Good news, impatient fans of the Shire. Although The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition won’t be released on Blu-ray and DVD until November 5, you can actually download and watch it now, including 13 minutes of extra film footage that extends individual scenes, on iTunes.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition on iTunes includes exclusive early access to nearly nine hours of new special features as part of iTunes Extras, including “The Appendices Part 7 – A Long-Expected Journey: The Chronicles of The Hobbit” and The Appendices Part 8 – Return to Middle-Earth”.

The Appendices is a multi-part chronological history of the filming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, covering pre-production in the various departments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, the boot camp training for the main cast, the work done on set chronologically through the three shooting blocks and in the world of its digital effects.

To learn more, visit the iTunes at www.itunes.com/hobbit.

The Hobbit films star Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Ian Holm, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Conan Stevens, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Barry Humphries and Benedict Cumberbatch.