I don't know if I would want Peter Jackson as director... If I see Fili and Kili surfing down the Misty Mountains on goblin shields I will walk out.

Seriously though, I would rather Peter Jackson be involved as little as possible. I won't say I didn't enjoy the LOTR Trilogy, because I did, but there was enough changed, dropped or messed that it kind of got on my nerves. (Elves at Helms Deep, why?) I was really looking forward to someone elses take on it. The Hobbit being my favourite book I think it might be hard to please me though

I'm thinking I shouldn't be hoping for The Hobbit to come out anytime soon. In my mind The Hobbit isn't something you would walk away from unless it really was hopeless.

But as far as I can tell Del Toro did get all his designs and plot laid out, and was just waiting the OK to film, so maybe there is some dim hope. If Peter Jackson picks it up and sticks close to the book, and I get to see Wargs that look like Wargs, not hyenas, I might be one happy camper.

I need to ask, Have you watched the Lotr Extended Version Appendices, if you haven't you need to, because they make it very clear that the only way to make the film interesting and have a good plot and story line was to do what they did, if they followed from exactly the book, they were afraid that people will get lost. What i'm trying to say is that they had to make the movie appealing to non-hardcore lotr fans, which was the majority of the viewers, that's where they made their most money, remember, they had to make money for this film..

Have to agree with sleazyp on that. I never expected PJ to follow the books exactly, but the wholesale reinventions were totally unnecessary and detrimental. The Ents back down and return to the forest? But then through weird Hobbit trickery Treebeard sees the devastation wrought by Saruman, howls, and all the Ents show up *snap!* like that? Eomer flees and has to be found? And Faramir...?

What PJ needed (and maybe needs for the Hobbit) is someone who isn't afraid of dialog, or at least filming people talking who are expounding on the greater story arc. Maybe he can get Quentin Tarantino Take out the swearing, keep the racial tension, get a hint of the bigger picture...

It's been quiet for a while, does anybody know if we are getting back on the road with the film yet ?

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The latest news is not looking too good - this from the BBC website today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11414204
Someone must have broken a mirror or something, as this run of bad luck just seems to drag on and on...

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Thanks Dorthonion, seems like one of those that may never happen

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this just keeps getting better and better....

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"I will take it. I will take the Ring to Mordor...though I do not know the way."
—Frodo, at the Council of Elrond

I really think more and more that this movie will not ever become a reality. This movie is so expected and hyped by LotR fans, yet the producers, directors, actors, and companies are still finding it difficult to get this project off the ground. In fact, I hope it is cancelled now, because it looks to me like if they do ever get The Hobbit made, it will be a subpar product shoved out to gain revenue to make up for lost money, and not the superior film that this novel deserves.

I don't see why they didn't just take PJ in the first place and we might even have this film out by next year!

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- Bertrand Russel

The main issue is financial support from MGM who are on the brink of bankruptcy. The Hobbit is not the only film that has been affected by this either.
Also check THIS article here on Wikipedia as it details a lot of the hurdles that have befallen the project so far. Making movies isn't as easy as it seems.

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
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When the LotR came out, was that repeatedly postphoned?

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And yet more news, possibly better than the last...possibly.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/sea ... 1004117132

In essence, 'shut up or we will take our money elsewhere'.

The fact that they waited so long to make The Hobbit and thus rendered Ian Holm as impossible to be the main protagonist of our tale has ticked me off enough. The idea of a Hobbit film without the inclusion of Ian McKellan or Andy Serkis really ticks me off, and its both the union's and the studio's fault that that notion has even come into being.

I hope I don't get too political when I say this, or offend anyone who is indeed in a union, but studying history, or at least US History, it seems that the labor unions have accomplished what they originally set out to do a very long time ago. Their existence in the modern era represents only a hunger for more power and money. Specifically, when athletes, writers, and actors include themselves in unions or more broadly, strikes of any kind, it really ticks me off. They are already so financially fortunate, why do they need to protest "unfairness"? And on the other hand, as exemplified with this specific situation, with the companies that employ them, are you really making so little money that you need to withhold some and deny pay to the very employees who made your careers possible? Its a two sided coin, and both sides, especially the unions nowadays from what I've seen, need to get over themselves; they owe it to the fans.

If they don't start this movie soon...they probably never will.

I wouldn't disagree, but the forces that they fought against are just sitting there, like patient spiders, waiting to destroy the accomplishments. IMHO the problem is the way a union is structured, it's more like a corporation that fights for mediocrity.



Most actors don't make much, it just doesn't help with PR when the members that get the press are the expensive and famous ones.

Personally,I hope that the hobbit is filmed other than NZ. NZ isn't the only verdant land around that would be appropriate. Other than LotR, NZ has a reputation for drawing crowds of low budget crappy shows to be filmed there. With Oz sticking their nose into NZ's business, I imagine it will be a long time before their snooter comes close to that island again.

Everyone wants a piece of the pie, yet the baker hasn't even made it yet and all the clamoring is making it hard to get the fire in the oven started. End result: no pie for you or anyone! Congratulations. Greed has won again.

My opinion, bring the filming to british columbia or some other nice place in the pacific northwest of the united states. Let NZ wogs stuff that in their hobbit pipe and smoke it.

What with this dispute and the Canterbury Earthquake http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/124554/looters-hit-christchurch-after-quake, I'm getting a pretty strong indication that there is some parallel NZ out there... or the news media have a 'NZ set', like the set for the town in the Truman show?

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It's a pity that it was the greed of Americans that screwed the worlds economy and sent MGM bankrupt otherwise this film would be half made by now. You would think that with MGM being such a ball and chain to the project they would ditch them as I'm sure there are plenty of people out there willing to back a project like this but MGM holds the distribution rights, through United Artists, to the Hobbit so they need to be on board or the project goes nowhere.
Everybody likes to blame PJ for the Hobbits woes but if it wasn't his dedication to the project it would have been scrapped a long time ago.

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

I agree completely


That is a very broad brush
It is probably not a good time to debate the economy Everyone is pretty much bent out of shape.
Let's agree to blame it on the red diaper baby lawyers and not start WW4

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Sorry Charlie, I know I shouldn't generalise.
You can't blame 200 odd million people for the actions of a couple of hundred greedy people on wallstreet with more money than sense.

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Ash Nazg Durbatulûk, Ash Nazg Gimbatul,
Ash Nazg Thrakatulûk Agh Burzum-ishi Krimpatul.

peace at last. now we can get back to something fun.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"