The chat with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro about the new ‘The Hobbit’ movies took place today — or yesterday depending on where you live. And some minor facts came out of it. Peter Jackson mainly spoke about his role in making the movie, but there were some other interesting tidbits too.

About a possible Blu-ray set of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies, Peter Jackson said, “We are working on a blu ray [sic] version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment, not sure when it is due for release. It certainly won’t be this year.”

Guillermo also confirmed the (likely) involvement of Howard Shore for the movies’ score. “Yes- absolutely, Shore is the VOICE of these films and we will absolutely be invited back. Peter and Fran have talked to him a couple of times already and Ive [sic] exchanged emails about the subject. He will return.” Interesting, since Peter Jackson replaced Shore at the last moment for his ‘King Kong.’

Continue reading ‘The Hobbit’ chat: Jackson’s involvement

What do you get when two of the best paid directors jointly create a movie? ‘Tintin 3′ apparently, because Steven Spielberg said it’s likely he’ll direct the third ‘Tintin’ movie together with Peter Jackson. “We are going to make three Tintin movies back-to-back. I’ll direct the first one, Peter will direct the second one. We’ll probably co-direct the third one,” Spielberg said at Cannes.

A promising statement to say the least. It sounds like this is going to be one of the major franchises the coming years. Andy Serkis has already signed for the movies, which will start shooting in September.

I know you love cinema, why else would you be here? Well, here’s a cool opportunity you might want to join in on. Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro will be answering some questions about ‘The Hobbit’ for a full hour Saturday next week — or Sunday, depending on where you live. The ‘party’ will take place at Weta Holics, with both directors answering pre-selected and live questions.

I love it when ‘big’ people keep connected with their audience. It shows how they care about the fans and don’t take themselves too seriously. The internet is a great medium to do this. You might get a lot of dirt if you put up your own website and answer your own emails as a ‘Hollywood star.’ But it will at least keep you grounded. The opposite of what happened to someone like Tom Cruise, who mostly had nodding donkeys around him.