Peter Jackson and The Hobbit

[weasel82]

NEW YORK - Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy "The Lord of the Rings."

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Jackson, who directed the "Rings" trilogy, will serve as executive producer for "The Hobbit." A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after "Rings," despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting "The Hobbit" 50/50, spokemen for both studios said Tuesday.

"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line," Jackson said in a statement. "We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth."

Two "Hobbit" films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three "Lord of the Rings" films were made. Production is set to begin in 2009 with a released planned for 2010, with the sequel scheduled for a 2011 release.

New Line Cinema is owned by Time Warner. Sony and Comcast are among the owners of MGM.

(ADDS detail, quotes, background. SUBS overline to CORRECT that Jackson will produce, sted direct, films.)

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It was discussed early about the possibility...well, it's come to be...although, he's not directing? That's interesting...maybe that will change.

[Sean of the Thread]

cool

[Celephais]

Two hobbits! Awesome... as long as they both have four hour extended editions I'll be happy.

[Latrinsorm]

How is he going to make two movies out of the Hobbit? It's shorter than any of the constituents of the trilogy.

[Nieninque]

Sweet

[Fallen]

Nice.

[Asha]

Superb news. Cheers.

[Trouble]

How is he going to make two movies out of the Hobbit? It's shorter than any of the constituents of the trilogy.

This is the guy who made King Kong into a bloated snoozefest. I'm sure he can turn The Hobbit into two feature films, Celephais' extended editions, and still have a good 10 hours on the cutting room floor. Lol.

Does anyone know about the falling out between him and the studio mentioned in the article?

[Ilvane]

I think it would be easy to make two movies. I'm thinking they won't make them as long as the LOTR trilogies, but it's worth it for sure to do two, tell the story well, and make it more complete(since they did cut out a bit of the LOTR books)

Angela

[Whimsi]

How is he going to make two movies out of the Hobbit? It's shorter than any of the constituents of the trilogy.

Where there is a will...there is Hollywood.

LoTR turned out to be such a cash cow that limiting the Hobbit to one movie wouldn't be so attractive to a studio I'd think.

Then again, Jackson has a LOT to live up to now so can't imagine he'd agree to direct a screenplay for two movies without solid content and that was fairly faithful to the original story.

[Whimsi]

Wow, didn't know he directed King Kong too. Well, my expectations just plummeted a bit.

[Tsa`ah]

How is he going to make two movies out of the Hobbit? It's shorter than any of the constituents of the trilogy.

Heh ... and how much was left out of the first three movies?

It's rather easy ... you don't leave as much out. Two movies from The Hobbit isn't a challenge. The challenge is incorporating as much of the book as you can into two movies while still keeping the spirit of the story. You could film an entire one season television series just from The Hobbit.

[CrystalTears]

Does anyone know about the falling out between him and the studio mentioned in the article?
As far as I can tell, his studio had a lawsuit on New Line due to an audit that was done on Fellowship of the Ring, saying that he was underpaid millions. He was asked to drop the lawsuit in order to resume any conversation regarding The Hobbit.

[SayGoodbye]

This is awesome.

I can see two movies.. one can involve all Bilbo's adventures on the way to the dragon and the other could easily be taken up with the dragon encounter itself.

[Tsa`ah]

There was also an interview shortly after the release of the Two Towers. In the interview he stated that he had expressed interest in doing The Hobbit, but New Line, while seeking rights to the story, had conveyed they were looking elsewhere for direction.

I have no idea if that was before or after the audit.

[Guarrin]

Hopefully he can kick the coke habit before then.

[Whimsi]

Hopefully he can kick the coke habit before then.

Hopefully not. If he was on coke when he made the LoTR then I say no intervention for Jackson!

[Tsa`ah]

This is awesome.

I can see two movies.. one can involve all Bilbo's adventures on the way to the dragon and the other could easily be taken up with the dragon encounter itself.

Chances are the first movie will take you right up to events before the lake town. The second movie would likely be two thirds lake town to dragon ... the last third would be the multi-sided war and conclusion.

Now comes the question ... will it still be Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving as Gandolf and Elrond. Bilbo probably won't be played by Ian Holm again.

[DeV]

Heh ... and how much was left out of the first three movies?

Exactly... people who've never read the book would probably be floored by the sheer amount of material left out of the movie version of the trilogy.

This is very cool news.

[SayGoodbye]

Now comes the question ... will it still be Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving as Gandolf and Elrond. Bilbo probably won't be played by Ian Holm again.


That would make me wet my pants. Seriously.

[Atlanteax]

Now they just need to redo Lord of the Rings into 6 movies instead of just 3?

[ElanthianSiren]

Exactly... people who've never read the book would probably be floored by the sheer amount of material left out of the movie version of the trilogy.

This is very cool news.

Not to mentioned changed. The introduction of Liv Tyler's character in Fellowship always agitated me and not just for her over-dramatic STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT bit but because it deviates from the story and doesn't mesh well with the way her character is fleshed out later.