April 30th, 2012

03:36 PM ET

Trailers for three anticipated movies are creating quite a bit of buzz in Tinseltown - and one for not-the-most-flattering reasons.

According the Hollywood Reporter, “The Hobbit” director Peter Jackson is defending ten minutes of unfinished footage he showed at Cinemacon in Las Vegas last week, saying the audience’s less-than-enthusiastic response “wasn’t particularly surprising because it is something new.”

Instead of shooting the 3-D "Lord of the Rings" prequel at the more standard rate of 24-frames-per-second, the filmmaker has gone with the faster rate of 48-frames-per-second, which yields a very different look.

“A lot of the critical response I was reading was people saying it’s different,” Jackson told THR. “Well, yes, it certainly is. But I think, ultimately, it is different in a positive way - especially for 3-D - for epic films and films that are trying to immerse the viewer in the experience of a story.”

We'll see if Jackson's theory holds true when "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" opens December 14.

Meanwhile, sci-fi thriller “Prometheus, helmed by Ridley Scott, looks like it packs some cool surprises, though aesthetically, probably not as many as “The Hobbit.”

A two-and-a-half minute trailer for the alien-themed epic was released over the weekend, and shows a crew of explorers - including Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce - searching for the origins of mankind.

In the clip, Theron’s character introduces herself, saying, “My name is Meredith Vickers, and it’s my job to see you do yours,” as she welcomes some new recruits on a very secret, highly-dangerous mission.

Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender also star in the flick, which is being billed as kind of an “Aliens” prequel where humans are tasked to draw the link between ancient civilizations and the future.

“Prometheus” debuts June 8.

And last but not least is Judd Apatow's "This Is 40," a sort-of-but-not-really sequel to 2007's "Knocked Up."

Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprise their "Knocked Up" roles as married parents Pete and Debbie in the film, which picks up their story a few years following the events of "Knocked Up."

Pete and Debbie's two kids are older, but most importantly, so are they - and the age of 40 comes with a host of changes, as seen in the trailer below.

"This Is 40" opens December 21.