Peter Jackson to Produce Two Hobbit Movies in 2009

[admin]

Peter Jackson has won his bid to be Producer for two upcoming Hobbit films. After a rather bitter struggle regarding final compensation for the first three Lord of the Rings movies, MGM is finally able to have Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will Executive Produce both a Hobbit movie and a sequel. Jackson is apparently not the Director, however his involvement will satisfy most fans who were convinced the studios (namely New Line Cinema) would make a huge mistake by pulling him from the production.

Discuss "Peter Jackson to Produce Two Hobbit Movies in 2009" here. Read the article.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Such good news. Nobody could pull it off like him. He has a love for the source material.

 

[j_garcia]

The article I read actually said he has not been named as director for these films, though that could either be a formality or he will merely "consult".

 

[davo]

I doubt very much that an attempt would be made on The Silmarillion. There is too much information in it to effectively make a movie. It would take longer than all the Star Wars movies and LoTR movies AND the new hobbit movie put together to even scratch the surface.
That book was a heavy read!!

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't read it yet, have it, but haven't had any free time to dig into it. I think they are going to try to either add bits from the other books and/or more relative to LOTR or the plan is to make it into two movies and really flesh the story out (and raise box office numbers...).

 

[Audioholics]

They could easily break Hobbit into two stories... Probably breaking it just before/after Beorn's house would be the mid-point (theatrically-speaking). They could also involve some scenes of Gandalf's visit to the Necromancer (Sauron) which would be AWESOME since this isn't fleshed out much in the main books.

 

[mike c]

are there war sequences (armies and stuff) in the Hobbit?

 

[Audioholics]

Yes, the Battle of Five Armies...

 

[j_garcia]

Only the biggest battle in all of the books...

He could also move things around as he did in the LOTRs, to reveal certain aspects later in the story rather than up front (Smeagol/Deagol, moving Shelob to 3rd movie, etc...). At first I didn't like some of the things that he did, but cinematically it did work. He could also include a bit of the missing story at the beginning of FOTR.

 

[Audioholics]

My biggest regret of the LOTR trilogy was not seeing the Hobbits kick total butt in the end like with the books... that was a bummer, but I understand considering he already has like 4 hours of film...

That was such a 'coming of age' moment... when they walk back in town and they're like "You gotta be kidding me - we just faced off with Sauron's armies and now some thugs think they can enslave the Shire?"

 

[j_garcia]

Yep. And the fact that he changed how (or rather when) Sauron met his end (in the EE) kind of ticked me off and tipped Jackson's hat at the fact that the final bit of "homecoming" would be left out. As a movie I am not sure that final act would have played out as well though, so I understand why he chose not to do it that way. Leaving out Tom Bombodil was another example of something that would be cool to see, but doesn't really advance the story quickly so I understand why he left it out.

I'm curious to see who will play Bilbo in this one. Still Ian Holm?

SMAUG is what I can't wait to see

 

[skizzerflake]

Throughout the LOTR era, Jackson looked like a tall hobbit himself, then lost a lot of weight. I wonder if he will get back to his hobbit dimensions. This is great news. Several years ago, I saw a crudely made trailer for the Hobbit that was done with LOTR cast members and even those couple minutes caught my interest. He's got the vision to make this happen.

 

[skizzerflake]

Yep. And the fact that he changed how (or rather when) Sauron met his end (in the EE) kind of ticked me off and tipped Jackson's hat at the fact that the final bit of "homecoming" would be left out. As a movie I am not sure that final act would have played out as well though, so I understand why he chose not to do it that way. Leaving out Tom Bombodil was another example of something that would be cool to see, but doesn't really advance the story quickly so I understand why he left it out.

I'm curious to see who will play Bilbo in this one. Still Ian Holm?

SMAUG is what I can't wait to see

I thought that leaving out the sack of the Shire was an act of mercy...after all we'd been through in 12 hours of LOTR, I don't think audiences could have taken another scary chapter, even if it did end up with Sarumon being taken out.

 

[Audioholics]

Pulling Tom Bombadil was a VERY good call... He was so gay in the books... lol. How do you sell some ancient (but young) guy who sings to trees, tra-la-dancing around a forest on screen?

I can't wait to see Smaug - and also Bilbo fighting off the spiders. Though I wonder how "Old Tomnoddy" and "attercop" would play on-screen... haha. Methinks the dialogue in the movie will change somewhat.

 

[Sheep]

The article I read actually said he has not been named as director for these films, though that could either be a formality or he will merely "consult".

Jackson is apparently not the Director,

RTFA.

SheepStar

 

[j_garcia]

I thought that leaving out the sack of the Shire was an act of mercy...after all we'd been through in 12 hours of LOTR, I don't think audiences could have taken another scary chapter, even if it did end up with Sarumon being taken out.

Exactly, you get this big resolution and everything looks wrapped up and then they get home to find something ELSE to deal with. It was a bit too much, even in the book I thought that. Yes, I meant Sarumon, not Sauron...

Yes, Bombadil was a bit too um....goofy, but there were some elements there that could have been interesting. It did seem like he wasn't sure where he was going with the story yet, almost as if that first part started as a short story that wasn't fully inline with the rest of the books (should have been a Lost Tale?).

 

[skizzerflake]

If you're interested, a fan-film Hobbit trailer is available on Youtube. It's obviously cobbled together from LOTR clips and some animation, but it does give clues as to the general atmosphere of the movie (which will be released in 20010). The Hobbit was originally intended as a kids novel, but the movie seems pretty dark by comparison.

The trailer is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktD2D8-TqqU