District 9, which will be released in the U.S. on August 14, has been attracting a lot of attention recently. As most of you undoubtedly already know, it’s a horror film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by South African Neil Blomkamp. Yesterday Variety posted a favorable review. I spotted a number of my interviewees for The Frodo Franchise among the credits.

I don’t do a lot of coverage of Peter’s non-LOTR, non-Hobbit projects on this blog, but it did strike me that District 9 marks something of a turning point in the ongoing saga of the trilogy’s impact. more »

A friend of mine has written up a nice account of his experiences at Comic-Con. He’s Jonathan Kuntz, who teaches in the University of California at Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television. Being a lot closer to San Diego than I am, he makes it to Comic-Con every year.

Jonathan and I go way back, to the point where I’m not even sure how we met (which no doubt says more about my aging mind than about how memorable that occasion was). But we were both part of a group of American film and television scholars who went to Beijing in 1988 to give lectures at a summer school for Chinese film critics. That was then an annual event, though less than a year later the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, and the next year’s lecture series was canceled.

With Jonathan this year was his daughter Rebecca, a Comic-Con newbie. I definitely remember my first (and so far only) encounter with her. Rebecca was 10 or 11 at the time, making part of a small group having Chinese food in LA. Her eyes came close to popping out of her head upon hearing that I had not only met Peter Jackson but interviewed him for an hour. Clearly born to geekdom. She is already planning to return to Comic-Con next year. Perhaps I’ll get there, too, and Jonathan, Rebecca, and I can grab time for a meal. Chinese food, maybe.

Jonathan’s description of their Comic-Con adventures doesn’t add anything to our knowledge of what Peter Jackson is up to (though they did make it into Hall H to hear PJ’s talk, after a two-hour wait in line). Still, it’s a nice little vicarious look at the con for those of us who weren’t there.

Variety has a nice little wrap-up of Comic-Con that mentions Peter Jackson a couple of times. It sounds like PJ still feels a connection to the fans, even though to many of them his vast success may have made him seem less accessible than he was back in the days when he was still making LOTR. One remark quoted in the story: “I wish you could take the energy here and bottle it and give it to Hollywood to drink.”

Variety also praised Peter’s ability to connect with the fans during his mentions of The Hobbit:

Much has been said over the years about the importance of respecting the geeks.

Jackson proved just how to do that last week when he took the time during Sony’s panel for “District 9” to update the crowd on “The Hobbit,” of which two films are planned.

He explained the intricacies of Hollywood’s development and casting process, of studio politics and the difficulty of getting movies made. It was a sincere explanation that had the crowd captivated.

For my comments on what Peter said about The Hobbit at Comic-Con, see here.

[July 28: On TORN, Rebecca alerts us to a video of PJ’s comments.]

[July 31: TORN has now posted Comic-Con’s own HD version of PJ’s comments.]

It doesn’t contain anything about LOTR or The Hobbit, but there’s a new three-minute interview with Peter, done at Comic-Con, on Variety‘s website. Mostly it deals with District 9, though at the beginning PJ talks a little about Comic-Con and how he’d sort of like to be an ordinary fan there, walking the halls, going to panels, buying stuff, and so on.

Although Peter Jackson’s news conference with 40 lucky media people has been the main news coming out of Comic-Con today, yesterday he also took part, alongside James Cameron, in a panel on 3D.

Cameron is one of the strongest advocates of 3D. Initially he insisted that Avatar, due out in December, would only play in 3D theaters. The slow conversion of screens to digital and thence to 3D (only partly due to the current recession) has made that plan unfeasible, and he has conceded that it will have to show in 2D theaters as well in order to recoup its costs. Still, he still attends technical trade shows and other venues to push the conversion. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he suggests, could provide a big boost toward that effort.

Yahoo! has an interesting report on the Comic-Con event:

The two filmmakers say they inspired each other. Cameron said it was the artistic use of “humanoid CG” in Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films that got him rolling on “Avatar,” set for release Dec. 18.

Jackson has said that the technology he used was borne out of Cameron’s CGI work on “The Abyss” and “Terminator 2.”

Both are thrilled by the possibilities of 3-D and plan to convert their biggest hits, “Titanic” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, into the format. Then they lamented the shortage of 3-D screens.

“There will be a lot more 3-D screens when they know the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films are going to be available,” Cameron said.

The movie industry needs 3-D, he said, to inspire originality and boost its bottom line. A “3-D ecosystem” could be built on big films converting to the format.

“If ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Titanic’ are available in 3-D, that sends a signal all the way back to the consumer electronics manufacturers: Make the screens, make the modified Blue Ray DVD players so you can have it in your home,” Cameron said.

