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unexpected journey
With The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey just released you can decide for yourself comparing that film to these hysterical images of celebrities turned into Gollums albiet with the magic of computer graphics as opposed to a corrupting magic ring.
Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Rihanna may be sex symbols but the look of a feral hobbit doesn’t suit them.
Hollywood.com created the images of celebrities with Gollum Eye in celebration of The Hobbit’s release.
Director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning series of epic films based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien were huge critical and financial successes.
The new film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is already a smash having broken two US records at the box office to become the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time.
Peter Jackson’s adaption of JRR Tolkien’s classic novel kicked off with takings of $37.5 million – the biggest December Friday opener in domestic history.
The film then took $28.1 million on Saturday to claim the record of the largest December weekend at the American ticket office, even without Sunday’s takings being calculated. Warner Brothers are predicting the movie could earn over $85 million in the U.S. for the whole weekend.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has broken two records at the US box office to become the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time.
Peter Jackson’s adaption of JRR Tolkien’s classic novel kicked off with takings of $37.5 million – the biggest December Friday opener in domestic history.
The film then took $28.1 million on Saturday to claim the record of the largest December weekend at the American ticket office, even without Sunday’s takings being calculated. Warner Brothers are predicting the movie could earn over $85 million in the U.S. for the whole weekend.
As reported by Deadline.com, the movie version of the 1937 book is playing in 4,045 North American theaters, also a record number for December.
Friday’s huge opening haul included $13 million from midnight showings on Thursday night, which included $1.6 million on IMAX screens.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was digitally remastered for IMAX 3D and filmed using new technology.
The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey has broken two records at the US box office to become the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time
A select number of theaters are presenting the picture at double the standard frame rate, showing the movie at 48 frames per second rather than the standard 24 frames per second.
This technology claims to show the film in a way that is closer to how the human eye actually sees images.
Despite mixed reviews from critics, the movie is also doing incredibly well internationally.
An Unexpected Journey is also the number one film overseas and already taken $57 million from 56 international markets (in 18,200 screens).
Deadline.com reports that the film may end the weekend with takings of around $200 million worldwide.
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Director Peter Jackson has defended shooting The Hobbit trilogy in a new format at 48 frames per second after a mixed response from film critics.
Since 1927, the standard frame rate – the number of frames or images that are projected per second – has been 24 frames per second.
“24 frames is jarring to me now,” said Peter Jackson.
“It looks primitive. Change is good, it takes people some time to get used to it,” he added.
“Ultimately, it’s not critics who are going to decide if this (the new format) is going to be adopted or not, it’s the audience.”
“(There will always be) people who have a particular strong feeling that film should be unchanged and that we got it right in 1927, just like there are people who play vinyl records still, whereas most of the world has moved to CDs and we got used to that.”
However, viewers will only be able to watch the film being projected at the increased frame rate in a small proportion of cinemas. Most will be showing the film at the traditional rate of 24 frames per second.
The Independent said 48 frames per second was “kitsch and alienating”, while the Telegraph said it gives the film “a sickly sheen of fakeness”.
But others, including Wired magazine loved it, saying: “Middle-earth in 3D looks so crisp it’s like stepping into the foreground of an insanely gorgeous diorama.”
Director Peter Jackson has defended shooting The Hobbit trilogy in a new format at 48 frames per second after a mixed response from film critics
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first in Peter Jackson’s series of three films adapting JRR Tolkien’s classic book, opens in cinemas in the UK on Thursday and in the US on Friday.
Andy Serkis, who reprises the role of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings film, concurred with Jackson on the 48 frames per second.
“It’s so immersive, I find it really magical and really engaging,” he said. “It has a level of reality that it is unsurpassed… some people will find it challenging but… it’s a matter of time and there won’t be a discussion any more.”
Despite being happy with the end result, Peter Jackson said he did not expect The Hobbit to win any Oscars next year.
“I think they gave us our Oscars for Return of the King (the final instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
“I don’t think there’ll be any Oscars this time round which is fine, it actually takes the pressure off.
“It helped with Lord of the Rings that there was a weight and a gravitas to the whole story which The Hobbit doesn’t have… but some of the technical categories are superb so hopefully we’ll feature in those.”
