The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Adventure, Fantasy, Action • 3h 21m
Overview
As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, John Noble, David Wenham, Miranda Otto, Bernard Hill, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, Ian Holm, Sean Bean, Lawrence Makoare, Marton Csokas, Paul Norell, Noel Appleby, Sarah McLeod, Ali Astin, Maisy McLeod-Riera, David Aston, John Bach, Sadwyn Brophy, Alistair Browning, Richard Edge, Jason Fitch, Bruce Hopkins, Ian Hughes, Bret McKenzie, Bruce Phillips, Shane Rangi, Todd Rippon, Thomas Robins, Harry Sinclair, Peter Tait, Joel Tobeck, Stephen Ure, Sala Baker, Robert Pollock, Ross Duncan, Pete Smith, Jed Brophy, Lee Hartley, Billy Jackson, Katie Jackson, Alan Howard, Jane Abbott, Gino Acevedo, Aidan Bell, Jarl Benzon, Jørn Benzon, Emma Deakin, Michael Elsworth, Clint Elvy, Zo Hartley, Peter Jackson, Sandro Kopp, Andrew Lesnie, Joseph Mika-Hunt, Henry Mortensen, Craig Parker, Rick Porras, Christian Rivers, Michael Semanick, Howard Shore, John Stephenson, Richard Taylor, Royd Tolkien, Sam Kelly, Christopher Lee, Bruce Spence, Brad Dourif
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray (the one without the green tint) may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
The 2011 Blu-ray notoriously had a green tint, the 2020 one removes it.
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray (the one without the green tint) may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
The 2011 Blu-ray notoriously had a green tint, the 2020 one removes it.
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: James Cameron
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled
The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: James Cameron
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled
The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part II overall fares better than the first film but it has all the same problems. Randomly some shots are the worst in the trilogy looks mushy and manipulated to death.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part II overall fares better than the first film but it has all the same problems. Randomly some shots are the worst in the trilogy looks mushy and manipulated to death.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0
Director: Oliver Stone
A improved Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray teased by Oliver Stone
MGM Blu-ray, better than 2022 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray due to poor encode and heavy DNR (review)
Director: Oliver Stone
A improved Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray teased by Oliver Stone
MGM Blu-ray, better than 2022 Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray due to poor encode and heavy DNR (review)
Director: John G. Avildsen
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc> Knockout collection original.
The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a fold-down of the 5.1, the replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error.
Director: John G. Avildsen
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)
Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc> Knockout collection original.
The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a fold-down of the 5.1, the replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error.
Director: Kevin Costner
4K restoration of the extended cut to be screened in Locarno Film Festival
PQ looks the same for all BDs, but only Shout! Factory/Australia Via Vision Blu-ray/Germany Kinowelt Anniversary Blu-ray has both theatrical and extended cut
Director: Kevin Costner
4K restoration of the extended cut to be screened in Locarno Film Festival
PQ looks the same for all BDs, but only Shout! Factory/Australia Via Vision Blu-ray/Germany Kinowelt Anniversary Blu-ray has both theatrical and extended cut
This disc defaults to a lossless 5.1 remix, however in the setup menu, the original mono mix is included as a lossy alternative for the first time since the dawn of home video. The film was given a stereo remix very early on and remained stuck that way for decades.
This disc defaults to a lossless 5.1 remix, however in the setup menu, the original mono mix is included as a lossy alternative for the first time since the dawn of home video. The film was given a stereo remix very early on and remained stuck that way for decades.
Director: Peter Jackson
Director: Peter Jackson
Director: Peter Jackson
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased for many years, will come out once Turbine's exclusivity rights expire
Director: Peter Jackson
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased for many years, will come out once Turbine's exclusivity rights expire
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
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