Jackson to exec produce 'The Hobbit'

[Jan]

Accourding to Deadline Hollywood Daily,

Today's big news is that JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and its sequel will finally be made back-to-back for New Line and MGM the way they should be -- under the Academy-Award-winning creative vision of Mr. Lord Of The Rings. But Jackson won't be directing this time out, because of his previous commitments to DreamWorks for The Lovely Bones and Tintin trilogy with Steven Spielberg. While that will disappoint his LOTR fans, they'll be pleased to know that the famed director will be integrally involved as executive producera long with his partner Fran Walsh. I'm told Jackson will make all creative decisions in concert with New Line, which will manage the production of the films.

Jan

[WorkerCaste]

Hmmmm. I didn't know "The Hobbit" had a sequel that wasn't "Lord of the Rings".

[vacantlook]

Hmmmm. I didn't know "The Hobbit" had a sequel that wasn't "Lord of the Rings".

Yeah, I was wondering about that too as I read that quote.

The information up on TheOneRing.Net has the eyeballed production and release dates as follows:

The two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of “The Hobbit” release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

[nottenst]

I believe they are probably going to use some material referred to in Lord of the Rings, the Lost Tales and Unfinished Tales, etc. for bridging material between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Neil

[frulad]

Merry early Christmas everyone!!!

[Talwyn]

I'm very glad to hear that Peter Jackson will be involved in the Hobbit project. I just wonder what sort of deal he struck with New Line Cinema as from what I understood, he was really peeved at them for ipping him & cast members off over certain royalty payments. Lets hope he gets a better deal from them this time around

[colonyearth]

I'm very glad to hear that Peter Jackson will be involved in the Hobbit project. I just wonder what sort of deal he struck with New Line Cinema as from what I understood, he was really peeved at them for ipping him & cast members off over certain royalty payments. Lets hope he gets a better deal from them this time around

It was never about the deal per-se, it was about the accounting of that deal.

I'm very excited about this! I have faith that Peter will find a brash and visionary director to helm both films with the same passion he brought to the LOTR trilogy. As for the sequel thing, I had read that Jackson felt The Hobbit was too big of a book for one film and wanted to expand it.

I hope he and Walsh write them as well since it was their writing that made the LOTR films so incredible to start with!

Here's to keeping the faith!

CE

[frulad]

I think it was the NY Times that stated that New Line paid out about $40 million to Jackson as part settlement. But whatever the amount is, it hasn't been officially announced.

[Talwyn]

well what ever sum of money was paid out or deal struck, it's just good that Peter & Fran will be putting together 2 movies that will cover "The Hobbit"

[vacantlook]

...2 movies that will cover "The Hobbit"

And the question all over the net seems to be will the two movies cover The Hobbit, or will one movie be The Hobbit and the other movie be some construct purporting to "bridge" The Hobbit and LotR. And if it is some bridge, what exactly could they put in there that'll actually hold the weight and structure of a film as such a narrative between the two books isn't exactly highly detailed compared to the narratives of the two books -- aka there are some information in the appendices but a lot will have to be made up.

[WorkerCaste]

I had automatically assumed that they were dividing the Hobbit into two parts. I really couldn't conceive of anything that could fill that gap. Now the concept has cropped up, I still can't think of anything. I suppose there was the action of the White Council against the Necromancer, but that didn't involve any hobbits. There were many visits to the Shire of "strange folk" including Gandalf and dwarves, but that doesn't make for a very thrilling movie. There was Frodo's childhood and eventual adoption by Bilbo, but again, not something that would fit with the tone of all the other movies. Maybe Lifetime or ABC Family.

Anyone have any thoughts on what could fill in if it isn't just a division of The Hobbit?

[vacantlook]

If they do one Hobbit movie and one bridging the gap movie, my guess is the bridging movie will have some stuff about the White Council in it and have a lot of Aragorn running around Middle Earth under the guise of Thorongil. I don't know how much information about said journeys of Aragorn is in the appendices, but I think that would be the easiest to inflate into a film.

[WorkerCaste]

The adventures of Aragorn might be some of the more cinematic stuff, along with the White Council, but could you then call it a sequel to The Hobbit. Maybe a prequel to LotR.

[vacantlook]

Well, as some people across the net have already said Lord of the Rings is the sequel that Tolkien wrote to The Hobbit.

I wonder what this "sequel" to The Hobbit will be called. "The Hobbit 2"? "Lord of the Rings: The Phantom Menace"?

I don't see how much hobbit presence could be in a bridging the gap film that isn't completely invented by Jackson/Walsh/Boyens in writing the script.

[colonyearth]

Well, as some people across the net have already said Lord of the Rings is the sequel that Tolkien wrote to The Hobbit.

I wonder what this "sequel" to The Hobbit will be called. "The Hobbit 2"? "Lord of the Rings: The Phantom Menace"?

I don't see how much hobbit presence could be in a bridging the gap film that isn't completely invented by Jackson/Walsh/Boyens in writing the script.

My fullest convictions on this are that they will be dividing The Hobbit into two films and flushing out the the story visually somewhat. At the end of the 2nd film they may add some minor narration that sets up LoTR, but that will be about it.

CE