Peter Jackson hired to make The Hobbit, in two films

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:14 pm

NEW YORK (AP) -- Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy "The Lord of the Rings."

Peter Jackson is set to oversee the film adaptation of "The Hobbit."

Jackson, who directed the "Rings" trilogy, will serve as executive producer for "The Hobbit." A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after "Rings," despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion -- an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting "The Hobbit" 50/50, spokemen for both studios said Tuesday.

"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line," Jackson said in a statement. "We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth."

Two "Hobbit" films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three "Lord of the Rings" films were made. Production is set to begin in 2009 with a released planned for 2010, with the sequel scheduled for a 2011 release.

New Line Cinema is owned by Time Warner. (Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.) Sony and Comcast are among the owners of MGM.

From what I've heard, the second film is supposed to cover the gap between the end of The Hobbit and beginning of Lord of the Rings.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:23 pm

Then it's going to be a rather boring second film - nothing major happened between the two. It would be better if they split the book in two (for all its brevity there's a lot happening), and maybe pad it out by including the debates of the White Council and the assault on Dol Guldur.

Monroe · Post by **Monroe** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:46 pm

Sweetness.

RK_Striker_JK_5 · Post by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:19 am

This should be good. I liked the LOTR movies.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:09 pm

Then it's going to be a rather boring second film - nothing major happened between the two.

Indeed. The only major thing I can think of would be Aragorn and Gandalf chasing Gollum. But they only caught him at the start of Fellowship (IIRC).

It would be better if they split the book in two (for all its brevity there's a lot happening), and maybe pad it out by including the debates of the White Council and the assault on Dol Guldur.

That would be much better. Throw in some of the stuff that was mentioned in the books, but never talked about in detail, and you could probably split it just as the group enters or leaves Mirkwood.

Post by **Mikey** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:18 pm

Captain Seafort wrote:It would be better if they split the book in two (for all its brevity there's a lot happening), and maybe pad it out by including the debates of the White Council and the assault on Dol Guldur.

I'd prefer that. I didn't care too much for Jackson's ttreatment of the trilogy, and I'd hate to see what he would invent for that gap. Probably something that would make the UK military want to avenge their comrade on Jackson.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:01 pm

Captain Seafort wrote:Then it's going to be a rather boring second film - nothing major happened between the two. It would be better if they split the book in two (for all its brevity there's a lot happening), and maybe pad it out by including the debates of the White Council and the assault on Dol Guldur.

Well, there was A LOT of boring stuff in the Rings trilogy... especially in the 27 hours that makes up the 3 extended editions.

I wonder if they will put out 7 different versions of the Hobbit they way they did with each of the Rings movies...

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:30 pm

I seem to be one of the few people who read the book before the films came out and actually like the films (though the books are still better). Bit disappointed Jackson isn't directed, but at least he's directly involved.
I'd have thought the assault on Dol-Guldor would be a rather major part of the second film, rather than 'padding'.
Looking forward to seeing my namesake on the big screen

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:37 pm

Oh, it would be a major part of the film, buts it's padding in the sense that it wasn't part of the book. As for LotR, I liked Fellowship, hated Two Towers, and thought Return was alright, save for missing out the most important part of the entire book. Hopefully, the Hobbit's lack of half-a-dozen endings will prevent that happening this time.

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:46 pm

What was the most important part that was missed?
They didn't put in Gandalf stopping the Witchking - instead had them had a little fight in the Extended Edition, with Gandalf loosing! When they were at the gate was my favourite part of the entire book! Just a shame the Witchking didn't stay long enough to get his ass whooped

They missed out the scouring of the shire, but it was hardly the most important part.
They also had the Dead going to Minas Tirith and causing physical damage, which was admittedly unrivalled for the dumbest moment of the film.
No Dunedain went into the South, either.
And the Gandalf and Faramir characters were pretty messed up (far too 'weak').

...But other than that!

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:57 pm

Missing out Gandalf's confrontation wasn't good, but missing out the Scouring of the Shire was far worse. That chapter demonstrated the changes to the Hobbits of the Fellowship, and depicted the War of the Ring on a far more concieveable and personnal level - not Kings and armies fighting to control the destinies of empires, but a few ordinary blokes kicking a bunch of thugs out of their village. It made a change from the steriotypical "go to war, beat bad guys, go home again", by having the Hobbits come home to find the place trashed by the same bad guys they'd been off fighting against. It also brought home the real impact of war - by showing what impact the War of the Ring, distant though it was, had on the "ordinary" Shire.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:58 pm

Thorin wrote:They also had the Dead going to Minas Tirith and causing physical damage, which was admittedly unrivalled for the dumbest moment of the film.

No question of that - why did you have to remind me of that stupidity?

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:06 pm

I agree the scouring of the Shire was an important part, but I'd hardly say it was the most important part of the book, and I can perfectly understand why they missed it out; for the same reasons as Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. The film was already long enough and had about 15 endings.

The Dead at Minas Tirith really took away from the true strength of Gondor, it was just absurd how weak they were made out to be, with an Orc able to take out a fully armed soldier with no problems. Even Uruks were no where near a match for the trained Gondorians. They had to have some dead army saving them, yet in the book they save their own behinds, after coming in the ships and then later a further 4000 came up the coast to watch Minas Tirith while the rest went for a walk to the Black Gate.
And also at the Black Gate why did it only look like there were about 200 men there, when there were actually 5000 there.

Post by **Mikey** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:10 pm

I'm glad other people are talking about these points; there is so much wrong with the film interpretations I don't even know where to start.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:15 pm

Thorin wrote:I agree the scouring of the Shire was an important part, but I'd hardly say it was the most important part of the book, and I can perfectly understand why they missed it out; for the same reasons as Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. The film was already long enough and had about 15 endings.

Bombadil I can understand, since his role in the plot is minimal, although swapping Glorfindel and Arwen was irritating.

In terms of the Hobbits' character development, including the Scouring would have fitted in well - showing them come full-circle to use their newfound combat experience in defence of their home. You could make room by severely trimming the incomprehensible gibberish that the film degenerated into after the destruction of the Ring.