With all of the pervasive talk about making and converting movies into 3D over the past few months, one would expect that Guillermo del Toro’s planned two-part adaptation of The Hobbit would be a no-brainer.
There were rumors that might be the case last year, which del Toro denied back in August with the following statement on the TheOneRing.net forums:
As a co-writer and director of this film (who works with the design teams, costume teams, creature teams, VFX teams every day of the week), let me be very clear one more time: we are not talking about 3D, we are NOT writing the screenplay for 3D right now- we are hiring my DoP Guillermo Navarro to shoot the film and we are not discussing 3D with him either or with WETA digital or WB or anyone else. That should be a little less sidestepping, I hope. If after AVATAR the market may change and demands are put upon us, etc that is in the future. But if such things happen and we start discussing 3D down the line, I’ll let it be know here at TORN because that’s the proper way of doing things. But make no mistake- I’ve been living in NZ for almost a year now and we have not been discussing 3D. When we do, I’ll make sure your source finds out. Thank You, Guillermo.
That was six months ago and a lot has changed in Hollywood, and del Toro, a man of his words, dropped by the forums on TheOneRing.net to update the fans on whether or not the success of Avatar has changed those plans:
I wouldn’t read much on it just yet, but now, after all this time, after AVATAR doing the Box Office it did, we have had [enquiries] from above about The Hobbit being in 3-D.
No impositions or heavy leaning. Just [enquiries]. Just fulfilling my promise to let you all know if discussions ever started.
Cheers
GDT
Currently The Hobbit is scheduled for release in December 2011 with the second chapter to follow a year later, although there were recent stories suggesting that the timeframe for both movies might be pushed back a year, something that making the movie in 3D might warrant.
(Thanks to /Film and FirstShowing for bringing this story to our attention.)
