Although Ian Holm has now aged over 7 years.




-Doc

How the heck did my spellchecker miss that?

Well, they'd have to make him look close to his flashback scene at least... If they can get the cast back and a decent director I'll be happy. Didn't Jackson say he'd want to include Aragorn somehow?

that was kind of the point of my comment, from a studio that gambled with the LOTR trilogy - it would behoeve them to get over the squabbles/letigations and make a film that WOULD make money.

I think I heard talk of The White Council as well, so we'd probably see Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) as well.

wasn't there at one point talk about integrating some of the Silmarilion stories into the Hobbit?

Oops. I thought you were questioning whether New Line would think it would be a good idea to greenlight this since Golden Compass was a similar type of story and tanked so maybe they'd think The Hobbit would tank too.

Yeah, you're right The Hobbit should be a no-brainer and a big money maker so I can't imagine why they wouldn't do everything possible to get it done.

That would be cool although probably quite difficult to put on screen. I mean The Silmarilion would probably be about a 20 hour movie just on it's own. In an earlier post I was wondering how they could get two movies out of The Hobbit but if a few parts of The Silmarilion were incorporated into the movies then they'd have more than enough material.

Awesome news. Very happy about this!

According to AICN, that will be the case:

They have. That's what the announcement was about.

clicking over to page two is such a bitch...

This was posted over at digitalbits.com:

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT,” EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED FANTASY ADVENTURE EPIC

NEW LINE AND MGM TO CO-PRODUCE AND SHARE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS

PETER JACKSON AND FRAN WALSH TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE TWO FILMS BASED ON “THE HOBBIT”

Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “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. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s Chairman and CEO. "Now that we are all in agreement on 'The Hobbit,' we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film."

Bob Shaye, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO comments, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” notes Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of “The Hobbit” release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Oscar®-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards®, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

For more information about “The Hobbit” films, please visit www.TheHobbitBlog.com.

---END---

Given that Christopher Tolkien hated the movies, I'd think he'd be all over them if they started making spin-offs that go beyond the scope of the books.

I don't see how that's possible since there's no way in Hell that Christopher Tolkien will sell the film rights, especially to Jackson & co. They might get away with material covered in the Appendicies, but that barely touches on the Silmarilion -- the Tale of Years picks up with the Second Age -- so no Feanor, no Morgoth, no Hurin and Turin.

My guess is that if they're going to expand the story, it'll be by covering Gandalf's visit to Dol Guldor after he leaves Thorin's company on the edge of Mirkwood.

There's already a thread on the front page.

Reserving judgment on this. Hopefully Jackson will be an on-task producer and the director will just be a puppet (if they're not talented) or someone with talent.

I don't think Neill Blomkamp would be a good fit, although I'd love to be proved wrong.

Maybe the Battle of the Five Armies will last for two hours. That will pad things out nicely for two movies.

It's hard to believe that buy the time this hits theaters that it will have been ten years since FotR was released.

I'm starting to feel old.

I just hope the films aren't bloated like RotK and King Kong.

I want to be pleasantly surprised w/ their hire for director, but I I'll probably wind up disappointed.

I still have hope that PJ will direct.

Wow, I hadn't thought of that. That's insane. Although, wasn't it December 2001 that FotR hit? So that'd only be 9 years, but it's still feels like yesterday I was in there for the first time watching it.

You need to go into Settings-> Correction Tools -> Spell Checker and change your default dictionary from English (North American) to English (Geek).

I'm excited that this is finally being made but I hope that Peter Jackson will end up directing it.

There is no way Jackson won't direct.

I wouldn't be too sure about that.

Paging Tobe Hooper...