Charlatan

This just in, it has been confirmed that Guillermo del Toro will direct The Hobbit. I am sorry to hear that Peter Jackson won't be in the director's chair but a fanboy like del Toro is a good choice.

I interviewed del Toro years ago when he brought his film Cronos to the Toronto Film Festival. He was a pleasure to chat with as he was even geekier about film than I was.

The cool thing is it looks like del Toro will be working with WETA so the look and feel of the two Hobbit films should feel like the LOTR films.

I can't wait for 2010.

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Baraka_Guru

*Baraka_Guru begins obsessing*

WETA? The dragon is going to rawk.

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Charlatan

Peter Jackson and his wife will be producing...

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pig

The idea of the sequel is somewhat interesting...I wonder how the Tolkien family feels about that one...

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snowy

I loved WETA's work in LOTR--watching the extras about the work WETA did on the extended version DVDs was cool. I'm looking forward to The Hobbit.

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Cynthetiq

thank goodness...

and people were convinced that the Golden Compass failure at the box office was the deathknell for New Line.

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Frosstbyte

The original stories I read indicated that they were planning to split the Hobbit into two movies, as opposed to having the Hobbit followed by a sequel based on random source material to connect the two stories. I don't know if that means that this article is wrong or if it means that they've changed their plans.

Honestly, the period they've described in the video sounds more like something that would be a cool featurette on a DVD that you get the people involved to do because they loved the movie and the process so much, as opposed to a full movie. Guess we'll have to see. That's a long ways off.

Edit: Since I missed Cynth's post: Golden Compass was really only a US box office disappointment. It fared very well in international markets.

Double Edit: I just found out that New Line sold off the international rights in order to fund the movie and didn't get much, if any, of the international take, which is why they're about to disappear.

mixedmedia

Ahhhh, fantastic! I love when news like that drifts in.

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Ustwo

I'm going to guess they will feel enriched.

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kramus

Badump bump

It is nice to hear that there will be a high-end and consistent product here. Also, it sounds like The Hobbit will be a stand-alone, as was the book, which I like. The Interval Movie (whatever they call it) ought to be very interesting.
The Golden Compass - I haven't followed anything about the show (which I saw, and felt was quite interesting), and never read the book, but it is set up to be a series, right? Will there be sequels/a consistency there as we saw in Harry Potter?

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mrklixx

It's gonna suck reading all of those subtitles.

"En un agujero allí vivió un hobbit. Un agujero no repugnante, sucio, mojado, llenado de los extremos de gusanos y de un olor oozy, ni con todo de un agujero seco, pelado, arenoso con nada en él sentarse abajo en o comer: era un hobbit-agujero, y esa comodidad de los medios."

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m0rpheus

As long as doesn't stop him from being able to make a third Hellboy.
Other than that? Awesome.

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Punk.of.Ages

This makes me very happy. I look forward to these flicks.

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blahblah454

This is some good news indeed. Looking forward to these!

Willravel

Why is Bilbo a little girl? AND WHY DOES THE DRAGON HAVE EYES ON IT'S HANDS?!

Jk, I'm sure it'll be great.

blahblah454

That movie was awesome Will, don't knock it

Reese

I don't see how The Hobbit can be split into 2 films.. The book has like 300 pages. Awesome news though, Del Toro has a nice style and working with the LOTR visual effects guys is almost guaranteed visual quality.

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Charlatan

I am glad they are going to split it in two, it allows the story to move a more natural pace than the rush it would be if it had to be in two hours... there's a ton of story there to tell.

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blahblah454

Cybermike, they manage to take 30 pages in some books and turn it into a movie. All people seem to want is the climax (tee hee)

levite

I dunno.... I'll go see it. After all, The Hobbit was much shorter than Lord of the Rings, and it was written simply, and directly, for kids, whereas Lord of the Rings was not. So it would seem like it would be a lot more difficult for that bastard Jackson and his crew to ruin it, the way they did Lord of the Rings....

Yeah, that's right. I said they fucking shredded those books in making the movies. I don't care how many Oscars the damn things won. Sure, they looked pretty as hell, but in terms of content, it was absolute hash. I wrote my undergrad thesis on Tolkien, and I am both a devout fan of his work, and also a purist when it comes to epic prose and poetry. It's a cursed shame how his family have sold out his work the way they have.... If Tolkien weren't dead already, those movies would've killed him....

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stevie667

Have you ever listened to the audio commentaries? Do you have any idea how hard and boring it would be to watch a direct book to screen conversion?

LOTR is a damned awesome book, but it wouldn't work well on screen as is, and you can't go putting a book like that onto screen because half your population won't have a clue whats going on. Sure if you had 2494 movies to do it in, fine, but not in three (or the two they were originally thinking of, and shudder if they had to do it in one). I

The movies are a good compromise imo, and i do believe with PJ and weta behind del Toro it should be pretty danged good.

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snoeker

Surely all Bilbo did in the interim was smoke weed, drink and dangle his hairy toes in the Brandywine? Ah well, we'll see.

Very excited about The Hobbit though, the book is great

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Charlatan

Crap.

LINK

Peter Jackson is still producing but I am not sure who else out there has the right sensibility to direct this beast.

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KellyC

Noooooo000000ooooo!!!!!
On second though, I can't think of any one other than Peter Jackson to continue this project.

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Peter Jackson will not be directing this film.

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hunnychile

Peter Jackson, in some form..........please.

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Seaver

Well del Toro is out and Peter Jackson is back in....

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Vaultboy

Del Toro acquired the rights to Drood last year. I'm much more interested in seeing that, anyways. And Hellboy 3.

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