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Set Photos from M. Night Shyamalan’s AFTER EARTH Starring Will SmithPeter Jackson Talks THE HOBBIT Blu-ray/DVD, LORD OF THE RINGS 3D Conversion and Lackluster Blu-ray Set
by Matt Goldberg Posted:April 20th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
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In a recent interview, Peter Jackson spoke about special features for the eventual DVD/Blu-ray for The Hobbit, gave his thoughts on 3D conversion, how it should be applied to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and his disappointment with the Blu-rays of the films that were released a couple weeks ago. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, here’s what Jackson had to say regarding special features for The Hobbit DVD/Blu-ray:
“We’ve been filming DVD material for about a year. [Director] Guillermo [del Toro] has been doing location scouts and design work, with the DVD people following him around, so we’ve shot 20 or 30 hours of DVD material so far and we’re still a few months away from the first day of shooting.”
Hit the jump for more on Jackson’s Hobbit comments as well as what the director had to say about giving The Lord of the Rings the 3D treatment and how he sympathizes with fans over the recent Blu-ray release of the LOTR trilogy.
A brief refresher Jackson’s Hobbit comments: Last week, Jackson said, he was, “optimistic that we’ll be shooting before the end of the year. I would imagine October, November, we’d be shooting by. I’m not announcing it, though.” It’s clear that Jackson can’t give a concrete date for filming because MGM’s financial mess is holding everything up (as is also the case with the James Bond franchise). That’s why it’s “October, November” one day and “in a few months” the next.
Moving on to his thoughts on 3D conversion, here’s what Jackson said:
If you do [3D conversion] quickly, fast and cheap, and it’s not going to turn out well. If we were going to convert LOTR, I’d want to do it properly, which would be a very long, time-consuming, and expensive process.
That’s an encouraging statement, although it may bum out those who want to take a 3D trip to Middle-Earth in the near future. To those people I’d say that it’s better to be patient than to shell out extra cash for an ugly transfer.
And speaking of paying extra money for disappointment, Jackson sympathizes that the recent Blu-ray set of The Lord of the Rings was a letdown:
I agree with the fans. I was heavily involved in the DVD process when the films were being released through New Line, but now that Warner Brothers has taken control over the releasing of the films, they just tell me what they’re doing and don’t involve me in the process. [With New Line,] the one thing we never did with the fans was make them feel cheated. Back in the original release, we always put extra material in, extra documentaries – a lot of added value. I so totally understand why the fans would be upset; I don’t disagree with them.
For those who don’t know, while the picture quality of the trilogy has improved (although it’s not eye-popping), Warner Bros. just carried over the special features from the original theatrical version DVDs and didn’t add anything new (unless you count digital copies as something new). I don’t mind separate theatrical and extended version releases, but the rehashed special features seemed like an excuse to inflate the price.
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Related Links
- Are the Extended Editions of LORD OF THE RINGS Coming to Blu-ray This Year?
- David Yates Directing THE HOBBIT?
- MGM and Warner Bros. Pushing to Get Peter Jackson to Direct THE HOBBIT; Yates, David Dobkin, and Brett Ratner also Interested
- Director Guillermo Del Toro Talks 3D for THE HOBBIT
- Warner Bros. to Distribute THE HOBBIT Worldwide
Hmmm, personally i didnt buy the theatrical cuts of lotr, but i knew people that did, not knowing that an extended release was coming. Try selling a theatrical cut lotr on ebay! impossible! so there, i knew of fans that did feel cheated first time round. The theatrical releases should have been on a bonus disc from day 1.
Im staggered theyre repeating this for bluray, insulted even. Bitch about Lucas all you want for rereleasing Star Wars, but at least he bothered to add/remove content per release! sometimes it worked sometimes not, but at least there was something different to see. Hopefully when the bluray of that comes out he would have retweeked all those too. And hopefully improved them.
I agree that lotr should not be rushed into 3D, no need, and taking time doing it would take that time away from Hobbit work
Yeah, WB was the same company that didn't bother to clean up the old Marx Brother's movies I loved and just slapped them on to a few DVD's. Not surprised they did this at all for the LOTR…
Also, they should wait before releasing bluray extended of lotr because they could replace “YOUNG” Bilbo from the scene where he finds the ring, with whoever they cast as Bilbo in the Hobbit. Otherwise continuity will be out.
I totally agree with you, Matt. I don't mind separate theatrical or extended editions. In my mind there's enough extra content in all three movies to make them a totally separate viewing experience, and both valid in their own place. I also agree that the rehashed special features is lame, and that's why I won't be buying this blu-ray set. Thanks for saying that, because everyone is all up in arms about how awful it is that these aren't the extended editions.
I really wish that they would have handled this like the King Kong Blu-ray with both the extended and the theatrical cuts on the same disc. However, my biggest gripe with the set is, not only did they rehash the original special features, they didn't even bother to transfer them to Blu-ray. They're the exact same bonus discs that came with the original DVD releases. I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled them straight from overstock rather than making a new print. Including bonus feature DVDs in a Blu-ray package feels cheap to begin with, and having DVD bonus discs recycled from earlier versions is just insulting.
I bet more copies of the Theatrical LOTR would have been sold had they included some of that Hobbit DVD footage been included
When Mount Doom is made into 3-D, by gawd it'll be really terrifying! Watch out Frodo!
http://tinyurl.com/doomawaits
When Mount Doom is made into 3-D, by gawd it'll be really terrifying! Watch out Frodo!
http://tinyurl.com/doomawaits