The bit about LOTR inspiring Avatar isn’t news; Cameron acknowledged that at the time he first announced the project. It’s good to see him making clear just how influential Gollum has been, though. And, yes, I’d say that a 3D LOTR would encourage some theater owners to take the plunge and invest in digital projection (which you have to have if you want to add on 3D equipment).

Last I heard, the conversion of LOTR to 3D was still years off, so it will be interesting to learn if there’s a timetable for this. In the meantime, there’s more 3D news from Peter:

Both men continue with high-tech pursuits outside of feature films. Jackson is developing a “King Kong” attraction for Universal theme parks that surrounds visitors with 3-D images and effects. Eight projectors will beam images onto giant screens surrounding the park tram, which will be stationed on a surface that shimmies and shakes with action as Kong battles a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The ride is set to open next summer, he said.

As I’ve said, I’m not a huge fan of 3D. I enjoy it occasionally, but I don’t relish the idea of all films being made that way. Peter doesn’t seem to, either. In the third clip of his Comic-Con interview with Entertainment Weekly online, he has this to say on the subject:

I personally love 3D, just because as a guy going to the movies like everybody else, I get a kick out of 3D. I think it largely adds to the experience of seeing a film. I think a lot of it is hypte at the moment, because the studios are in a desperate situation where they’re seeing video games eat into a lot of their revenue. There’s no doubt that the film industry is going through a difficult time so 3D is being used by studios as a way of tryig to attract audiences. There’s definitely hype involved. But I think beyond the hype, it’s a very, very fun, useful technical medium to tell stories. But look, I’ll tell you, the future of good film is the same as the past, the history of good film, which is about story and character. You’ve got to have good stories and you’ve got to have good characters, and whether it’s 3D doesn’t matter at all, at the end of the day. It really doesn’t. Story and character is all it’s ever been about.

So far indicators are that The Hobbit will not be in 3D, and that’s the way most fans seem to like it. I forget where I saw this (perhaps someone can remind me), but there was a poll of fans, and 81% preferred the film in 2D. Count me among that number. But definitely there are films I would like to see in 3D, including Avatar and The Dambusters.

The Mythopoeic Society has announced its 2009 award winners. In the “Inklings Studies” category, the winner is John Rateliff for his two-volume The History of the Hobbit. It’s a well-deserved win, since the book was a major achievement. As Christopher Tolkien did for The Lord of the Rings in the late volumes of the “History of Middle-earth” series, John includes the major drafts for The Hobbit, along with copious well-informed annotations and essays. I’ve known John for many years, and I can’t imagine anyone better qualified to take on such a project.

(For some reason, only vol. 1 currently seems to be available on Amazon, though you can buy both as part of a boxed set with a copy of The Hobbit. I happen to have about half a dozen copies of The Hobbit, so I just bought the two volumes. If Amazon doesn’t rectify its mistake soon–yes, they actually do make mistakes–I’m sure you can track it down elsewhere.)

John wasn’t at the society’s banquet to accept the award, but he has posted an acceptance speech anyway, on his blog. It’s good to hear that he will have even more to say on the subject:

After he plowed through The History of The Hobbit, Charles Noad wrote “surely nothing remains to be said.” Happily he was wrong. Trying to get to the bottom of a Tolkien story is like staring into an ent’s eyes: deep wells very much in the present but filled with the memory of ages. But who wouldn’t drink deep of that well, given the chance? So: the work goes on.

There’s no significant film connection in these books. Still, John is a big fan of Peter Jackson’s trilogy and has been a defender of it among the those people in the world of Tolkien scholarship who deplore the adaptations.

I also know that he reads this blog, so congratulations, John!

Peter Jackson is giving out a lot more news at Comic-Con that we might have expected. I thought he might insist on sticking to the upcoming horror film District 9, which he produced, but he was generous with bits of news on all his projects.

Some of the accounts circulating on the internet are old news-like informing us that The Hobbit is to be made in two parts, with the first one due out in December of 2011. Here’s what I’ve gleaned that really is news, at least to me. Some of these accounts will overlap, but just so we can parse the subtle nuances . . . more »

For a day last week–July 16 to be exact–the internet was aquiver with rumors (notably here and here) that Comic-Con would feature an announcement about who would play Bilbo in the Hobbit films. This was all based on rather tenuous speculations about who was coming to Comic-Con, and, I suspect, some wishful thinking.

