After the past few weeks’ spate of bad news (and weather),
have we got some silver lining for you: our preciousss is in motion to return to
the big screen. Now that
Peter Jackson
has kissed and made up with the studios, New Line and MGM are in talks with
Guillermo
del Toro to direct two, simultaneously shot installments of
The Hobbit!
A quick recap for those just joining us: Jackson was
originally interested in adapting The Hobbit, but a very loud, very
public squabble over profits between Jackson and New Line Studios for the
Lord of the Rings trilogy put the kibosh on that project. The two parties
reconciled their differences last December and Jackson, busy with
The Lovely Bones
and Tintin,
joined The Hobbit as executive producer with creative control.
And now del Toro is in talks to direct the back-to-back
Hobbit movies, each budgeted at $150 million (substantially higher than any
of the
Lord of the Rings movies). Filming will begin in 2009, with release
dates currently set for 2010 and 2011. Currently, del Toro is putting the final
touches on
Hellboy II:
The Golden Army. He was previously announced to begin work on 3993,
a dramatic horror movie written by
The Orphanage scribe
Sergio G. Sanchez, and it’s unknown how The Hobbit will affect that movie’s
production.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
