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The Hobbit + P. Jackson = Awesomness!
Zahaladeen
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Registered User regular
Link: /www.heraldnet.com/article/20071218/NEWS02/690029768
Story: Jackson to direct 'Rings' prequel 'The Hobbit'
By Jake Coyle
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Bilbo lives!
After publicly feuding for more than a year, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned two-film prequel to the blockbuster trilogy.
Jackson, who directed "Rings," will serve as executive producer for two "Hobbit" pictures. They will tell the story of how the young hobbit Bilbo Baggins originally came to possess the nefarious One Ring that Frodo, his adopted son, needed three films to dispose of.
A director for the films has yet to be named. Production is tentatively set to begin in 2009 with a release planned for 2010, and the sequel following in 2011.
Relations between Jackson and New Line soured after "Rings" despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion. Jackson shepherded Tolkien's Middle-Earth saga to a combined 17 Academy Awards including best picture 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."
"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."
Late last year, acrimony between the 46-year-old Jackson and New Line became very public, with the studio announcing they would move forward with "The Hobbit" without him. Jackson sued New Line over the amount he was paid -- including DVD payments -- for "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first installment of the trilogy.
"The low point was when we both started getting a little too personal about this whole thing," said New Line co-chairman and co-CEO Bob Shaye on Tuesday. "From my own perspective, I realized that I shouldn't be so thin-skinned about everything that goes on in my professional life."
Jackson's suit, the two sides announced Tuesday, has been settled. The terms of the settlement weren't announced, though Shaye cheerfully said: "One of the key terms was we all shake hands with each other."
In his statement, Jackson thanked Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) Chairman and CEO Harry Sloan for helping him and New Line "find the common ground necessary to continue that journey."
New Line, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., holds the rights to produce "The Hobbit," while MGM, which is owned by a consortium including Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp., has the right to distribute it. The two studios will split financing and distribution costs, with New Line handling distribution in North America and MGM distributing internationally.
Two "Hobbit" films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three "Lord of the Rings" films were made all at once. Shaye and Sloan both said it was Jackson's idea to divide the story, adapted from Tolkien's first book about Middle Earth (which was about half the length of any from the trilogy that followed).
The film's production schedule is subject to how long the writers strike lasts, which some forecast could continue for many months. There isn't currently a script for either "Hobbit" film, and producers will be unable to even approach writers until the strike is over.
"If the writers strike drags on, then everything can change in terms of the time table," Sloan said Tuesday.
Sloan added that some patience has been necessary for making "The Hobbit" happen: "We've always taken the position that we wanted Peter to be involved in this project, but it's taken some time to work out the differences."
Jackson, who directed "King Kong" after finishing the trilogy, is currently finishing shooting for "The Lovely Bones," based on Alice Sebold's novel.
The three "Lord of the Rings" films rank among the 25 most lucrative films of all time, made more financially successful by the risky strategy of shooting all three together. The production budget for the trilogy has been estimated at around $300 million.
Tolkien's fantasy epic has been a cultural juggernaut since its publication in the 1950s, inspiring everything from the ubiquitous "Frodo Lives!" graffiti in the '60s and '70s to the Dungeons and Dragons phenomenon of the '80s. With the franchise now considered one of the most bankable projects in Hollywood, the "Hobbit" films will be expected to match the blockbuster success of "Rings."
/discuss
Story: Jackson to direct 'Rings' prequel 'The Hobbit'
By Jake Coyle
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Bilbo lives!
After publicly feuding for more than a year, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned two-film prequel to the blockbuster trilogy.
Jackson, who directed "Rings," will serve as executive producer for two "Hobbit" pictures. They will tell the story of how the young hobbit Bilbo Baggins originally came to possess the nefarious One Ring that Frodo, his adopted son, needed three films to dispose of.
A director for the films has yet to be named. Production is tentatively set to begin in 2009 with a release planned for 2010, and the sequel following in 2011.
Relations between Jackson and New Line soured after "Rings" despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion. Jackson shepherded Tolkien's Middle-Earth saga to a combined 17 Academy Awards including best picture 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."
"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."
Late last year, acrimony between the 46-year-old Jackson and New Line became very public, with the studio announcing they would move forward with "The Hobbit" without him. Jackson sued New Line over the amount he was paid -- including DVD payments -- for "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first installment of the trilogy.
"The low point was when we both started getting a little too personal about this whole thing," said New Line co-chairman and co-CEO Bob Shaye on Tuesday. "From my own perspective, I realized that I shouldn't be so thin-skinned about everything that goes on in my professional life."
Jackson's suit, the two sides announced Tuesday, has been settled. The terms of the settlement weren't announced, though Shaye cheerfully said: "One of the key terms was we all shake hands with each other."
In his statement, Jackson thanked Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) Chairman and CEO Harry Sloan for helping him and New Line "find the common ground necessary to continue that journey."
