In a new interview with Deadline as part of his trip to the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con to promote The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Director Peter Jackson looked back at the events that lead to him directing the films including the technological choices he made. The interview turned out to be pretty long because Jackson provided some pretty detail answers to the questions. Below is a summary but worth reading the entire interview here.

Summary:
- After Guillermo del Toro left due to other projects and lack of a green light after 18 months of development, Jackson felt "...as producer that I had to do the smart thing here and step up."
- His initial feel at directing was he would be competing against himself, that "I’ve got to shoot this scene better than the one I did 10 or 12 years ago" but turned out that never happened.
- Tonally the Hobbit is lighter due to initially being a children's book but by incorporating The Appendices (from LOTR novels), it was moderated so it does more closely match the trilogy then the books do.
- "It's still a question mark" on whether Lord of the Rings trilogy will be converted to 3D. It has been discussed but the commercial failure of Star Wars: Episode I 3D release put a damper on things.
- By December, there should be many theaters that can show the film in Jackson's preferred 48fps 3D format.
- He said "I think frame rate is a really important issue for the future of the industry" but to take it seriousily have to see 48fps as a full feature film, not just a clip.
- "Why, as an industry where we have dwindling audiences especially among the kids, should we be content to sit back and say that we got it right in 1927? [when 24fps became the standard]. ...It’s an experiment, but I personally think it looks fantastic."

SDCC 2012: Jackson On Return to Middle-Earth. There are any SDCC 2012: Jackson On Return to Middle-Earth in here.