CharlieK

Brett Ratner just posted this on Twitter:

My preccccicoussss....

resinrats

I'd rather just have Jackson direct them so they will fit well with the LOTR movies.

JumpCutz

That's just wrong.



Yeah I wouldn't mind Jackson behind the camera, would have much preferred Del Toro though.

Mr. Cinema

I'm glad Del Toro left as I'm much more interested in his version of "Frankenstein". I hope that becomes his next project. IMDB has several listed on his profile.

Mr. Cinema

I think Neill Blomkamp would be a nice replacement. He's already worked with Jackson on D9.

gmanca

My sentiments exactly; I would love to see another Hellboy now that it's doable time-wise; perhaps Frankenstein will come first and then the "Hellboy vs. the Universal Monsters" idea?

FinkPish

Son of a bitch! Why wouldn't Peter Jackson simply take this over at this point? He's been involved through the entire thing anyway and since he lives in NZ, it wouldn't mean uprooting his life to wait for these stupid legal battles to sort themselves out. Plus, it would mean a more consistent vision through the whole Tolkien saga.

whoopdido

Still don't get the Del Toro lovefest. I made a comment earlier in this thread about the same thing.

Pan's Labyrinth was OUTSTANDING. I'll definitely give him that. Both Hellboys, Blade 2 and Mimic were all complete garbarge though in my opinion. I guess I haven't seen Cronos or The Devils Backbone. He also produced the completely unwatchable "While She Was Out"

Frankly, he's done ONE good thing in his career. Like I said, Pan's Labyrinth was an outstanding movie, but it seems like that's pretty much all he's done.

riotinmyskull

that you've seen...

whoopdido

So, Cronos and The Devil's Backbone were good enough so that, along with Pan's Labyrinth, he's directed 3 awesome movies?

Not trying to be a prick at all, but according to his imdb page, I've seen all the movies he's directed with the exception of 2 short films he made in the mid 80's.

I mean if Cronos and Devil's Backbone were on par with Pan's Labyrinth then I might change my opinion as 3 great movies and 4 stinkers still probably means he's pretty damn good.

However, somebody with 1 great movie, 4 stinkers and 2 so-so movies does not deserve the praise that some are piling on him.

riotinmyskull

if you liked PANS then you'll probably like THE DEVILS BACKBONE

whoopdido

I'll check it out.

I just wish his big Hollywood movies were better, especially if was gonna do The Hobbit and from the looks of his rumored projects he'll be tackling some interesting stuff. I just hope the stuff he comes out with next is closer to the quality of Pan's and not Hellboy, Blade and Mimic.

Fist of Doom

Good grief, how many years are they going to stretch out this production? We all may be dead by the time they finish this. And they wanted Del Toro to commit to living in New Zealand for six years? Crazy.

covenant

It's time for Peter Jackson to step up to the plate and make this movie like it's meant to be made.

....Oh and all the Del Toro fanboys can exit the thread now.....

RocShemp

Not if Uwe Boll beats him to it.

FinkPish

There is no "they". No one was forcing Del Toro to commit to stay in NZ, but as director, in order to oversee and manage the pre-production, production and post-production of these 2 huge back-to-back films, it would have essentially required him to move in for those 6 years. He could have stayed in LA (and kept his family there) and flown back and forth to NZ as necessary, but that would have meant lots of video conferencing and long distance approval, which would seem to be difficult for a hands-on director like Del Toro (just check out any of the making-of materials for any of his films).

The Valeyard

Dammit!

Panda Phil

Fecking MGM. Just make the damn movie! I wonder if the beancounters over there are related to the ones at Fox back in the 70's who weren't sure if funding Empire Strikes Back was worth the risk.

Meanwhile the live action version of Pac Man (in 3D!), and Diff'rent Strokes: The Movie are probably being rushed into production.

Sorry. Had to vent (feel better now thanks).

My Other Self

It's not MGM saying "no" - they even put the new Bond on hold because of all of their financial trouble. Until Time Warner or another entity bail them out a lot of projects are being left to rot.

Hiro11

This is ridiculous. Has there ever been a project more guaranteed to make a mint of money than this one? How on earth is it still in such development hell? For God's sake, MGM, get some private equity firms involved, anything. First they try to eff PJ over, then they run up $4Bn in debt making shitty movies that no one wants to see. Then, finally, they manage to get a PJ script, a first class fantasy-experienced director and a defining sure-fire franchise and you still can't get it together? That's incompetence.

To those keeping track, it's now been seven years since ROTK and The Hobbit still doesn't have a release date or even a director. Pathetic.

rexinnih

But more importantly, what does this do the the BD release of the LOTR EE's?!?!?!?!? Well, guess it looks like I will get those BDs of the LOTR theatrical version after all.

Jay G.

Fox wanted to make Empire, pretty badly too. They tried to buy the sequel rights back from Lucas. It was Lucas who didn't want to sell the sequel to Fox, but instead produce it independently.


When did they try to F Jackson over? MGM had no hand in LOTR, or any other PJ movie as far as I know. MGM was eager for PJ's involvemen.

Again, MGM had no hand in the production of LOTR. New Line produced and owns LOTR, so there's no financial blocking of the LOTR EEs. If the Hobbit gets pushed back long enough, it's possible New Line may release the LOTR EE BDs beforehand.

Groucho

I hope McG's available!

FinkPish

No, Brett Ratner is my favorite to take over, or Uwe Boll.

kstublen

Guillermo del Toro leaving The Hobbit is great news! I really didn't like The Lord Of The Rings movies so I wasn't really interested in this project, but I would have seen it because of del Toro and given it a fair shot. All that aside though, it was really just a bummer that del Toro would be too involved with this for the next however many years to make things I'd much rather see (Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hellboy 3, Slaughterhouse-Five).