As any Lord of the Rings fan will tell you, it is never a bad time to go there and back again to Middle Earth and revisit the adventures of Frodo (Elijah Wood), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) as they embark on the nearly impossible mission of destroying the One Ring in the fire of Mordor before it makes its way back to Sauron. With that in mind, Warner Bros. announced today that it teamed up with Fathom Events in order to give fans a treat: The extended trilogy directed by Peter Jackson is making a special return to theaters with one installment getting screened a day on June 8, 9 and 10.

Fathom Events announced that the screenings are a celebration of the remastered editions of the movies, meaning that fans will also get to see the trilogy in the best possible quality. As extended versions go, the Lord of the Rings are among the most celebrated ones. This happened not only because the movies spawned a huge fanbase for the epic saga, but also because they add important elements and moments to the story that never made it to the original theatrical cut due to a sheer lack of time.

For die-hard Lord of the Rings fans, the extended versions of the movies are the only acceptable way of rewatching the adventure, and people who never powered through it will finally have the chance to find out why. In The Fellowship of the Ring, for example, you’ll get to know a lot more about Hobbit culture and the Shire, while in The Two Towers the unforgettable Helm’s Deep Battle gets a lot more intricate. In The Return of the King, we get to see Saruman (Christopher Lee) again, and the ending… well, it’s still pretty lengthy.

How Long Are The ‘Lord of the Rings’ Extended Versions?

The further you get in the trilogy, the longer are the cuts that Peter Jackson reserved for each movie. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the original 178-minute cut gets expanded to a generous 228 minutes. In The Two Towers, the already hefty 179-minute runtime is pushed to 235 minutes. Jackson went all out with The Return of the King, with the 201-minute run becoming a full-blown 263 minutes — a four-hour and twenty-three minute binge that will ask a little too much of your bladder.

The return of the trilogy to theaters is a good way to keep fans at bay while they wait for Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Prime Video series is currently on a long hiatus and without a release window officially announced. However, the showrunners are already working on Season 3, which may suggest that a 2025 release window for Season 2 wouldn’t be too improbable.

Warner Bros. and Fathom Events will screen the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy on June 8, 9 and 10. You can purchase tickets on the Fathom Events website.

via Collider