• THE LORD OF THE RINGS Extended Editions on Blu-Ray this year?

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, Rants & Raves 3 Responses

    It looks like The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions will finally be released on Blu-ray this year! I have been waiting to see them in the super high quality 1080p, and I won’t have to switch over the disc in the middle of the film. The news comes from The Digital Bits, and here’s what they had to say,

    Our sources are NOW telling us that WHV (and their now in-house New Line label) is ALSO planning to release Peter Jackson’s long-awaited The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Extended Editions on Blu-ray sometime this year. No kidding. We suspect that, now that The Hobbit films are finally about to begin filming, the studio is eager to get more product on store shelves to keep the franchise fresh in the minds of fans. The Extended Rings films on BD are the obvious choice for this year. Farther down the line, of course, there will be the obvious Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D versions of The Hobbit films, and sooner or later an “ultimate” box set of all the films with all new extras custom created by Jackson. Anyway, our sources tell us to expect some kind of official news on all this (re: Rings: Extended and Kubrick) from the studio in the next several weeks.

    [via: thedigitalbits]

  • Loads of News from The Hobbit!

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, News 3 Responses

    Now that the seemingly endless saga of The Hobbit’s pre-production woes has finally resolved itself, we can get on with bringing you actual production news, which is a decidedly varied bag today.

    Firstly, we have the not wholly surprising news that (although not definitively confirmed) Ian McKellen seems set to return as Gandalf. His website (www.mckellen.com) details the following in the “2010′s” section:-

    THE HOBBIT’s, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in February 2011. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.

    If it’s on his website and in his plans, it should be safe to assume that he will commit to the films before too long. As soon as there is clear confirmation from McKellen or Jackson.

    Next up, Total Film have got on-set snaps of the building work on The Shire, which is taking shape nicely and looking much like we’d expect it to:

    The Shire

    Finally and more positively, Coming Soon report that Jackson has been singing the praises of the 3D rig he is planning to work with on the two prequels. RED Studios Hollywood have announced that the production will be using their (soon to be released) EPIC Digital Cameras. RED said:-

    The successor to RED’s industry changing RED ONE, the EPIC has 5K resolution, can shoot up to 120 frames per second and has a new HDRx™ mode for the highest dynamic range of any digital cinema camera ever made. Taking everything they had learned from building their first camera, RED designed the EPIC from scratch and have produced a smaller, lighter camera that is an order of magnitude more powerful.

    The Hobbit will be amongst the first productions in the world to use the EPIC and at least thirty cameras will be required by the 3-D production. The EPIC’S small size and relatively low weight, makes it perfect for 3-D – where two cameras have to be mounted on each 3D rig.

    Peter Jackson went on to gush effusively as follows:-

    “I have always liked the look of Red footage. I’m not a scientist or mathematician, but the image Red produces has a much more filmic feel than most of the other digital formats. I find the picture quality appealing and attractive, and with the Epic, Jim and his team have gone even further. It is a fantastic tool, the Epic not only has cutting edge technology, incredible resolution and visual quality, but it is also a very practical tool for film makers. Many competing digital systems require the cameras to be tethered to large cumbersome VTR machines. The Epic gives us back the ability to be totally cable free, even when working in stereo.”

    Wow. So he likes it then. A lot. Frankly, anything that helps these films look every bit as spectacular as they should is a great idea and it is surely beyond question that Jackson knows the best way to get the richest version of his vision up on the screen

  • Peter Jackson to Shoot THE HOBBIT in 3D Using RED EPIC Camera

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, News 3 Responses

    Hobbits on Red Epics

    Peter Jackson’s two film adaptation of The Hobbit will be shot in 3D using RED DIGITAL CINEMA’S soon to be released EPIC Digital Cameras.

    The successor to RED’s industry changing RED ONE, the EPIC has 5K resolution, can shoot up to 120 frames per second and has a new HDRx™™ mode for the highest dynamic range of any digital cinema camera ever made. Taking everything they had learned from building their first camera, RED designed the EPIC from scratch and have produced a smaller, lighter camera that is an order of magnitude more powerful.

    The Hobbit will be amongst the first productions in the world to use the EPIC and at least thirty cameras will be required by the 3-D production. The EPIC’S small size and relatively low weight, makes it perfect for 3-D – where two cameras have to be mounted on each 3D rig.

    Jackson has a long history with RED, dating back to when he directed the short film ‘Crossing the Line’ as a very early test of prototype RED ONE cameras.

    “I have always liked the look of Red footage.” he says, “I’m not a scientist or mathematician, but the image Red produces has a much more filmic feel than most of the other digital formats. I find the picture quality appealing and attractive, and with the Epic, Jim and his team have gone even further. It is a fantastic tool, the Epic not only has cutting edge technology, incredible resolution and visual quality, but it is also a very practical tool for film makers. Many competing digital systems require the cameras to be tethered to large cumbersome VTR machines. The Epic gives us back the ability to be totally cable free, even when working in stereo.”

    Jim Jannard the owner and founder of RED flew to New Zealand earlier this year with members of his team so that Jackson could test the EPIC and assess its suitability. “Everybody at RED is incredibly proud that Peter has chosen the Epic” says Jannard, “The Hobbit is a major production, and could have chosen any camera system that they wanted. The fact that they went with us is extremely gratifying.”

    The Hobbit will start shooting in New Zealand early next year.

    + Source: RED