Hobbit footage at Comic Con will not be screened in 48 fps

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Peter Jackson will avoid any negative publicity for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by not screening it at Comic Con in 48 fps.

Fans and critics alike were anticipating a chance to judge for themselves if the reactions from CinemaCon were justified. But, Jackson has instead elected to show their reel of footage in plain old 24 fps and in 2D.

Jackson told the LA Times “there is a huge audience waiting to see ‘The Hobbit,’ and any positive press from Comic-Con will truthfully have little impact on that,” he said. “However, as we saw at CinemaCon earlier this year, with our 48 frames per second presentation, negative bloggers are the ones the mainstream press runs with and quotes from. I decided to screen the ‘Hobbit’ reel at Comic-Con in 2-D and 24 frames per second, so the focus stays firmly with the content and not the technical stuff. If people want 3-D and 48fps, that choice will be there for them in December.”

I was looking forward to more reaction to Frame-Rate-Gate but it looks like Jackson is going to play this one safe, which doesn’t worry me. Just think back to the reaction fans had upon seeing the initial footage from AVATAR. There were many who said it would not work, but Cameron and the studio knew what they were doing. Sure, no movie since has lived up to the 3D in that film, but that is a different story.

Jackson also hinted that he may do additional filming next year for THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN. “The material is so rich,” he said. “In fact only this last week or two, we’ve been talking to the studio about allowing us to shoot some additional material next year, to fully complete the story.”

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY opens in theaters (in 48 fps) on December 14th.