The Hobbit - Hopes and Speculation

I just read this a few hours ago. Sadly, it appears Peter Jackson may not get to make The Hobbit after all. What a shame, especially considering what his email to Theonering.net states about the nature of the Fellowship lawsuit.

The other thing I found interesting was the reference to another movie - a prequel to Fellowship. A Silmarillion tale perhaps?

I initially read this at IGN.com, but posted what the link there led to:
New Line: "would no longer be requiring our services"

 

Wow, that news could create a big backlash in that fan community... And I bet that all but guarantees that McKellen, Serkis and company won't be in it.

I'm not a huge LOTR fan, but I do like the novel and the films and it's a shame Jackson and his team won't be back.

 

I love the trilogy books and film and I love The Hobbit. It was the first I read and I've read it several times. It's so wonderful and would be a masterpiece on the screen. I can only envision it with the same cast and feel that Jacson created. I really hope this can be worked out.

 

Well there goes any redemption for Bilbo. I don't even know why a bridge movie between the Hobbit and LOTR would even be considered. An epilogue at the end of the Hobbit would be satisfactory.

 

If anything, all the other books had to do with events far before The Hobbit, right? All of how Middle Earth came to be.

 

Wow, I was surprised at that news. I'm not sure how this'll turn out..

 

I am looking forward to seeing smoking smug Smaug.

 

Bad news, movie fans:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_en_ot/people_peter_jackson

Jackson says he won't be making `Hobbit'
Tue Nov 21, 10:27 AM ET



Peter Jackson says he will not be directing a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit" or a planned prequel to "The Lord of the Rings."

In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" without him.

"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson's manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on `The Hobbit' and the LOTR `prequel,'" the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

"This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," he said.

Robert Pini, a New York-based representative for New Line Cinema, said Tuesday the studio had no comment.

New Line Cinema holds the rights to produce "The Hobbit" and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer has the rights to distribute it.

Jackson, who shepherded Tolkien's Middle-earth saga to the screen in a series of three films, won a best-director Oscar for 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." The trilogy also includes 2002's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

A spokesman for Wingnut Films, Jackson's production company in Wellington, who spoke on his standard condition that he not be named, confirmed Tuesday the letter was genuine.

The announcement came amid an ongoing dispute between Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema over the amount Jackson was paid for "The Fellowship of the Ring," including DVD payments.

While Jackson hasn't said how much he believes he was underpaid, The New York Times last year quoted his lawyers as saying it was as much as $100 million. He is suing New Line Cinema over the shortfall.

The Dominion Post newspaper quoted Jackson as saying that because he and Walsh didn't want to discuss upcoming movies "until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director."

"We are very sorry our involvement with `The Hobbit' has ended this way," the pair added.

Plans for Jackson to make a $128 million movie version of the sci-fi video game "Halo" were also scrapped this month after backers 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures pulled out.

Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion at box offices worldwide.

___

So no PJ on the Hobbit and no Halo movie.

 

After reading what Gandalf Magneto wrote on his site, he sounds optimistic in that maybe this could all work itself out. I'm not holding my breath but I'll also take the optimistic approach as well.

 

MGM apparently isn't as sold on the lack of Jackson as New Line is.

MGM Weighs In On Hobbit

A day after Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson said he's bowing out of a film based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, MGM is saying the matter is far from closed, Variety reported.

Jackson had told TheOneRing.net that he and partner Fran Walsh were bowing out after New Line, which produced the Rings films and has production rights to The Hobbit, told them the studio was moving ahead with the project without them. Jackson has said he won't discuss The Hobbit until a lawsuit against New Line over Rings accounting practices was settled.

But MGM, which owns the distribution rights to The Hobbit, on Nov. 20 told Variety through a spokesman that "the matter of Peter Jackson directing the Hobbit films is far from closed." New Line had no comment about Jackson's statement.

In his online statement, Jackson said that New Line executive Mark Ordesky, who shepherded the Rings trilogy, argued that New Line is dumping Jackson because the studio has a "limited time option" on the film rights, obtained from Saul Zaentz.

 

Sam Raimi offered 'The Hobbit'?!

http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=17672

http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/1/1164235638

Hmmm...

 

They could do a lot worse than Raimi, but I think what made the LOTR films work was the passion for the source material by the creative team. And it's Raimi's same passion for Spider-Man that makes those films feel so personal.

Without Jackson, that probably eliminates WETA, maybe Howard Shore, members of the cast... It could still be very good, but it will lack the continuity with the LOTR films that fans were probably hoping for.

 

You never know....

That's like saying that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John Williams wouldn't participate in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi because George Lucas didn't / wouldn't direct them.

 

Not really. Lucas was still on as Creative Consultant and he had worked on the script. He was still there. PJ's services are "no longer required", so he will hardly be connected in any way with the project, if New Lines has its way

 

which is really a shame...

 

This is indeed sad news. I can only hope it is indeed far from decided. Like the Disney/Pixar issue, which was for sure screwed up, ended and done, I hope that this can be fixed at a later time. After all, with a change in Disney CEO, Pixar and Disney were able to renegotiate and are back to producing films together.

 

I think the casting of Thorin Oakenshield is the most important thing for that film - not Jackson, Raimi, or even casting Ian Holm and Ian McKellan.

 

Ghyslain Raza would be a great choice.

 

i'm really hoping PJ comes back for this. i can't see anyone else filling his shoes

 

I think writer and director are the most important things.

 

Zaentz says THE HOBBIT, "...will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson"!!!!

From IMDB.
As Lord of the Rings fans mounted a protest following word that New Line had dropped Peter Jackson from consideration as director of The Hobbit and another Lord of the Rings prequel, producer Saul Zaentz has given assurances that Jackson will indeed direct the two films. A German website, Elbenwald.de, posted an interview with Zaentz, who acquired the rights to the works of the late Rings writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1976 (the Saul Zaentz Company owns Tolkien Enterprises), in which Zaentz says, "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson. ... Next year The Hobbit rights will fall back to my company. I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us. And he is fed up with the studios: to get his profit share on the Rings trilogy he had to sue New Line. With us, in contrast, he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation." (The preceding quotation is a translation that appeared on TheHobbit-Movie.com from the German interview posted on Elbenwald.de.)

 

I've read an article to that effect too. I noticed that nowhere did it bother to talk to Jackson. I'm rather dubious.

-Paul

 

Look at it this way: If Raimi does come in, that means that Bruce Campbell will follow! Hooray for Bruce Campbell as Thorin! No, wait, screw that, Bruce Campbell replaces Ian McKellan as Gandalf! Hail to the Ring, baby.

 

Actually, In all seriousness, I think Bruce Campbell would be good as Beorn.

But Jackson did a good job with LotR. It'd suck not to have him direct it. He already knows the story and characters better than any other good cadidate.

 

In all seriousness, I agree with you about Jackson. If he doesn't direct and the original cast doesn't come back (or can't in the case of McKellan) then I think the project should be put on hold indefinitely. And I am very skeptical about a two part Hobbit movie. In fact, I don't like that at all. The books work very well as as a continuing story (Fellowship, Towers, and Return) with a prologue (Hobbit), and the powers that be should keep that in mind.

That having been said, you may be onto something with Campbell as Beorn. I can see that, and I love it!