The original cut ran 178 min., while the Extended Edition runs 208 min. — or 228 min. if you include the additional credit sequence (which consists of the names of the Lord of the Rings fan-club

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is returning to movie theaters 20 years after its theatrical release, this time in the form of the extended edition. Peter Jackson's fantasy
LoTR extended editions suck terribly. The extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy are significantly worse than their theatrical brethren; these scenes were removed for a reason, detract heavily from the artistic merit of each film and there's no better litmus test for an aesthetically bankrupt mind than by asking which version they
Next summer, the 4K Ultra HD “Middle-earth” Ultimate Collectors’ Edition will be released, featuring the theatrical and extended versions of all six films, along with new bonus content, previously released Blu-ray discs of “The Hobbit Trilogy,” and the remastered Blu-ray discs of “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”

I definitely agree with you about the first two movies. As much as I love the extended editions, the extra scenes interfere with the pacing and could make the movies feel less accessible to a new fan. I don’t think that’s true of Return of the King, though, since a lot of key scenes were cut only for time in the theatrical edition.

Watch the extended editions in this order: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. You can safely ignore Rings of Power.
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is the lord of the rings extended edition better