VIBE had the pleasure and distinction of attending an advance screening of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” last night in NYC, and a press junket this morning. The award-winning director gave us a few tidbits that we want to share with you.
New York City’s luxurious Waldorf Astoria opened their doors to Middle-Earth Wednesday morning, as the cast and crew of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” took question from the press after attending a premiere screening of the movie the night before.
Director Peter Jackson was the first to hit the stage, alongside visual effects maven Joe Letteri (“Man Of Steel”) and writer Phillipa Boyens (“The Hobbit”). While the cast of the “Lord of the Rings” prequel, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage fielded questions afterwards.
During the filmmakers portion of the press conference the question was asked if Peter Jackson would ever consider converting his much beloved “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for 3-D.
“It’s not really a question for me because it’s a studio issue. I would be happy to do it and be part of it if they [the studio] decide. Literally, it’s a marketplace thing… I think that whole idea of dimensionalizing older films is something that the studio’s are still unsure of. I know when Jim [Cameron] did it with the “Titanic,” it was extremely successful. But when George Lucas did it with the “Star Wars” franchise, it was not so successful financially. So I think studio’s are not quite sure of how they want to do 3-D.”
So, at the moment, we have to just take it for a no — or at least wait until technology makes the process cheaper!
“The Hobbit” stars the aforementioned Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, and will hit theaters December 14th.