Meanwhile, a parody of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was stopped from going on sale when a US District Court in California granted a temporary restraining order on Monday.
Global Asylum, a film company that makes parodies of blockbuster films such as Transmorphers, based on Transformers, was set to release Age of the Hobbits on Tuesday on DVD.
The studios making The Hobbit – Warner Bros and New Line MGM, along with producer Saul Zaentz – had asked the court to prevent the release.
The court for the central district of California granted their request, as Judge Phillip S. Gutierrez said that they had satisfied the legal standard for a temporary restraining order.
The applicant has to demonstrate that there is a valid copyright infringement claim, that there would be danger to the plaintiff if the order is not granted, that the plaintiff would suffer more and that the order would advance the public interest.
Global Asylum had argued that its film was not trying to deceive viewers or use the debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to boost its own profits.
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Cinema-goers have complained of feeling sick and dizzy after watching early screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
The Hobbit is the first to be shot using high-speed 3D cameras that capture twice the normal number of frames per second.
But some viewers said the filming techniques made them feel nauseous and even caused migraines.
The Sunday Times reported one “avid Middle Earth fan”, who had flown to New Zealand from Australia for the premiere, said: “My eyes cannot take everything in, it’s dizzying, now I have a migraine.”
Another fan tweeted: “It works for the big snowy mountains, but in close-ups the pictures strobes. I left loving the movie but feeling sick.”
The Sunday Times said one fan described having motion sickness similar to being on a rollercoaster.
They said: “You have to hold your stomach down and let your eyes pop at first to adjust. This is not for wimps.”
However, others praised the way the film – starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins – had been shot.
Hollywood director Bryan Singer wrote on Twitter after the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Wednesday: “Having some serious frame rate envy. Amazing and involving. Loved it!”
The 3D company that worked with Peter Jackson on the shoot said the new technology should actually stop people feeling ill.
Matt Cowan, chief scientist at RealD, told stuff.co.nz: “What you will experience is smoother motion.
“The effect you get for things like explosions is much more real.
“It is a great experiment and kudos to Peter Jackson for doing it.”
The Hobbit – the first in a trilogy – is shot at a camera speed of 48 frames per second – double that normally used.
Cinema-goers have complained of feeling sick and dizzy after watching early screenings of The Hobbit
Critics did not react warmly to an unfinished version of the film describing it as looking like a “made for television BBC movie – so uncompromisingly real, slightly sped up, that it looked fake. It was jarring”.
The movie came under fire earlier this year after critics who had seen ten minutes of the unfinished film compared it to a made-for-television film.
Ian McKellen, who reprises his role as Gandalf in the film, defended it as ‘more exciting’ and said the 3D brings fans into Middle Earth.
Thousands of people crowded into central Wellington, New Zealand, for the chance to see some of the films stars including Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett and Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum.
The second film The Desolation of Smaug will be released in 2013 with There and Back Again released the following year.
What 48 frames per second means?
Movies have been filmed in 24 frame per second (fps) shots since 1927.
It means each second of picture contains 24 still images that create the illusion of movement when put in sequence.
American film director Doug Trumbull invented and promoted a 60 frame per second process called ShowScan 30 years ago but it was not widely used.
The new technology means every second of shot will contain 48 still images – and The Hobbit is the first major studio film to be shot at the higher rate.
The resulting movie should be clearer with images that look more details, “sharp”, and less blurred.
However, some critics have argued that the sharper image makes the film look too similar to television – which is shot at 50 fpm – and ruins the cinema experience.
Director Peter Jackson hopes more than 10,000 cinemas will be able to project the film at the higher frame rate.
But the vast majority of cinemas are currently only able to show the standard 24 fpm.
Therefore the film is being released in six different versions – 2D, 3D and 3D IMAX, all in both 24fps and 48fps.
Peter Jackson said the high speed of frames gives a “hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness” and also claims it cuts down eye strain from watching 3D.
Director James Cameron has said he wants to film the two sequels to his film Avatar at a higher frame rate than 24 frames per second, in order to add a heightened sense of reality.
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