true but The theatrical Hobbit wasnt as long as TLOTR movies, so I cant see them needing to spread it....though like you say, based on how they split prior movies there sadly is a chance.
I hope not. TBH, I'd rather forgo any extras and just have the 3D/2D movie, which considering the inevitable trilogy boxset, could be likely as any extras they didtn include in the theatrical release, will likely be held back for said boxset
I'm hoping for a slim steel too, and that my worries are all baseless.
Some musings on running time: The Fellowship of The Ring (EE) has a running time of 228 min, compared to An Unexpected Journey's 169 min. However, if we add on the 20-25 min of extra footage Peter Jackson said will be incorporated, and the 20 min fan club credits, it totals up to 209-214 min. So the film we'll end up getting won't be
that much shorter than its older brothers.
Of course, this assumes that Jackson's figure is still correct, and that the fan club credits are still something they're going to do. both assumptions could be wrong.
Another thought on reducing discs could be to split the film in half as discussed, but then combine the 2D and 3D films within these two discs, so you'd have 'part one (2D & 3D)' and 'part two (2D & 3D)'. It would probably be a close call, but they might be able to squeeze the cuts onto two discs this way without compressing.
Personally, I wouldn't want to lose the special features. These are the real treasure of the Extended Editions for me, even more than the new cuts of the movies, and while I can't speak for others' opinions, I'd guess that most consider them part and parcel with these releases. That said, we are dealing with a different distributor than before, so nothing should be taken for granted.
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