This film is going to be the new Phantom Menace or Indiana Jones 4. It will rank low with the most disappointing films of all time. From Jackson's foolish decision to use 48FPS--which will make it look like a cheap television movie--to splitting it into two parts, this film will be a flop. A huge flop. It will destroy the JRR Tolkien book series and put it on the ash heap of history, while The Dark Knight Rises will tower above and be recognized as the second greatest movie in film history next to The Dark Knight.
Be ready, Hobbit fans. This film is going to disappoint you and it's going to be a flop. It will be the Phantom Menace all over again.
You're naive.
If you don't think that digital filmmaking and higher framerates aren't the future of film, then I don't know what to tell you.
YES, 48 FPS WILL be different, it will be jarring, but that's an exciting thing to think about.
Nolan is one of my favorite filmmakers...but it's wrong to just be content with shooting in film, in 2D, at 24 FPS forever...it was never meant to be a static art, it's meant to evolve.
If the equipment and technology was affordable and available back then, every movie would be at 48 FPS today.
It'll take getting used to, but I'm sure that's how it was for talkies and color film as well.
Blockbuster cinema will succeed more as it evolves into a more immersive and engaging experience of viewing a story.
Douglas Trumbull knows it, he's developing a sci-fi film to be shot in 3D at 120 Frames Per Second.
Guys like Jackson and Cameron are taking the industry toward THAT high caliber standard with baby steps, Jackson is doing The Hobbit at 48 FPS, and Cameron will likely do the Avatar sequels at 60 FPS.
There is no comparison between The Hobbit and The Phantom Menace. The Hobbit is already an enduring classic and was the foundation upon which Tolkien created The Lord of the Rings. Phantom Menace was Lucas trying to prove that he wasn't a one-trick pony who only succeeds on the backs of better filmmakers than himself.
Somehow, I suspect that Warner Bros. expects both The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit films to do boffo box-office. And I'm betting that they will.
I keep thinking it will be like TPM. What with its difference in tone to LOTR, I feel audiences will be disappointed it's not on the same scale as LOTR. Readers of TH will probably like it, but it seems Jackson is adding in all this unnecessary stuff just for the hell of it, like this female elf, and putting Legolas in for no reason. He's taking too many liberties with it, and if he really respected JRR's work he'd keep it as close to the novel as possible, which it seems to be doing, but going on some detours along the way.
It'll no doubt do good at the box office, but I don't think it'll make anywhere near ROTK. But even when watching the trailer it just didn't feel like LOTR in any way. It looked too colorful and clean, even in the grimy places like Gollum's cave.
@Tomcat563 How is The Hobbit already "an enduring classic"? Please elaborate on how a movie that hasn't been released is already a classic.