STORY: Peter Jackson Unveils 20 Minutes of New Footage at ‘Hobbit’ Fan Event Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Rob Legato conducted his own test of 48 fps and didn’t like the look. Some reviewers called the new process disconcerting, with THR‘s Todd McCarthy criticizing the “overblown, artificial quality” of the images. The first movie appeared on about 600 HFR screens domestically and another 1,000 internationally, reports Warners. But since the public’s appetite for 3D has been declining - 49 percent of the opening weekend audience for the first Hobbit bought 3D tickets (for a mix of HFR and regular 3D) - HFR is seen as a possible new lure as the novelty of 3D wanes. Seeing Smaug in HFR 3D costs moviegoers the same as a regular 3D ticket, so theater owners don’t necessarily get a financial bump from luring audiences to HFR over non-HFR 3D. Theaters need a 48 fps-supported digital cinema projector and a 48 fps-supported “media block,” which can cost about $10,000. whose New Line unit is producing the Hobbit movies with MGM - Jackson forecasted in April 2011 that the first movie would open on about 10,000 screens in HFR. Jackson argued that HFR images would have more clarity, reduce camera blur and be easier to watch, especially in 3D. A few visionaries - like effects ace Douglas Trumbull, who began developing a 60 fps process called Showscan during the late ’70s and continues to promote the concept of HFR - have tried to move the needle, but it wasn’t until Jackson began his Hobbit trilogy that 48 fps gained traction. Since the 1920s, Hollywood movies have been made at 24 frames per second. Bryan Singer, who visited Wellington, New Zealand, for The Hobbit‘s premiere, says he found the look of Jackson’s movie “really stunning.” But for X-Men: Days of Future Past, opening May 23, he stuck with 24 fps because, he says, “I had concerns about how certain sequences would look, and there is also a cost factor in rendering the visual effects.” And while other filmmakers are intrigued, none, so far, has followed Jackson’s example. will be equipped to show his new movie in the eye-popping new process. For all of Jackson’s proselytizing, at most, 1,000 screens out of the 39,056 screens in the U.S.
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