Will this film ever be made?
Peter Jackson should just go ahead and direct it.
I don’t get it. There can’t be any possible doubt that this’ll make boatloads of money, so the studios should like it. And between being a less dense book, and being split into two movies, it should adapt at least as well as The Lord of the Rings did. What’s the problem, here?
Here is what he literally said something like 3 days ago:
[quote]
Q: We've been following your production of THE HOBBIT, and every time the production gets delayed. Do you know when you're actually going to start and get on set?
Guillermo del Toro: **There cannot be any start dates really until the MGM situation is resolved, because they do hold a considerable portion of the rights, and it's impossible to make a unilateral decision by New Line or Warners to give the greenlight to proceed. We really believe that things will be known after the fact of MGM's fate. Whether they stay and get supported, or they get bought, or they transfer some of the rights: nobody knows. We've been caught in a very tangled negotiation.
Now I've been on the project for nearly two years. We have designed all the creatures; we have designed the sets and wardrobes; we have done animatics and planned very lengthy action sequences and scary sequences and funny sequences. We are very, very prepared for when it's finally triggered, but we don't know anything is sold.**Possible replacements need to have the right stylised approach:
Peter Jackson himself; Alfonso Cuaron; Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
That’s unfortunate. I was looking forward to this, based on the great visual style of the Hellboy movies.
Ugh! It had taken so long even to announce the principal cast that I was starting to wonder. What a shame. I think GDT could’ve done a great job with the films; if PJ were going to direct, I suspect they would’ve announced that at the same time.
I would not have said, based on Hellboy, that del Toro would be a good choice, but I would have said so based on Pan’s Labyrinth.
Cuaron would probably also be fine, but I don’t know Jeunet.
Ebert tweeted about this earlier and mentioned that just last week Del Toro was saying how he was against making these films in 3D. I wonder if that’s tied to him leaving the project.
That’s prolly where the additional time came from, since the fad is relatively new.
I heard that Jackson wants to try and get Yahoo Serious to direct now. Srsly.
Four words: David Lynch’s The Hobbit.
I know people at MGM and to a small extent, there might be some credence to that. They are trying to sell the studio and whatever buyer steps forward, they are going to have to pump some serious coin into this movie. Granted, it would be almost impossible to lose money on the project, but still…that could be a drawback to setting filming schedules.
On the other hand, can you imagine the pressure?
I mean, first of all working for/with Jackson and his wife - I mean, they have boatloads of Oscars for LOTR and I am sure they are pretty set in their ways. Sure, they want a different director, but you just know they are hovering over every word of the script and are micro-managing everything - as well they should. That has to be pretty overpowering for any director to experience - let alone for another four years working with the Jackson duo.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter Jackson announces he will indeed be the director, after the dust settles on this story.
Just found a similar article in The Hollywood Reporter with basically the same info.
The project was beshitted as soon as they decided to make it into two movies. It’s not two stories, it’s one story, and it’s not even really that long of a story.
You make a good point. However, in the 74 million threads about LOTR on this board, you may have noticed that many complain about not putting every single word and image on the screen. Granted, that would have turned it in to about 128 full-length films, but still…
Thus, two films for The Hobbit is not really that outrageous. They can do justice to the book, keep your interest with more imagery and dialogue, and not have to edit pretty much of anything. Of course, it also means double the money for the studios, but I am sure that has nothing to do with it (cough, cough).
Skimming through the thread’s title, first thing I thought was “Benicio del Toro quit smoking? Good for him.”
True story.
Nope. If The Hobbit needs two trips to the cinema to tell the story, I certainly wont be going.
Del Toro is so much better a director than Jackson that I was quite looking forward to this. While I enjoyed the LOTR movies, I did not like the liberties Jackson took with the story and felt the direction was uninspired for acting and camera work.
Reading the article it looks like Del Toro has run out of time and must do and schedule other professional commitments and can’t wait any longer.
Bummer 
He was a very good fit. But understandable given the extreme time commitments.
Brian
My understanding was that only one film was going to be “The Hobbit” and the other would be extrapolated material that took place between The Hobbit and LOTR. Which still seems like a terrible idea, but there you go.