I love Lord of the Rings. The first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, came out when I was in eighth grade. I ended up seeing it four times in theaters; up until that point I'd never seen a movie in a theatre more than once. Over the next two years, the releases of The Two Towers and Return of the King were equally as exciting.
As most people do with things they enjoy, I wanted to tell other people about these movies that I love so much. But one complaint I kept coming across from people reluctant to get into the series was one a lot of fans are probably familiar with:
'But it's soooooo loooooooooong!'
If you're even casually into Lord of the Rings -- or any other fantasy series -- you've probably come across this argument before. People who would willingly spend twelve hours binge watching reality TV are reluctant to spend that same amount of time watching a classic. So how do you get around this? How do you convince someone to take the time necessary to watch the first movie, let alone the entire trilogy?
It's not as difficult as you might think. I'm going to tell you how to get through this entire trilogy quickly and easily.
First off, get your hands on the extended editions of the movies. I know it sounds contradictory, but bear with me here. Each extended version of the movie is split into two discs, and each disc is about an hour and a half worth of movie. If you want this to be even more organized, start on a Monday and finish on Saturday.
Watch one disc each night. The first night, you'll watch part 1 of Fellowship of the Ring. The next night, you'll finish Fellowship of the Ring. The next night, you'll watch part 1 of The Two Towers.
I think you get the idea.
Three movies, two parts each means you'll obviously finish the movie in six days. And you're done! You've conquered an incredibly long, yet classic and rewarding movie in less than a week.
This is how I always tell people to watch Lord of the Rings. Believe it or not, I still run into people today who would love to experience the movies, but are put off by the run time. I think my method is an efficient way to experience and enjoy the movies. They may be unusually long, but you won't regret watching them.