Peter Jackson has revealed that the release of his film The Lovely Bones was delayed so it would have a better chance of being considered for the Oscars. The film was to have been released in March but Hollywood studio Paramount postponed release until December. “When we showed them the cut late last year, they decided to delay the release until December to plop it into the “awards season”, which is a nice vote of confidence in the movie,” Jackson said in magazine On Film. The delay meant he had more time to work on the final cut and spend more time on visual effects. He wished he had had the same luxury with his last film, King Kong. “I wish we had this time on King Kong, which we badly wanted to reduce by 20 minutes, but we ran out of time before figuring out how to do it,” he said. Lovely Bones release in Oscar season

Production Still from 'The Lovely Bones'From empireonline.com: A couple of days ago we brought you the first look at Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn. Now we’ve got another treat for you: the first look at Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones.

Based on Alice Sebold’s book, the film follows Susie (Saoirse Ronan) a 14 year-old girl raped and murdered by her neighbour. From heaven, she watches her family deal (or not) with her death, and watches her murderer as he tries to hide the evidence. First Production Still from ‘The Lovely Bones’!

UPDATE: USA Today has just posted an interview with Peter Jackson about ‘The Lovely Bones’: Peter Jackson has made his name with big-budget, special-effects-heavy films such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. He tackles a more personal story with the adaption of the book The Lovely Bones. The director discussed the film, out Dec. 11, via e-mail with USA TODAY. More…

The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones
Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been rated a top 2010 Oscar hope with his new film, The Lovely Bones. The Los Angeles Times has predicted the New Zealander will scoop the pool with his adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel, possibly winning up to six of the top categories. Jackson is no stranger to Oscars, having won 20 of the prized gongs for directing and producing the Rings trilogy. The new film, based on the novel about the rape and murder of a teenager, has been shot in the US and New Zealand but is not due for release until December. Jackson’s new film touted for Oscars

The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones
He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, including U2, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Paul Simon and Coldplay. Now English musician and producer Brian Eno is to work with Peter Jackson. Eno, who co-founded Roxy Music with Bryan Ferry, will write original music for Jackson’s next film, The Lovely Bones, due for release next December. While Eno, 60, is not as widely known as the bands and artists he has produced and collaborated with over the years, he is one of the world’s most widely respected and influential musicians and album producers. Eno signs up to write music for Lovely Bones

Mark Wahlberg–who plays one of the leads in director Peter Jackson’s upcoming supernatural tearjerker The Lovely Bones–told SCI FI Wire that playing Jack Salmon was “by far the best experience I’ve had in my career.” It’s one of several projects the star is working on. The Lovely Bones began as a best-selling novel by Alice Sebold. It is told from the afterlife point of view of a teenage girl who was viciously raped and murdered and follows what happens to her surviving family. Her unsolved death tears the family apart as her father, Jack Salmon, becomes obsessed with vengeance. Superficially, the character bears some resemblance to Wahlberg’s other role, the vengeance-seeking title character in the upcoming supernatural-tinged cop thriller Max Payne. But Walhberg said that Salmon was more emotionally taxing for him as an actor. Wahlberg Talks Bones, Fighter

Kristin writes: In recent days there has been news of DreamWorks ending its distribution partnership with Paramount and signing a deal with Universal. That change is affecting both Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and his collaboration with Steven Spielberg on the Tintin films. I’ve posted an entry on The Frodo Franchise laying out the little that is known at this point about what the effects will be.