There are plenty of prolonged cinematic experiences out there these days, but few of them have maintained their enduring appeal quite as long as Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Available in both long theatrical and extreme extended edition formats, binging through "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers," and "The Return of the King" from sundown to sunset has become a favorite past-time for Tolkien fans everywhere (including yours truly).

If you're planning on a marathon soon, you may be wondering just how long the experience will be. How many meals do you have to account for? How many bathroom breaks will you need? How early should you start?

Let's start with the big picture. If you binge the theatrical version of the Middle-earth trilogy back to back, the full runtime is a butt-numbing 558 minutes long. That's nine hours and 17 minutes, for those of you counting at home.