The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 

Archive for April, 2009

April 4 : 2009

LOTR in 3D? Not coming soon to a theater near you

Yesterday Variety posted a long story on the move to convert older titles to 3D. Basically a lot of tests have been done, but only Disney is definitely moving ahead, planning to release the first two Toy Story films retooled for 3D, with a third entry coming made in 3D from scratch. It’s also redoing Beauty and the Beast in 3D.

What about the insistent rumors that the LOTR trilogy will be given the conversion treatment?

According to Variety, “Most of the industry hasn’t addressed the topic of 3-D conversions in public, but that hasn’t stopped rumors from flying. One website shows the entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy in line for conversion, but New Line insists the company has no current plans for it. Paramount, which would be involved in any ‘Transformers’ or ‘Titanic’ re-release, declined to comment on the possibility.”

The article offers a good rundown of the situation and explains the obstacles to making over older films into 3D versions. It costs a lot, for a start, and the whole business of installing digital projectors (necessary for the new 3D processes) in theaters is going slower than many had hoped. Already there aren’t enough 3D screens to hold the number of films coming out in that format. The wonderful Coraline got forced out of theaters all too soon, and not because it wasn’t making money. The economic turndown isn’t helping the process of installing new equipment.

Whether the new push to innovate 3D will actually work is still up in the air. For now, I doubt there will be any move to issue a 3D version of LOTR.

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

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    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”