Then, on July 17, Peter Jackson and others in the know squelched these rumors. As reported by Empire online, Peter said, “No, we won’t be announcing Bilbo for a little while. We’re starting to think about casting, but we’re knee-deep in the script right now. And when we do go to actors, they’re probably going to ask to see a script, so we’re powering ahead with getting the first draft done.” When Empire asked what his next project after The Lovely Bones will be, he replied, “I haven’t yet decided what I’ll be directing after that. At the moment we’re concentrating on writing a couple of little movies with Guillermo [Del Toro]. A couple of small films! (Laughs) And that’s going to take us another few months of writing to do. But we are developing a couple of projects which are potentially films that I’d direct for next year. Temeraire is still on the cards. But those are really taking a second place at the moment…”

This makes me wonder about the status of the second Tintin film, which, as far as I know, Peter is still slated to direct. Perhaps the studio wants to wait until the first film is released before absolutely committing to a second.

Anyway, the Bilbo non-story is one example of why I don’t post casting rumors on this blog.

Even without the prospect of a big announcement about Hobbit casting, though, yesterday I start feeling distinctly regretful about not going to Comic-Con this year. A year before, I had flown to San Diego, settled into my hotel, and gone to the Wednesday evening preview reserved for those of us with four-day passes. Now the event proper has started.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2008 Comic-Con. Highlights included meeting and talking with John Howe, seeing Richard Taylor again, however briefly, participating on TheOneRing.net’s panel of speculations on The Hobbit, signing books and chatting with fans, wandering the halls, seeing the previews for Bolt and Up, and so on. I blogged about it here and here.

(As to the panel, I still think that my suggestion of Mark Ruffalo as Thorin was a good one. That’s a suggestion, mind you, not a rumor.)

In fact, the TORN people were kind enough to invite me to participate on their panel again this year. I felt I couldn’t justify the expense and time a second year in a row, especially since I so recently got back from a whirlwind trip to Europe. So I very reluctantly said no, though I hope to return to Comic-Con when promotion of The Hobbit begins in earnest.

For this year, though, I’ll be following the events from afar. Obviously TORN will be a key source of Hobbit-related news, and for more general coverage, here’s Variety‘s index of its of Comic-Con stories. Even as I type, the TORN panel should be recently over, so I expect to be reading about the results very soon–and no doubt wishing I were in San Diego right now!

Thanks, by the way, to TORN for the real news–not rumor–that Hobbiton is being rebuilt so that the plants will be ready in time for principal photography. See photos and links here, here, and here. Seems like old times!

[July 29: TORN has just posted a three-part video record of its Comic-Con panel. It’s a well-done half-hour condensation of what was originally an hour-long panel.]

It seems like old times. Weta has just announced that it has a license from Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create and market some new collectibles. Well, not quite old times, in that it would have been New Line granting such a license back in the early 2000s. Still, the products seem comfortingly familiar–a life-size bronze Gollum to stare at you from the corner of your room, replica swords, miniature shields, and a Gandalf the Grey cloak. (For a short account of Weta Workshop’s original license for collectibles back in 2000, in collaboration with Sideshow, see pp. 196-197 of The Frodo Franchise.) Perhaps eventually we’ll see some Hobbit collectibles from the same source. In fact, I would bet money on it!

Today Bloomberg is reporting that after settlement talks between the Tolkien Trust and New Line Cinema the two sides remain far from agreement and at this point are proceeding to trial. As of now, the trial date is scheduled for October 19 of this year; the case will be tried before a jury in Los Angeles.

The Bloomberg story says that the Trust is demanding payment of over $220 million, based on the percentage of revenues stipulated in the 1969 contracts for the author’s sale of film rights to his novel. The figure originally was $150 million, but the plaintiffs had reserved the right to raise that based on bookkeeping records made available to them for audit. Presumably they’ve now seen such records and have recalculated what is owed.

The author, Brett Pulley, has given a good summary of where things stand now. The two sides seem to be digging in their heels for a tussle. Bonnie Eskenazi, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, is quoted as saying “Should this case go all the way through trial, we are confident that New Line will lose its right to release ‘The Hobbit.'”

On the other hand, Pierce O’Donnell, who represented Art Buchwald in his successful lawsuit against Paramount back in 1988, says, “The studios have historically played hardball in litigation. Also, these are hard times and they maybe think it’s cheaper to pay the lawyers than to pay a large claim. And maybe the lawyers think they have meritorious defenses.” O’Donnell adds that he would bet that some money is owed here. But New Line presumably does have some defenses to present, perhaps not in the hopes of coming away owing nothing but at least to reduce the total it has to pay.

Unless the two sides finally can reach agreement or the case is postponed, we should see this drama finally unfold in court in about three months.

(Thanks for both David Platt and Paolo Pereira for alerting me to this breaking news.)

Note: Voronwë the Faithful (who, as I have mentioned, is a lawyer), recently started a thread on TheOneRing.net’s message boards that is relevant here. He suggests reasons why he doubts that the Tolkien Trust could gain the right to have New Line’s contract to produce The Hobbit taken away.