You may want to start making plans for a marathon movie day, especially if you’re a lucky theater owner who’s set up your system to enjoy the ‘scope aspect ratio (or constant image height) films.

One of the reference heavyweights (three, actually) in the 2.35:1 super-wide ratio has to be the Lord of the Rings trilogy, topped by the Oscar-winning “Return of the King,” and it is now up for pre-order on Blu-ray.

Maybe not quite the holy grail of potential Blu-ray releases (but still in our top 10), ‘LOTR’ has to be up there for home theater enthusiasts who have been longing to see the three epic films in full HD video glory and uncompressed audio.

Amazon has the cover art up on its site for the fat 7-disc box set, and a discount for pre-orderers—at $69.99, down from a list of $99.99.

High-def Digest says no release date has been set for the trilogy, but LOTR fans already appear to be up in arms based on the comments section on Amazon.

Seems they’re not to thrilled with the prospect of being sold the theatrical versions only with this box set, and having the extended versions of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers” and “Return of the King” saved for another wallet-thinning Blu-ray box release. Many of the 178 comments already up at this writing go something like this one:

I can’t believe New Line on this! The Studio knows that everyone wants the Extended Versions! Also Blu-Ray technology supports being able to have BOTH versions on the discs! This is just a dirty trick to try and get extra money out of customers loyal to this franchise. Shame on you New Line, I hope you pay attention to all the horrible reviews this is getting, and actually do something about it, like make the fans happy. And really the thing that annoys/bothers me most is that they will use this release as an excuse to charge more for the extended edition when it comes out. This is DISGUSTING. Shame on you New Line, you’ll get what you deserve.

So are you pre-ordering, or sitting out this round?

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!