After much delay Warner Bros. pictures has announced that Peter Jackson will begin directing a two part adaptation of J.R. R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit. The book will be divided in two parts, similar to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film and be released 12 months apart. Production on both movies begins in February. Both films will be shot with 3-D cameras.
The production has been delayed due to union issues and the financial mess of MGM Studios which owns partial rights to the story. Jackson who produced and directed the Lord Of The Rings trilogy had planned to produce The Hobbit with Guillermo Del Torro in the director's chair. But del Torro left the project in May after the production delays took their toll. del Torro had been working on the project with Jackson for the past two years. Almost $30 million dollars has been spent on the project so far, without an inch of film being shot. Sets have been built and casting has been under way, but no decisions have been made.
In addition to Guillermo del Toro, Jackson recruited his screenwriting partners on Lord Of The Rings, his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, to write the sceenplays for The Hobbit.
Ian McKellen has said he will return as Gandalf, as will Andy Serkis as Gollum and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.
Expect the first film to be released in December 2012 and the second to follow December 2013. And then we an expect a release of the three Lord Of The Rings movies in 3-D (just kidding, well maybe not!)
With this news, every fanboy gets their wish that it would be Peter Jackson who took us all back to middle earth again.
2 comments:
These type of fantasy movies do not interest me. They always seem to come down to people saying, "Wow, did you see the special effects"...I'd prefer if you would stay focused on the Hitchcock Festival and not get sidetracked with much adou about nothing. Thank you
Who was that crank?
Anyhow, while I like the familiarity of having Jackson direct again, I'm a big fan of Del Torro and was really looking forward to that collaboration.
Post a Comment