Del Toro On Whether "The Hobbit" Will Be In 3D: A Resounding... Maybe?

First of all - thank you Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson for taking the time to answer questions - especially the 3D related one that I and many others posed!

Listen guys - Guillermo and Peter had the perfect opportunity to say NO and quash all the rumors Saturday night when asked the question: "Will you be filming the Hobbit in 3D?" - but they DID NOT quash the rumors. According to Ain't It Cool News it is not happening at all - obviously their sources are not all that close if Guillermo simply didn't just say NO here. In fact they said that my scoop of Peter Jackson and New Line making up and settling their lawsuit was a flat out lie too. Ah no. The only flaw in my original reporting from my Weta sources was that Peter Jackson would be heavily involved in "The Hobbit" (still very true obviously) and also directing - the producing aspect of it was a recent development (he changed his mind in other words). And to quote PJ from the Q&A when asked why he isn't directing: "Believe me, I thought long and hard about this, and what we're doing here will result in better movies, I promise you. And that's all that counts!" Meaning he was considering directing! Proof right there guys! So will it be in 3D? He left it WIDE open. Pisses me off when other websites go out of their way to discredit someone for whatever reason (no idea why - other than ego I suppose) and then post it as gospel. Well you are wrong AICN and MarketSaw was right. And we shall see what happens regarding 3D Hobbits too - Hint: I'm smiling. Enough trash talking now - just venting a bit! Most folks know I am an easy going, casual guy.

Back to the point - Del Toro's response to the 3D question was: "At this stage it is too early to tell, but no plans are being made for that at the moment..."

"Too early to tell." Well unless you guys have a lined up 3D equipment from PACE or elsewhere and booked the expertise to run them then I would say that, my friends, is a YES. 3D is a fundamental film making decision! It affects so much of what you need to get done during the shoot and quite frankly it sounds like Peter and Guillermo are holding off that announcement until later to drag it out a little.

All the more opportunity for me to grab more proof that it WILL HAPPEN. You heard it here first folks and I will do my best to continue to deliver the goods on all things 3D - and yes, "The Hobbit(s)" are close to my heart so you can be sure to have VERY interesting reading in the near future.

The only thing said during this public Q&A that was disturbing to me was the following statement by GDT: "I normally use 1:85 but I thoroughly plan to respect Peter’s choice of format used in the Trilogy (2:35:1) but it is my intention, for now, to shoot this on film, not HD."

Huh? This makes little sense to me currently and I believe it to be more smoke and mirrors to cover the fact that it will be shot in HD 3D. If his intention is to shoot on film, why say that it is too early to tell if it will be shot in 3D? (You need to shoot modern 3D in digital btw to obtain the results needed for these massive pictures).

In closing I will say that we are much closer to an announcement stating that "The Hobbit(s)" will be in 3D, but that the smoke and mirrors are quite chaffing.

PS> I love that GDT mentioned Fafhrd and Grey Mouser as a movie he would love to make. Now THAT would be awesome Guillermo - you just scored big time in my books!

Source: WetaHolics