.

The Battle of the Five Armies

Jackson added 20 minutes of extra footage to the trilogy finale, including four new scenes (The Night Watch; The War Chariot; An Unforeseen Remedy; and King Under the Mountain). Yet a whopping 14 other scenes were extended, including Bard the Dragon Slayer; Attack on Dol Guldur; "Summon Our Friends"; The Elven-king's Aid; An Honest Burglar; Dáin Ironfoot; The Clouds Burst; The Darkest Hour; "To the King!"; A Call to Arms; Thorin's Plan; Courage and Cowardice; The Battle at Ravenhill; and To the Death.

If it seems that a lot of those titles include some kind of combat (words like "War", "Slayer", "Attack", "Arms", "Battle" and the call to defend the monarch, "To the King!" being very prominent), that's because this extended edition massively ramps up the fighting. Hence the R rating, which the damage inflicted by the war chariot itself could be responsible for, even before Legolas' dagger twists in Bolg's head.

Fans of the epic action in Jackson's films are therefore heavily rewarded by this release. Those who are less likely to be cheering as body parts go flying won't find much in the way of extra character development or plot to make this worth their while.

Warner Bros.

3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

At 151 minutes long, you wouldn't think there'd be much Zack Snyder wanted to add to Dawn of Justice but the "Ultimate Edition" lasts over three hours. Alongside that extra 30 minutes of footage, the film also earns an R rating – having been PG13 in cinemas.

Having disappointed critics and split the fandom down the middle, the big question was whether the extra storytelling in this extended edition would deliver a superior film. Thankfully, it did. Still, you can see why this even darker cut and its extra violence wasn't released into cinemas for the general public.

Some oddities in the theatrical version are also cleared up. At one point Superman is blamed for the deaths in the desert and you wonder why people would think the last son of Krypton has started using a machine gun. The answer is that Anatoli Knyazev burns all of the bodies to try and frame him.

But the biggest shift is in the way the film deals with both title characters and it's that which makes it worthy of a watch. Batman seems like less of a monster in this version, while Superman seems a little more heroic. A deleted scene, titled Communion, also shows that Lex had been communicating with Steppenwolf (the big bad in Justice League) and better explains Luthor's role as a puppet master.

Warner Bros.

4. Suicide Squad

The extended edition of Suicide Squad adds 11 minutes of footage to take its running time from 123 minutes to 134 minutes.

You might expect to get a ton more Jared Leto in that extended edition, given how much of his performance apparently ended up on the cutting room floor. So it's a surprise to see characters like Killer Croc getting some extra screen time. He actually gets the only additions in the first 50 minutes of the film, where we find out he once bit off a guard's hand and he throws up on the plane ride. Not exactly essential.

Harley Quinn is the other big winner when it comes to extra footage. First, when the plot to escape is discussed, she takes Deadshot's advice to "Spread the word, Dollface" and tries to get the rest of the gang on board. Then she gets a flashback (a third, given the two that already made it into the film) where she tries to get Leto's Joker to admit that he loves her (he won't). Then, in a more interesting twist, she calls upon her past as a psychoanalyst – she wasn't always a raving psycho, remember – and tries to work her magic on the other members of the Suicide Squad.

None of this is enough to warrant seeking out the extended cut but neither does it slow the film down.

DC ComicsWarner Bros.

5. Harry Potter

The Harry Potter series of films took a different tack when it came to extended editions. When the theatrical versions were released on DVD and Blu-ray, they included a number of deleted scenes as bonus content. The extended editions of the first two films simply added those scenes back in to create a longer version of the movie.

While officially there are only two films that have "Extended Editions", the ABC channel Freeform did show versions of the later films that also included deleted scenes – effectively making them extended editions on that platform.

Warner Bros.

The Philosopher's Stone/The Sorcerer's Stone

The first instalment of the Harry Potter franchise improved its pacing in cinemas by ditching some scenes. While none of these were particularly key, adding the six and a half minutes of footage back in does help expand on the wizarding world. Aunt Petunia in particular gets more screen time, as several early scenes from Privet Drive show Harry's harsh situation in more detail.

The first potions class attended by Harry and his friends also gets extended, offering us more Snape. But the reason to watch this version is the fun chat between Hagrid and Harry as they ride the London Underground and talk about dragons.

Warner Bros.

The Chamber of Secrets

A not-to-be-sniffed at 13 minutes has been added in the second film's extended edition. Unfortunately, much of it feels unnecessary or simply adds exposition that was already pretty clear. Plus, there's a longer version of a woman having a cake dropped on her head.

The best moments are extended versions of Draco and Lucius in Borgin's magic shop, and a rather sweet extended chat where Potter superfan Colin Creevey explains he's from a family of muggles who thought he was "mental" because of his powers. Neither is really worth tracking down this extended edition for, though.

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