When Warner Bros. showed 10 minutes of footage from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the reaction was less than ideal with some observers saying it looked "like a soap opera" and others complaining that it reminded them of the “filmed stage play” look of an early 1970s BBC miniseries (see "'The Hobbit' Looked Like 'I Claudius'").

The footage was presented (as the movie will be in many locations) at a new enhanced frame rate of 48fps (see "Here's What 'The Hobbit' Will Look Like"), which is twice the rate used in standard movie projection equipment.  Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter that the CinemaCon critics were responding to the fact that The Hobbit footage did look "different" from the other clips that were presented to theater owners: "A lot of the critical response I was reading was people saying it’s different.  Well, yes, it certainly is, but I think, ultimately, it is different in a positive way, especially for 3D, especially for epic films and films that are trying to immerse the viewer in the experience of a story."

The footage shown at CinemaCon was unfinished, and the final movie will look different. In particular the film will be color corrected to achieve a consistent visual look throughout.  Jackson explained the digital color grading techniques that he used in creating a consistent look to the Lord of the Rings and then added: "We’ll do the same thing with The Hobbit to make it consistent and give it the feeling of otherworldliness, to get the mood, the tone, the feel, of the different scenes.  We are certainly going to experiment with different finishing techniques to give the 48 frames a look that is more organix.  But that work isn’t due to start until we wrap photography in July."

Jackson is shooting the Hobbit films in 3D with 5K resolution, which is considerably sharper than the typical 2K resolution in use currently.  As Jackson explained: "Part of the (post-production) digital grading will give those incredibly sharp pictures a texture and a felling that we want the film to have.  We haven’t done that yet."

Jackson, and many others in Hollywood believe that 48 frames per second is the wave of the future: "Advocating that we have to stick with what we know (24 fps) is I think a slightly narrow-minded way of looking at things when as an industry we are faced with declining audiences.  We have to find ways to make it more vibrant, more immersive--something that will encourage people to come back to the theaters for that experience."

But as much as he believes in 48 fps, Jackson won’t be releasing a 48 fps trailer for the film, because two-and-one-half minutes is not enough time to get used to the format, saying: "I personally wouldn’t advocate a 48-frame trailer because the 48 frames is something you should experience with the entire film.  A 2-1/2 minute trailer isn’t enough time to adjust to the immersive quality."