The Hobbit...

[L. Langer]

Can someone who has much more knowledge than I find out which, if any, theaters will show a 4K 3D 48FPS version of this? I would travel cross country to see it if a theater showed it. Is this even getting a 4K release at all? New York is only 13 hours by car.

As far as we know, it's only a 2K release like any other movie these days. A 4K 3D release would be nice but it is not a reality that is possible with what is available.

[L. Langer]

How do you figure out where it will be 48fps vs 24fps ... or will it be shown everywhere at 48 fps ?

WB has said they are limiting the 48 FPS showings and there will be a list of theaters on the official website of those that will show it at 48 FPS.

[Maik Müller Menendez]

The thing people aren't getting yet, that 48 fps in 2D makes no damn sense and it's actually looks weirder, BUT in 3D it helps to get rid of some nasty distracting "artifacts".

I agree that 48fps helps 3D to get a lot better, but i also think it makes sense for 2D too. 24fps isn't perfect, we're just got used to it. HFR might not be needed for 2D as much as for 3D, but the difference is clearly visible, thats enough for me. ;)

Also I'm not that excited if the 2K finish is confirmed

Yeah, i hope thats not true. 4k please!

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Just hope they tell us how many TB they filmed.

From what I've read recently in an article, about 6-7 TB's a day.

Wondering if the movie will have a 4K or 2K finish. I know 4K is a massive chunk more of data for VFX, and as someone who doesn't know details about that milieu, I'll believe them on their word, but when I heard that Spiderman and Prometheus were all being finished in 2K, I was a bit surprised though.
The girl with the Dragon Tattoo was finished in 4K, right? Of course that didn't nearly have the amount of FX that Spiderman and Prometheus had.
Still, I would think that The Hobbit would have the budget and the scale to be one of the first really big movies to be finished in 4K.

[Ravi Kiran]

Wondering if the movie will have a 4K or 2K finish. I know 4K is a massive chunk more of data for VFX, and as someone who doesn't know details about that milieu, I'll believe them on their word, but when I heard that Spiderman and Prometheus were all being finished in 2K, I was a bit surprised though.
The girl with the Dragon Tattoo was finished in 4K, right? Of course that didn't nearly have the amount of FX that Spiderman and Prometheus had.
Still, I would think that The Hobbit would have the budget and the scale to be one of the first really big movies to be finished in 4K.

I wonder if Prometheus and The Amazing Spider-Man would have gotten 4K finishes if they were not in 3D. 4K is cheaper and less difficult than it used to be, but 4K 3D is now the new benchmark to reach.

[L. Langer]

Spidey and Dragon Tat both got 4K. Spidey 3D was 2K and the VFX shots were resized for 4K as they were for the Sam Raimi films.

[Vadim Bobkovsky]

I agree that 48fps helps 3D to get a lot better, but i also think it makes sense for 2D too. 24fps isn't perfect, we're just got used to it. HFR might not be needed for 2D as much as for 3D, but the difference is clearly visible, thats enough for me. ;)

I like new plasmas with 120Hz interpolation thing as much as the next guy, it's fun and all. However, if we're talking film replacement here I'd rather go with global shutter or integrated tessive filter (or really damn fast readout speeds on new CMOS sensor) with the improved dynamic range and sensitivity, rather than faster frames per second. I saw a 2K 3D demo one time, something like 5 or 6 minutes, of 60p footage with lot's of movement (no CGI effects though), I just felt high, man. Having that hyper-experience without doing dr00gs is great, if you ask me. My head probably would've exploded if it was 4K demo instead of 2K, that's why I was so excited about 4K 3D possibility. I just need my 4k3d48fps fix, maaaaan :)

[Marc Wielage]

I am almost certain that The Hobbit won't be finished at 4K resolution, just 2K resolution 48fps per eye. The CGI costs for 4K at 48fps would be staggering (renders alone would be a mammoth increase, 16 times the rendering of a 2K finished 2D movie?)

Well... it's a $500 million movie, and the director owns the VFX house. My assumption is they will do it in 4K, or whatever the resolution works out for that aspect ratio. To me, the 48fps and 3D parts of the puzzle are the most challenging, not the 4K (or 5K or whatever).

More info on the lack of 48fps screenings in Daily Variety:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118057587

And on the opposite side, here's ILM's Dennis Muren and also VFX guru Doug Trumbull arguing for the adoption of 48fps:

http://www.studiodaily.com/2012/08/t...e-rate-cinema/

This piece offers this interesting tidbit about The Hobbit:

"Anywhere between 6 and 12 TB of camera data was generated on each day of the six-days-a-week production, with about two hours of 48fps 3D screenings taking place daily. A total frame-to-frame equivalent of 24 million feet of film was processed."

Yikes... 12TB per day... For a year.

[L. Langer]

Well, it looks like The Hobbit is getting some limited edition Oakley 3D shades. I don't know if they are Gascan frames like the last few limited editions but they will apparently come with a nice little "Sting" pin.

[Carlos King]

Bravo, great film on shot on RED!