'The Hobbit' will usher in a new technology at movie theaters

Warner Brothers’ "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" will launch a new projection technique that will show the highly anticipated Peter Jackson movie at 48 frames a second. The controversial new technology could revolutionize traditional movies, which have been projected at a standard 24 frames per second for almost 90 years.

Warner Bros. will become the first studio to release a major Hollywood movie in 48 frames a second when its "Hobbit" premieres in the U.S. on Dec. 14. The studio has been running the test reel in hundreds of theaters from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Madrid to ensure that the theaters are ready for the rollout of the new technology. Warner is also hedging its bet: The high-frame-rate version of "The Hobbit" will be shown on only about 450 screens of an estimated 4,000 screens in the U.S. and Canada that will show the movie. Industry reaction in advance has been a mix of apprehension and excitement. Jackson and director James Cameron — who plans to release upcoming "Avatar" sequels at the even higher rate of 60 frames a second — contend that seeing more images each second is more natural because it's closer to what the human eye actually sees, giving a sharper, more lifelike picture and reducing eyestrain for 3-D movies. Proponents of the higher frame rate say it packs the screen with far more visual information and makes the moving image super-sharp and detailed. But patrons accustomed to the softer look of traditional film may have to adjust to the higher frame rate.