The Lord of the Rings:

The Two Towers

Special Extended Edition

DVD Contents

Los Angeles, CA (August 18, 2003) The battle for Middle-earth continues in home theaters as New Line Home Entertainment releases the Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on VHS and Platinum Series™ DVD on Tuesday, November 18th, 2003. The Special Extended Edition, available as either two VHS cassettes or four DVD discs, is priced to own at $24.99 on VHS and $39.99 on DVD.

In addition to the over three-and-a-half hour long feature, presented on two discs with the enhanced picture and sound quality consumers have come to expect from New Line Home Entertainment, the four-disc Special Extended DVD Edition will also include two discs containing upwards of six hours of supplemental material, available via multiple platform navigation systems.

“The Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers offers over 43 minutes of new material thoroughly integrated into the body of the film,” says New Line Home Entertainment President and Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Einhorn. “It is an epic and immersive experience that helps prepare viewers for the hugely-anticipated December 17th release of The Return of the King, the final installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.”

Discs One and Two: Special Extended Edition of the Film and Supplemental Audio Commentary Tracks

Due to the running length of the 223-minute Extended Version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and the additional audio tracks, the film will be split; two separate discs are required in order not to compromise image and sound quality.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers feature will be presented in anamorphic 16X9 widescreen, 2.35:1 aspect ratio and three Surround Sound options, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS ES 6.1 and Stereo along with English and Spanish subtitles, interactive animated menus and closed captions.
• The first two discs will feature four supplemental audio commentary tracks, accompanied by an optical subtitle layer identifying each different speaker.

Audio Commentary 1: The Director and Writers

• Peter Jackson (Director/Writer/Producer)
• Fran Walsh (Writer/Producer)
• Philippa Boyens (Writer)

Audio Commentary 2: The Design Team

• Richard Taylor (WETA Workshop Creative Supervisor)
• Tania Rodger (WETA Workshop Manager)
• Grant Major (Production Designer)
• Alan Lee (Conceptual Designer/Set Decorator)
• John Howe (Conceptual Designer)
• Dan Hennah (Supervising Art Director/Set Decorator)
• Chris Hennah (Art Department Manager)

Audio Commentary 3: The Production/Post-Production Team

• Barrie M. Osborne (Producer)
• Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer)
• Andrew Lesnie (Director of Photography)
• Mike Horton and Jabez Olssen (Editors)
• Rick Porras (Co-Producer)
• Howard Shore (Composer)
• Jim Rygiel (Visual Effects Supervisor)
• Joe Letteri (Visual Effects Supervisor)
• Ethan Van der Ryn (Supervising Sound Editor)
• Mike Hopkins (Supervising Sound Editor)
• Randy Cook (WETA Animation Designer and Supervisor)
• Christian Rivers (Previsualization Supervisor)
• Brian Van't Hull (Visual Effects Director of Photography)
• Alex Funke (Visual Effects Director of Photography)

Audio Commentary 4: The Cast

• Elijah Wood (Frodo)
• Sean Astin (Sam)
• John Rhys-Davies (Gimli/Voice of Treebeard)
• Billy Boyd (Pippin)
• Dominic Monaghan (Merry)
• Orlando Bloom (Legolas)
• Christopher Lee (Saruman)
• Sean Bean (Boromir)
• Bernard Hill (Théoden)
• Miranda Otto (Éowyn)
• David Wenham (Faramir)
• Brad Dourif (Wormtongue)
• Karl Urban (Éomer)
• John Noble (Denethor)
• Craig Parker (Haldir)
• Andy Serkis (Gollum)

Discs Three and Four: The Appendices

Two discs of all-new bonus content, including multiple documentaries, galleries and interactive maps. Documentaries that were started with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended DVD Edition are continued here, delving deeper into the stories and experiences unique to The Two Towers.

Supplemental Material Multiple Platform Navigation System

Viewers of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended DVD Edition have the option of experiencing the supplemental material on discs three and four in two different ways: “explore mode” and “play all.”

• In “explore mode,” the DVD viewer who wishes to explore all of the materials contained on the disc can do so in a traditional menu hierarchy system, where materials are divided into subcategories that can be accessed like a family tree. This is accomplished by simply navigating through the main and sub-menus.
• “Play all” is for the DVD viewer who would prefer to sit back and watch rather than navigate with a remote control. Each section of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVD contains a documentary focusing on different aspects of the film, from storytelling to production to post production---the entire arc of the creative process of bringing Tolkien’s world to the screen. Viewed in tour mode all of these documentaries can be linked together to create a cohesive documentary that serves as an overview of the DVD.
• All three films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy will include both “explore mode” and “play all” for supplemental material. This guarantees continuity between the DVD editions of each episode in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Disc Three: The Appendices Part Three– The Journey Continues

• Peter Jackson Intro
• J.R.R. Tolkien – Origins of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• From Book to Script – Finding the Story (Video Documentary)
• Designing and Building Middle-earth
• Designing Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• Weta Workshop (Video Documentary)
• Design Galleries
• Gollum
• The Taming of Sméagol (Video Documentary)
• Andy Serkis Animation Reference (Video Documentary)
• Gollum “Stand-in” (Video Documentary)
• Design Gallery
• Middle-earth Atlas: Tracing the Journeys of the Fellowship (Interactive map)
• New Zealand as Middle-earth (Interactive map with on-location footage)

Disc Four: The Appendices Part Four–The Battle For Middle-Earth Begins

• Filming “The Two Towers”
• Warriors of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• Cameras in Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• Production Photos
• Visual Effects
• Miniatures
• “Big-atures” – (Video Documentary)
• Galleries
• The Flooding of Isengard Animatic
• Weta Digital (Video Documentary)
• Abandoned Concepts
• Editorial: Refining the Story (Video Documentary)
• Music and Sound
• Music for Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• The Soundscapes of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
• Sound Demonstration: “Helm’s Deep” (interactive)
• “The Battle for Helm’s Deep is over …” (Video Documentary)

CONTACTS

Amy Gorton

New Line Home Entertainment

310-967-6536

amy.gorton@newline.com

Jennifer Sandler

New Line Home Entertainment

310-967-6992

jennifer.sandler@newline.com

P&F Communications/The Berney Group

Barbara Pflughaupt, Jeff Lovari, Bill Douglass (212) 861-2100

Joanne Cole (212) 995-1415