The Hobbit Film Trilogy Thread

[Quintus 5,399]

New Line will never get Raimi's Hobbit off the ground. I can't understand all this 'worry'

[Greg1138 3]

I'd rather see Raimi do this than Peter Weir....but that's just personal opinion....feel free to disagree.....last I heard is that it was being "Unintentionally" delayed until the rights change hands again and PJ can be involved once more......

[Quintus 5,399]

"Unintentionally" should actually read Intentionally. Saul Zaentz the original owner of Tolkien's The Hobbit rights is deliberately holding out for New Line's 'option' ie, RENT to run out. He want's Peter Jackson to make The Hobbit and PJ wants to make it.

Do you want a link? Google it. You will find words from Saul himself.

[John Crichton 4]

If Peter Jackson can't do it it might be best if it just isn't made at all.

[John Crichton 4]

Bumpity. Has New Line started to come to their senses? The latest:

Return of The Hobbit Helmer- Could Peter Jackson be the one after all?

Is Peter Jackson back in the running to direct The Hobbit? After a tense legal battle with New Line over Lord of the Rings profits, and what amounts to a public war of words with New Line honcho Bob Shaye, it didn't seem likely. But relations between Jackson and Shaye/New Line may be thawing.

The Los Angeles Times spoke with Shaye who admitted that New Line insiders have been in talks with Jackson's reps to try and make amends. "Yes, that's a fair statement," said Shaye when quizzed about it. "Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit."

Meanwhile, the New Zealand-based Stuff.co.nz website adds to the reinvigorated Jackson/Hobbit buzz with a fresh quote from Gandalf actor Ian McKellen who said at a news conference on Thursday that there was no doubt that a rumored reprisal of his role in The Hobbit would be discussed with Jackson and partner Fran Walsh.

The site also quotes a Jackson spokesman as saying, "Peter and Fran have always wanted to do The Hobbit but whether that happens is yet to be decided."

Should Jackson and New Line kiss and make up, the long list of rumored Hobbit helmers whose names have been bandied about for months would become moot. Sam Raimi, Peter Weir, Stephen Sommers, Michael Bay, Brad Silberling and Bill Condon are all rumored contenders.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/812/812289p1.html

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Indy 4 will never happ....ooohhh....

[Richard Penna 3,695]

Bumpity. Has New Line started to come to their senses? The latest:

Should Jackson and New Line kiss and make up, the long list of rumored Hobbit helmers whose names have been bandied about for months would become moot. Sam Raimi, Peter Weir, Stephen Sommers, Michael Bay, Brad Silberling and Bill Condon are all rumored contenders.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/812/812289p1.html

Sommers? Bay? Are these people absolutely, completely insane???

This is all pettiness on both sides. Jacko made plenty of money, and SHaye didn't need to take it public.But frankly, is Jackson going to be missed on the Hobbit? His directorial style isn't exactly a winning formula, and has been considered the weakest part of an otherwise excellent LOTR series.

You just love it when someone comes along and says something completely uninstantiated like that

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

This is... encouraging.

[Richard Penna 3,695]

Another shot fired in the Hobbit War:

But to think that I, as a functionary in [a]company that has been around for a long time, but is now owned by a very big conglomerate, would care one bit about trying to cheat the guy, ... [anything]."

:lol:

Maybe my cynical side coming out, but...

hehehehhehehehhe.

[John Crichton 4]

This is... encouraging.

It's a start, at least. But anything is probably still years away, if at all.

[Ollie 1,059]

Yeah, don't look for it in 2008.

[Dean1700 4]

Yeah, don't look for it in 2008.

Well if you take into account just how long it took to get LOTR from script to screen then we would be looking around.......hmm....add this......and carry the Y..... we might see something starting to happen around 2015.

[Red 75]

I seriously doubt it'll take that long. The Hobbit is far less of a difficult project to do than LOTR.

On a side note, if Michael Bay directs it, someone is going to die.

[Richard Penna 3,695]

Probably him - the LotR fan community would mount a war.

[Datameister 2,044]

I really don't care if Jackson gets it or not. IMO, the LOTR films could have been so much better than they were, but I don't the see the potential for The Hobbit to exceed their level of so-called excellence. If and when the film finally gets made, I'll go see it, but without high expectations.

[John Crichton 4]

The Hobbit is my least favorite of Tolkien's works but I think it could still be a fun little film.

[Marian Schedenig 8,210]

There's something in the idea of that faraway mountain with its pile of gold and a dragon on top of it, about Bilbo going off with the dwarves and the Lonely Mountain slowly turning from a fairy-like tale into reality, that's rather unmatched in everything else Tolkien has written.

On a side note, if Michael Bay directs it, someone is going to die.

Yes, I'm not sure I could take the shock.

[John Crichton 4]

The only man alive who could put an exploding helicopter in Middle-Earth.

[Ollie 1,059]

The Hobbit is my least favorite of Tolkien's works but I think it could still be a fun little film.

All due to Smaug.

[Richard Penna 3,695]

The only man alive who could put an exploding helicopter in Middle-Earth.

Too true, and he probably would find a way.

[gkgyver 1,645]

And of course Bard would have a sexy girlfriend. And one of the Dwarves may be female. Or black. Or both.

There's your Oscar nomination.

[HPFAN_2 0]

And one of the Dwarves may be female. Or black. Or both.

