Since New Line Cinema announced last month that it was re-releasing extended versions of the first two Lord of the Rings movies worldwide just two weeks before the Dec. 17 release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, tickets have become a hot item.
New Line plans to release the 208-minute long Fellowship of the Ring Dec. 5 on 100-150 screens in the top 10 U.S. markets. The 214-minute long The Two Towers will unspool in theaters the week of Dec. 12. A one-time-only, daylong marathon will take place Tuesday, Dec. 16, when all three films will be shown back-to-back beginning at 3 p.m. in 99 theaters across the U.S. According to the studio, one ticket for the marathon will admit moviegoers to all three movies.
The plan, dubbed “Trilogy Tuesday,” was devised by the studio as a way of promoting the third and final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But what started off as a simple marketing strategy has turned into somewhat of a cultural phenomenon.
Advance tickets for “Trilogy Tuesday” went on sale Oct. 9 on exhibitor Web sites and movie ticketing sites, but theaters have been selling out at such a rapid pace, many fans are turning to eBay for tickets. Tickets to the three-movie marathon are selling at the online auction house for as much as $150.
New Line, however, has no plans to expand its “Trilogy Tuesday” beyond 99 theaters despite requests from exhibitors such as AMC Theaters and Regal Entertainment.
“We’ve been asked to make more theaters available, but the problem is we can never provide enough,” New Line’s president of distribution David Tuckerman told The Hollywood Reporter Friday. “This was originally done as a marketing initiative to pay back the fans who want to see it all in one swoop. It was never intended to be a moneymaking deal for us.”
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