take it for what its worth but I've gotten the following information from a pretty reliable scoop who has seen the rough cut of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. He tells me this:

1. It is indeed, far and way better than both Fellowship and Two Towers.
2. It was a 4 hour, 20 minute cut of the film.
3. Feeling that he has proven audiences will gladly sit for 3 hours of quality cinema, Peter Jackson will try to leave the film's 1/6 of a day total time as is.

Again, don't take it for fact, but it's definetly some information that will cause a stir. 4 hours of “better than the first two” filmmaking. Wow. – Kritik, Bikkit.com

http://www.bikkit.com/bikkit/content/movienews.asp?intnewsitemID=606