2024 started off on a sour note for some Lord of the Rings fans, as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s extended edition–considered by some to be the definitive version–was recently unceremoniously dumped from Max, the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
The extended editions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers remain available to stream on Max, along with the theatrical versions of all three films. People on social media are complaining about the decision. Some said they started the lengthy film in December and attempted to resume watching in 2024 only to find the 11-time Oscar-winning movie to be removed from the catalog.
Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and other popular streaming platforms publicize lists of titles set for removal ahead of time, to help users avoid getting surprised when a movie or show is set to be dumped. Max does this as well, but Return of the King’s extended edition was not printed on the “leaving” list.