New Line, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., holds the rights to produce "The Hobbit," while MGM, which is owned by a consortium including Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp., has the right to distribute it. The two studios will split financing and distribution costs, with New Line handling distribution in North America and MGM distributing internationally.
Two "Hobbit" films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three "Lord of the Rings" films were made all at once. Shaye and Sloan both said it was Jackson's idea to divide the story, adapted from Tolkien's first book about Middle Earth (which was about half the length of any from the trilogy that followed).
The film's production schedule is subject to how long the writers strike lasts, which some forecast could continue for many months. There isn't currently a script for either "Hobbit" film, and producers will be unable to even approach writers until the strike is over.
"If the writers strike drags on, then everything can change in terms of the time table," Sloan said Tuesday.
Sloan added that some patience has been necessary for making "The Hobbit" happen: "We've always taken the position that we wanted Peter to be involved in this project, but it's taken some time to work out the differences."
Jackson, who directed "King Kong" after finishing the trilogy, is currently finishing shooting for "The Lovely Bones," based on Alice Sebold's novel.
The three "Lord of the Rings" films rank among the 25 most lucrative films of all time, made more financially successful by the risky strategy of shooting all three together. The production budget for the trilogy has been estimated at around $300 million.
Tolkien's fantasy epic has been a cultural juggernaut since its publication in the 1950s, inspiring everything from the ubiquitous "Frodo Lives!" graffiti in the '60s and '70s to the Dungeons and Dragons phenomenon of the '80s. With the franchise now considered one of the most bankable projects in Hollywood, the "Hobbit" films will be expected to match the blockbuster success of "Rings."
/discuss
Zahaladeen on
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Still this will be good. But why two films?
edit: also, Boo to the splitting it up thing
I read the Hobbit years ago... anyone recently give it a pass and does it deserve a 2-part treatment?
Seriously.
I've always really liked The Hobbit cartoon, and that was 78 minutes long. If you cut out the singing parts, you could even put Beorn back in there. I don't see any reason why 2 movies would be necessary to tell the story.
I guess Andy Serkis will be getting a little more work, though.
God, thinking about how they would even attempt to do the exposition on that is mind-boggling.
Tolkein was pretty notorious for having scads of unpublished information about Middle Earth, because he was a linguist, not a novellist, and he needed that extra history for linguistic context.
At all.
At all.
Certain exceprts of the Sil--Turin (although that isn't movie material for a host of other reasons), Beren and Luthien, maybe. But the Sil would fail miserably as a movie.
Just say fuck it and jump right in. Tell a different story each week.
Hey, us nerds would like it.
The Silmarillion would make one sweet mini-series.
Which is why it would never make the hump, but it'd be an awesome documentary-ish film.
Link and/or tell me more of this. Tell me intimately, lovingly, beautifully. Tell me that someone subtle and generous will write it. Tell me someone masterful and delicate will direct it. Tell me someone grand and brilliant will decorate it. Tell me someone magical and unconventional will shoot it. Tell me that fine actors will be used throughout. Tell me it will make sense, that it will not betray my eagerness.
Tell me these many things I wish to believe!
Truth be told, I was never able to get through it. The idea delights me, but there are so many people and places and names, it's overwhelming.
If someone could break down how many possible storylines there are in that monster and how many hour-long installments they guess it would take each one to tell, I would be quite interested.
I think the studio just wants to make shittons of money and damn the source material.
If I had to guess, they'll fill in Gandalf's backstory when he heads off and show him mucking around Dol Guldur and confronting the Necromancer. They might even add in more adventure sections just for the heck of it.
Also, you need to find a way around the Deus Ex Machinima to end all DEMs: the magical Black Arrow shot by a third-tier supporting character introduced only a few dozen pages earlier.
Here's what little I've got:
The Hobbit Movie Blog says that:
Ain't It Cool News claims:
Hope that helps. I also hope it's true.
Not as nearly as Deus Ex Machina as the Force.
So while it's been a while since I read the Hobbit, I'm hoping the splitting into two movies will be because they want to flesh the story out a bit more in some areas.
I've been wrong before though
I haven't read the Christopher Tolkein books, but there's a lot of interesting backstory. They could go into Aragorn during his Strider days, for example, or Dain's disasterous expedition back to Moria.
You're right that there's not a lot of Hobbit stuff that I can think of, but there is stuff that happened.
I don't know how you would write it, but I think a telling of the story of the Silmarils and all that would be rad.
Like we could have Elrond narrate it, or hell, Saruman, student of the past that he was.
what was that, four pages of the book?
If they do, I'll forgive Peter Jackson. I'm still mad at him for not showing him in the LoTR movies.
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Smaug, the dragon with a heart of gold (or a chest of gems, I suppose)!
Anyway, I think The Hobbit is the best book in the LoTR series... but it definitely doesn't need two full-length movies. It's shorter than the other three books, which only got one movie each. I hope he doesn't drag everything out.