How long does it take to watch the Lord of the Rings extended editions?
The extended editions run 12 hours 6 minutes, two hours and 48 minutes longer than the theatrical cuts. The Return of the King extended edition is the source of most of the disagreement about this total: it has been released at 252 minutes on DVD, 264 on early Blu-ray and 263 on later Blu-ray, and different sources use different discs. A commonly quoted trilogy total of 682 minutes comes from the DVD runtimes. Watching all three in a day is a recognised undertaking and requires starting before nine in the morning to finish before midnight.
The numbers
- Total
- 12 hours 6 minutes
- In hours
- 12.1 hours
- Non-stop
- 0.5 days without sleeping
- Covers
- 3 films, extended editions
- At a realistic pace
- a film a night
- That works out as
- about 3 days
What this assumes
Extended editions at the Blu-ray running times: Fellowship 228, Two Towers 235, Return of the King 263 minutes.
Sources disagree materially. The Return of the King extended edition exists at 252, 263 and 264 minutes across releases, and totals of 682 and 726 minutes are both published.
Other films
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| The Marvel Cinematic Universe | about 83 hours |
| The Infinity Saga | about 50 hours |
| The Star Wars Skywalker saga | about 20 hours 26 minutes |
| Every Star Wars film | about 27 hours 7 minutes |
| The Lord of the Rings films | about 9 hours 18 minutes |
| All six Middle-earth films | about 17 hours 12 minutes |
| The Harry Potter films | about 19 hours 39 minutes |
| The James Bond films | about 53 hours 28 minutes |
| Every Pixar film | about 52 hours |
| Every Studio Ghibli film | about 39 hours 30 minutes |
| The DC Extended Universe | about 33 hours 15 minutes |
| The Fast & Furious films | about 20 hours 42 minutes |
| The Jurassic Park films | about 14 hours 40 minutes |
| The Indiana Jones films | about 10 hours 35 minutes |
| The Mission: Impossible films | about 18 hours 24 minutes |
| The Matrix films | about 9 hours 11 minutes |
Common questions
- How long does it take to watch the Lord of the Rings extended editions?
- about 12 hours 6 minutes — 3 films, extended editions.
- What does that assume?
- Extended editions at the Blu-ray running times: Fellowship 228, Two Towers 235, Return of the King 263 minutes.
- How long at a realistic pace?
- a film a night — about 3 days.
Related pages
- How long to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe? about 83 hours
- How long to watch the Infinity Saga? about 50 hours
- How long to watch the Star Wars Skywalker saga? about 20 hours 26 minutes
- How long to watch every Star Wars film? about 27 hours 7 minutes
- How long to watch the Lord of the Rings films? about 9 hours 18 minutes
- How long to watch all six Middle-earth films? about 17 hours 12 minutes
- How long to watch the Harry Potter films? about 19 hours 39 minutes
- How long to watch the James Bond films? about 53 hours 28 minutes
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Sources
- Calculated on this page — At One Place