Oh dear heaven forbid, that would just be terrible.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It would, actually.

Middle Earth is an all-whites world!

[Marian Schedenig 8,210]

Aretha Franklin as Bombur!

[Red 75]

I wouldn't mind a black dwarf. Now a female . . .

But seriously, Bay would do so bad that it would be almost unfathomable.

[Marian Schedenig 8,210]

Now a female . . .

We wouldn't be likely to notice the difference, anyway.

[Red 75]

Because of the beards.

[Luke Skywalker 1,796]

exactly.

Really, that gives me the greeps.

I prefer the 'right' female dwarfs, as in Dragonlance...

[AI 0]

It would, actually.

Middle Earth is an all-whites world!

You got that right. A black is bad enough, but a midget black, ugh. next he will be gay too.

But the black midget in Bad Santa was amusing.

[Ollie 1,059]

Just letting Michael Bay anywhere near the project is a sickening thought.

But relax folks, it ain't gonna happen.

[Jeshopk 8]

it's glaringly obvious that Lucasfilm must be the equivalent of a totalitarian state, where you'll suffer grave consequences if you challenge the all-knowing 'leader', which of course is the emperor without clothes when the reviews from the free-of-his-clutches press come in.

Well, I would have to say the problems with Lucasfilm are that Lucas himself not only became lazier and cheaper, but that he accepted and included too many ideas from his ILM guys and others.

For instance:

Jar Jar looking like a cartoon - Lucas was too cheap to use the costume and just animate the head, which would have fit better with the OT.

Ahmed Best doing Jar Jar's voice - Lucas disagreed but caved ("not what I had in mind, but Ahmed begged" or something to that effect)

Yoda throwing a saber into a stormtrooper's chest (badass!) - Lucas disagreed, telling the animator "it's not a very Jedi thing to do" but caved

Score Butchery - Lucas gave Ben Burtt too executive much power/too cheap to record full scores or do more sessions.

The ridiculous Dooku/Yoda showdown beginning - Lucas accepted ideas from head animator to include "fightin words" and the 180 degree Matrix shot of Yoda getting his saber out

Editing overall - Lucas hired an inside guy (already on the payroll) with no editing experience instead of hiring an experienced editor.

Instead of directing the first Clone War skirmishes on Geonosis, Lucas simply requested "A bunch of really good battle shots" from a couple of straight-out-of-high-school animatics boys. I kid you not.

Ben Burtt can be seen directing portions of AOTC, such as Padme's Apartment/Centipede scene. This guy never directed before.

Lucas deligated direction of the Wookie/Droid battle to an ILM underling

That sounds more like a guy who is still executive producing and leaving much of the real direction up to various inexperienced ILM-ers.

I believe that if Lucas were just cheap and lazy, but MORE totalitarian, we'd have better films with less video game culture/fan fiction ideas mixed in.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You Lucas apologist! Next you'll be defending Hitler and the Holocaust!

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

You've got some decent points, except for the first. Jar Jar was a major investment, if animating him in full was easier than trying to blend an animated head with a live-action costume, animating him would be the choice any director would make.

The question is just how much of the performance you put in the hands of the animators? Do you let them do all of it, or do you basically rotoscope the actor's on-set performance? Or do you find a middle ground?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Let's just say I thought WETA found a far better middle ground when doing Gollum.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Indeed!

[Jeshopk 8]

The question is just how much of the performance you put in the hands of the animators? Do you let them do all of it, or do you basically rotoscope the actor's on-set performance? Or do you find a middle ground?

Exactly, I mean - Jar Jar was a complete humanoid from the neck down, so why not just rotoscope or motion capture. Yes, Gollum was better, but if it was in Star Wars in 1999, I think people would still cry foul because you compare it to the "real" feel of the OT. The main problem was still the voice. I could do a much better job with the same exact lines.

The worst part is, you could clearly see that Clones became hand animated for certain scenes in ROTS. For creatures, its more excusable, but humans? Ugh.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I think even some of the mocap Clones in RotS looked phoney. They looked like troopers acting out their moves on an empty soundstage, rather than getting out there in the mud and in danger.

[Red 75]

It still amazes me (and disappoints) that not a single clone trooper was actually made. It boggles the mind.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I feel that, sadly, a lot of the prequels' approach to VFX came more about prestigious groundbraking digital methods than actually using all the tools available effectively to conjure up a realistic world on screen.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sometimes it's far better just to build a real set, and hire real actors and have real costumes made.

The problem is that Lucas just does not seem to grasp that.

[Red 75]

Such lazy film making is obscene.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Keyframe animation gives you so much control over little nuances that mocap hardware and software at this point in time still manages to miss.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I see....

[HPFAN_2 0]

That is Lucas' style of filmmaking. I really believe that if he had the technology available to him in the 70s he would have made it the same way.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I fear you may be right.

[Ollie 1,059]

Judging by Lucas' complaining in interviews one could read between the lines and agree that the first three films would have been like the prequels if the technology was available at the time.

[HPFAN_2 0]

Then it would be safe to say then that the prequels are closer to his vision than the originals. Where filmmaking is concerned.

[Ollie 1,059]

I'd say that's pretty damn close to the truth.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

That's quite sad, really.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

We're not taking the 20-year lapse between each trilogy into account.