Ahead of next year’s 20th anniversary for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and 10th for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Jackson has posted a new featurette about the just released 4K UHD releases of both trilogies.
The filmmaker takes the time to explain that while the film’s weren’t changed or re-edited, the remastering process and modern advances in digital color timing allowed him to make tweaks to the individual movies and scenes within them.
The main issue with the movies is that they were shot and edited in different ways – resulting in an inconsistent look across the movies. Jackson says now that they’re in 4K and HDR, he’s been able to smooth over some of the rough edges of the effects shots and visual palette so as to provide a uniformity to the look of these movies both within their respective trilogies and as as a whole.
Comparison shots have shown a distinct change in key scenes with more natural flesh tones coming through at points. “The Hobbit” films in particular are supposed to be better on a near revelatory scale. Both disc boxsets are available now.
