How many hours would it take to watch the film?
Wikipedia, in the article "
The Lord of the Rings (film series)" puts the running times at 178, 179 and 201 minutes for a total of 558 minutes or 9 hours 18 minutes, for the theatrical versions. My DVDs of the theatrical versions show a slightly shorter running time, in total 23 minutes less.
For the Extended Edition DVDs, Wiki gives running times of 208, 226 and 252 minutes for a total of 686 minutes or 11 hours 26 minutes.
Interestingly, here my DVDs show 10 minutes longer, then 12 minutes each shorter, for a net of 14 minutes shorter.
I once did watch all three EEs in succession on some mad Saturday, perhaps in 2005. Besides having to change discs - each EE had to be spread...