Jackson says sorry for skipping Comic Con (+video)

Peter Jackson says he's too busy shooting the last scenes for the next two Hobbit films to attend this year's Comic Con convention.

In a new production diary video post filmed on location in Wellington, Jackson apologised to fans who are waiting patiently for footage and news about the highly anticipated second film in the planned trilogy, which is due for release in December.

Jackson played 12 minutes of footage of the first film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, to fans at last year's Comic Con convention in San Diego, and also announced plans to make the films into a trilogy.

But in an introduction to his 11th instalment of the production diaries, Jackson said he was too busy to attend the fan convention, or to organise anything decent enough to screen for them in his absence.

He admitted it was probably "disappointing" news.

"The problem is I'm so busy shooting, working six days a week, trying to get these pick-ups done that every hour spent focusing on a really great reel for Comic Con ... would be hours spent away from the vital job of making the second and third Hobbit films as cool as they can possibly be.

"This is the last ditch shooting we're oding and it's going to be fantastic and these are going to be great movies.

"I just had to take the Comic Con burden off my shoulders."

Jackson has already released a two-minute teaser trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which is due for release on December 12.

- nzherald.co.nz