A 25-minute longer cut of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released later this year, with more than nine hours of new special features.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition will be available from Monday 3 November as a 5-disc Blu-ray 3D set featuring the Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray versions of the Extended Edition, and as a 5-disc DVD set. The Blu-ray 3D also includes a 2D digital version of the movie with UltraViolet.

> Pre-order the Blu-ray set on Amazon.

The new special features include an audio commentary with director/producer/screenwriter Peter Jackson and co-producer/screenwriter Philippa Boyens, The Appendices Parts IX and X – showcasing an immersive multi-part history of the filming of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, covering pre-production in the various departments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, training, the work done on set and in the world of its digital effects – and New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth – Part 2.

The movie stars Sherlock‘s Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, alongside Ian McKellen (Vicious) as Gandalf the Grey and Richard Armitage (Spooks) as Thorin Oakenshield.

> Read our review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Watch the trailer…

The final film in Peter Jackon’s The Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies, is released in UK cinemas on 12 December.

What are you hoping to see in the extended cut? Let us know below…