The Playlist

'Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes' Sequel Aiming For A 2014 Release Date & More From The Floor At CinemaCon

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 30, 2012 11:18 AM
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2 Comments

News

This past week saw Hollywood types descend on Las Vegas -- not for a "Hangover" reboot, but for the annual CinemaCon trade show, which sees all the studios showing off their upcoming wares for exhibitors and members of the press. And this year was a big one, with footage from "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Hobbit," "Les Miserables," "Prometheus," "The Great Gatsby" and many, many more among the headliners.

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Peter Jackson Says To Wait Until You See 'The Hobbit' In Full Before Judging The Results Of 48fps Filmmaking

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 28, 2012 11:44 AM
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3 Comments

News

It seems that this week, everyone suddenly became an expert on 48fps (frames-per-second) filmmaking. In case you're still playing catch up, 48fps doubles the 24fps standard that has been used throughout cinema history in order to provide a smoother, crisper and more "realistic" image. It's the latest technological leap that guys like James Cameron and Douglas Trumbull have been trumpeting (the latter considering going to 60 fps for the project that he's currently working on) and Peter Jackson has been using it on "The Hobbit." He unveiled 10 minutes of footage at CinemaCon this week and it got a negative-to-mixed reaction, resulting in those in attendance tossing out comments like "terrible," "jarring" and "it doesn't look cinematic." Ouch.

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Peter Jackson's 48fps Presentation Of 'The Hobbit' At CinemaCon Gets A Mixed Response

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 24, 2012 4:58 PM
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62 Comments

News

While the fact that Peter Jackson was shooting the upcoming "The Hobbit" films in 3D at 48 frames-per-second rate instead of the standard 24 frames-per-second has been around since proudction started, in gained a bit more steam last week. There were concerns about how prepared (or not) theaters would be for the blockbuster film come December, to show it in the format that Jackson intends it be viewed. The short version, is that exhibitors/theater owners will need to upgrade the software on their 3D projects to handle 48fps, and it's not cheap (about $10,000). However, the selling point is that 48 fps offers a crisp viewing experience, free of any motion artifiacts, juttering or any other anomalies sometimes present in 24 fps screenings. Win/win right? Unfortunately for Jackson, it's not quite a slam dunk. Presenting 10 minutes of footage today in the fancy new format at CinemaCon, the screening left many unimpressed.

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Peter Jackson Ready To Dazzle With 'The Hobbit' In 3D & 48fps, But Will Theatres Be Prepared?

By Charlie Schmidlin
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April 19, 2012 11:19 AM
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4 Comments

News

Directors Peter Jackson and James Cameron have spent the past few years extolling the benefits of higher frame rates in film, with Jackson wrapping up “The Hobbit” in 48 frames-per-second and Cameron planning the same or higher for the "Avatar" sequels, but now exhibitors are finally getting a wake-up call as the first of these examples plans to hit theatres.

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Trailer For 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' Finally Arrives; Feels Awfully Familiar

By The Playlist
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December 20, 2011 10:07 PM
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20 Comments

News

Well, it screened recently at AICN's "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" -- an annual 72 hour non-stop screening of genre-minded films, plus some early sneak peeks from the new year -- and it was rumored to appear this weekend in front of Warner Bros' "Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows," and that's likely the case, as here it is: the first teaser trailer for Peter Jackson's long-time-coming "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has finally arrived (almost an ironically fitting title since Guillermo del Toro was originall supposed to direct the film).

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'The Hobbit' Trailer Will Debut In Front Of 'The Adventures Of Tintin' (Which Is Killing It Overseas In Case You Were Wondering)

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 29, 2011 1:49 PM
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2 Comments

News

While for a big chunk of the world "The Adventures Of Tintin" is old news, having arrived in theaters throughout October and November, for those of us in North America, the film still remains the holiday season treat we're eager to unwrap. The classic comic being brought to life from the minds of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson is tantalizing enough, but there will be one more reason you'll want to scoot to theaters when it opens in December.

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Andy Serkis Says 'The Hobbit' Teaser May Be Under Your Tree By Christmas (So Be Good for Goodness Sake)

By Drew Taylor
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November 15, 2011 2:45 PM
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News

Since the first teaser for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" debuted about a hear ahead of its December 2001 bow, speculation has been high that we'd get our first glimpse at Jackson's 3D-ified "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" sometime this holiday season. Now someone close to the production says that yes, indeed, that is the case. So all of those geeks who put "Seeing a 'Hobbit' Teaser" on their Christmas list will be very, very happy. Ho-ho-hobbit!

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'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' Will Make Its World Premiere In New Zealand In November 2012

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 28, 2011 6:01 AM
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0 Comments

Peter Jackson Plans To Help The West Memphis Three Seek Full Pardon; Damien Echols Won't Be In 'The Hobbit'After some pre-production strife that found union woes forcing Peter Jackson and the studios to start looking elsewhere to shoot the massive two-film "The Hobbit" leading to New Zealand PM John Key himself asking the filmmaker to stay, it looks like everyone is in love with each other again.

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Damien Echols Of The "West Memphis Three” To Appear In 'The Hobbit'?

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 13, 2011 9:39 AM
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3 Comments

After years behind bars, and in the wake of support from three eye-opening documentaries by directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, and celebrity support and awareness from folks like Eddie Vedder, Johnny Depp and Henry Rollins, the West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin were finally freed this summer. Though technically still convicted of murder thanks to the Alford plea deal, the trio were helped in no small part by the quiet efforts of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh who had for years been funding further investigations to help clear their names. And while the future is still a mystery for the WM3 at least one of them may get a taste of Hollywood.

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Watch: New 'The Hobbit' Video Blog Talks Dwarves, Gives Early Peeks At Hugo Weaving & Cate Blanchett

By Kevin Jagernauth
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July 21, 2011 1:44 AM
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0 Comments

Peter Jackson Confirms The Obvious: No 'Hobbit' At Comic-ConUpdate: Warner Bros. has dropped a look at all the dwarves posing together. Check it out below.

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