AMERICAN actor Tobey Maguire will star in The Hobbit after quitting the Spider-Man franchise.

The Sun reported Maguire, 34, will play the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in the blockbuster movie version of JRR Tolkien's classic book.

The news follows his decision to quit the Spider-Man franchise after three films.

Maguire was said to be unhappy with the direction the fourth Spider-Man movie is set to take.

The Hobbit producer Peter Jackson - who was also behind the epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy - and director Guillermo del Toro have been after him for months.

A source told The Sun: "The Hobbit team are deep in the casting process.

"Everyone is over the moon. Tobey is not only one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, he is also one of the best actors."

‘Simon Pegg wrote on Twitter yesterday “Looks like David Tennant will be visiting Middle Earth”…
He has since…I think…Deleted this post…’

New Line’s efforts to get “The Hobbit” on the big screen have been hobbled again.

Studio officials confirm that the film, which had been slated to premiere in December 2011, won’t hit theaters until the end of 2012 at the earliest.

The two-part prequel to New Line’s mega-successful “Lord of the Rings” franchise has Peter Jackson signed on to produce and Guillermo del Toro enlisted to direct.

Production had previously been delayed by haggling between author J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate and New Line over “Lord of the Rings” profits.

This latest delay, however, has to do with financing for “The Hobbit,” which unlike “LOTR,” will not be paid for via foreign pre-sales. Rather, for “The Hobbit,” New Line shares financing rights with MGM/UA, which purchased its rights back in 1969 and could sell them soon as part of a larger restructuring.

In short, “The Hobbit’s” production financing situation probably won’t become clear until MGM’s situation is sorted out later this year.

Even though concrete details about the film adaptation of ‘The Hobbit’ are very much undecided, Orlando Bloom has shown extreme interest in wanting to reprise his role as Legolas, the quiet, quick with a bow elf from the previous movies.

There’s just one problem I see with this. Being a fan of the book, I’m pretty sure Legolas does not actually have a part in ‘The Hobbit.’ Of course, since elves live to be hundreds of years old, he probably would have been alive during the events of the story, so writing him in is somewhat plausible if the writers choose to deviate from the actual book.