GOOD NEWS: No surcharge for 48 fps Hobbit screenings
According to The Huffington Post, movie theaters will not be applying an added surcharge to tickets for 48-frames-per-second presentations of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And thank god for that because movie ticket prices in NYC are already ridiculous. An IMAX 3D movie ticket currently costs $20, for Christ's sake. Once you add the significant other and concessions to the bill, it's not unrealistic to say you'll be spending over sixty bucks for some shit you might not even like.
The 48 fps version will be screened in very limited release, so they're doing the right thing by testing the waters first. Apparently, the studios knows better than to charge extra for something that is probably not going to go over very well initially. Even Peter Jackson has admitted the increased frame rate will take some getting used to. Though he insists it becomes something of a wonder once you do. As for when (or if) 48 fps will become the norm, that's another matter entirely. James Cameron is planning on shooting his Avatar sequels in 48 fps and is a pretty big supporter of the tech. Hopefully the decision not to apply a 48 fps surcharge will still stand once Avatar 2 comes around.
I'm only hesitant about the whole 48 fps thing due to the fallout from that demo screening a few months back where many compared what was shown of The Hobbit to bad BBC television from the 70s.
Time will tell, young Hobbits.
BAD NEWS: They're remaking David Cronenberg's classic Videodrome
I think it's fair to keep it brief and simply say: Fuck the new flesh. Long live the old.
