{"id":1156,"date":"2007-12-18T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-18T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/12\/peter-jackson-to-produce-the-hobbit\/"},"modified":"2007-12-18T12:07:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-18T12:07:00","slug":"peter-jackson-to-produce-the-hobbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/12\/peter-jackson-to-produce-the-hobbit.html","title":{"rendered":"Peter Jackson to produce The Hobbit!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
I slept in this morning \u2014 as much as the children climbing all over me would allow, that is \u2014 and haven\u2019t checked my news feeds yet, but thanks to an e-mail from my friend Bruce, I now know that, according to the Associated Press<\/a>, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have patched things up<\/a> and will work together on The Hobbit<\/a><\/i> after all:<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson, who directed the \u201cRings\u201d trilogy, will serve as executive producer for \u201cThe Hobbit.\u201d A director for the prequel films has yet to be named. . . .<\/p>\n

Two \u201cHobbit\u201d films<\/a> are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, similar to how the three \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d films were made. Production is set to begin in 2009 with a released planned for 2010, with the sequel scheduled for a 2011 release. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, hmmm, that last film would be arriving just in time for the 10th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring<\/a><\/i> (2001), the movie that started it all. Expect to see even more<\/i> special editions on DVD, or Blu-Ray, or whatever format we\u2019re all working with by then.<\/p>\n

What I would like to know is where Saul Zaentz figures into all this. Zaentz got the film rights to Middle-Earth back in the 1970s, and has basically been leasing them to New Line all along. In 2006<\/a>, he reportedly said that the film rights would revert to him \u201cnext year\u201d, and thus Peter Jackson\u2019s squabble with New Line wouldn\u2019t matter any more. And just last week<\/a>, he launched a new lawsuit against New Line over the profits from the existing trilogy. So \u2026 is Zaentz allowing these new movies to go ahead anyway? Or have the rights not reverted back to him yet, for whatever reason?<\/p>\n

Oh, and can it be a coincidence that this development was announced less than two weeks after The Golden Compass<\/a><\/i> became one of the biggest flops<\/a> in New Line\u2019s history?<\/p>\n

As I was finishing this post, I got another e-mail, this time from the local New Line rep. It included a link to The Hobbit: The Official Movie Blog<\/a>, which so far just has a copy of the press release announcing the two movies. If I see any other interesting details in my news feeds in the next day or so, I will update this post.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Reuters<\/a> quotes MGM chairman Harry Sloane, whose studio is co-financing the Hobbit<\/i> films, to the effect that Peter Jackson is \u201ctoo busy\u201d to direct The Hobbit<\/i> himself, given that he is currently directing The Lovely Bones<\/i> and he is also attached to Steven Spielberg\u2019s Tintin<\/a><\/i> trilogy \u2014 but Sloane says Jackson \u201cdoesn\u2019t want the fans to have to wait for the next two movies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, David Poland<\/a> at The Hot Blog says New Line is in a rush to get these movies made because \u201cthe end of rights\u201d comes in 2010, which is a few years later than Zaentz seemed to indicate in that interview last year.<\/p>\n

Poland also says the deal with Jackson can\u2019t necessarily be construed as a reaction to the box-office failure of The Golden Compass<\/i>, because New Line has been trying to patch things up with Jackson since the summer. But was not The Golden Compass<\/i> well into post-production by then? And did not New Line seem to be panicking when, a few months ago<\/a>, they began replacing actors and cutting off the film\u2019s ending, etc.? Would it not be reasonable to assume, then, that New Line\u2019s side of the negotiations was motivated to some degree by their dawning awareness that The Golden Compass<\/i> would be a box-office disappointment?<\/p>\n

And for what it\u2019s worth, the New York Times<\/a><\/i> says New Line paid Jackson nearly $40 million as part of the settlement.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I just realized that it was exactly six years ago tomorrow that The Fellowship of the Ring<\/i> came out. Coincidence?<\/p>\n

And a part of me really likes the fact that the first Hobbit<\/i> film is slated to come out when my twins will be almost 5 years old \u2014 which, hopefully, will mean that the twins will be old enough to see these films in the theatre with the wife and me.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I slept in this morning \u2014 as much as the children climbing all over me would allow, that is \u2014 and haven\u2019t checked my news feeds yet, but thanks to an e-mail from my friend Bruce, I now know that, according to the Associated Press, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have patched things up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPeter Jackson to produce The Hobbit!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I slept in this morning -- as much as the children climbing all over me would allow, that is -- and haven't checked my news feeds yet, but thanks to an\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/12\/peter-jackson-to-produce-the-hobbit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peter Jackson to produce The Hobbit!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I slept in this morning -- as much as the children climbing all over me would allow, that is -- and haven't checked my news feeds yet, but thanks to an\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/12\/peter-jackson-to-produce-the-hobbit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-18T12:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/7991\/933\/400\/lotr-bilboring.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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