Following an auspicious debut touted as the future of the industry—only to have the industry stare into its future with disbelief and horror—Warner Bros. has decided the revolution can wait a little longer, choosing to release The Hobbit in "game-changing" 48 frames-per-second 3-D in only a very few locations. As of now, Variety reports, just a handful of select locations and "perhaps not even all major cities" will have their games changed, as the studio waits to see whether audiences accept the format that the harshest critics at CinemaCon derided for revealing that "reality" looks an awful lot like a cheap BBC production. Nevertheless, both Warners and those behind the technology remain confident that 48 fps is still the direction that movies are headed—and theaters continue to upgrade their projector—so it seems likely that, unless audiences similarly revolt, the format will be ready for wide release for the second and third Hobbit films. Until then, the majority will just have to settle for old-fashioned 3-D, like neanderthals staring at a cave painting, and try not to crack open their neighbor's skull out of primal frustration.
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