After nearly 19 months away from the spotlight, a new King Kong — more grizzled and, definitely, ferocious — is preparing to return to Universal Studios Hollywood. Since the old animatronic Kong was destroyed in a fire on the theme park’s back lot, Hollywood’s top visual effects wizards have been tinkering away in a giant hangar in Playa Vista to create a new, more realistic ape to terrify visitors who take the park’s signature back lot studio tour.

Inside the humongous drab-green building, Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson has led a team of film and theme park ride experts in creating a 3-D version of the hairy ape to replace the Kong that died in the June 2008 fire. More..

3DBilboThe interwebs have been astir with rumors and sources claiming that “The Hobbit” is being planned as a 3D movie experience. An unscientific but fun poll showed conclusively that almost 75 percent of TORn poll takers didn’t like the idea. Then, the same pot was stirred again with more “sources” backing the original information and a flurry of e-mails landed in our inbox (Spymaster@TheOneRing.net if you have a hot tip!) beating the same drum. Not wanting to disrupt the creative process going on around a pair of films based on “The Hobbit,” we nevertheless asked Guillermo del Toro just what exactly, if anything, was up with 3D Hobbit movies. Since he is the director of the films in question (you know, the guy who picks the director of photography, the cameras and formats and all that movie stuff) we thought he might know.
Turns out he did and he told us, “I can safely say that, as of this moment, there are absolutely NO conversations about doing the HOBBIT films in 3D.”
Put that baby to bed and turn off the light.

Bilbo - The Hobbit 3dLast week, with the release of James Cameron’s AVATAR trailer, we asked you, whether the Hobbit films ‘should’ be in 3D. As of this morning, with nearly 3400 of you chiming in with your votes, the resounding result is ‘No’. 74% of you either flat out don’t want a 3D hobbit or strongly dislike the idea. Only 13% of you think it should be in 3D. Obviously we aren’t scientifically polling our audience here, but the trend is quite interesting. As we are told by James Cameron and others that the ‘next generation’ of 3D will blow us away, seems like most of us are not too excited when it comes to our favorite topic. We’ll revisit the poll after AVATAR is released in December and more of you have had a chance to see the ‘new’ 3D. You can still vote in the poll on the right side of this page if you haven’t voiced your opinion. We’ll be swapping in a new poll shortly.

Apple - Trailers - James Cameron_s AvatarThe much hyped and highly anticipated reveal of James Cameron’s AVATAR trailer has just hit the web. Spielberg predicts it will be the biggest 3-D live-action film ever. The cost for this single film is said to overshoot the entire budget for the LOTR Trilogy. Check it out, and tell us what you think about it in our forum! BTW – you may be wondering…how is this fodder for TORn? Well, WETA was involved with the production! [AVATAR Trailer] [React]

SmaugUPDATE: These rumors about “The Hobbit,” contradicted a lot of what Peter Jackson has said on the record often and in front of lots of cameras and reporters. We believe what PJ said rather than what somebody is claiming came from a “reliable source.” We also want to remind readers that Market Saw has reported some “facts” before which turned out to be incorrect. Check out this 2007 report which claimed that he knew Jackson would definitely be directing “The Hobbit,” in 3D not long before it was announced that he wasn’t. Many media members, including our own staffers, heard Jackson only weeks ago say there were no plans to do “The Hobbit,” in 3D and there absolutely no plans beyond the currently planned two films. Things can change but in this case, we doubt it very much. Further our own inside source, and somebody who really knows how the films will be shot (who isn’t Peter Jackson) wasn’t aware of an 3D plans.

Rumors abound at Marketsaw.com today: Continue reading “And from the wild Hobbit Rumor Front…”