Fans of The Lord of the Rings will be thrilled to hear what Peter Jackson is saying these days about the possibility of a return to middle earth. Here’s what he had to say:
A slimmed-down Jackson, who arrived in Sydney yesterday, was asked today how long it would be before he started production on The Hobbit. “Three or four years would be accurate, I would say,” Jackson said.
The rights to J R R Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit, are split between two major Hollywood studios, MGM and New Line Cinema. Jackson said he was keen to return to Middle Earth for The Hobbit but that MGM’s sale to Sony Corporation made the project’s future unclear.
“I think there is probably a will and a desire to try and get it made,” he said. “But I think it’s gonna be a lot of lawyers sitting in a room trying to thrash out a deal before it will ever happen.”
I’ve always said that it was going to take time to get The Hobbit made… but also that pure greed will FORCE it to be made, no matter how many lawyers and rights holders there are. The Hobbit would be a guaranteed $300 million domestic box office. That’s a pie that can be split a lot of ways, and still be huge pieces.
Anyway, if you’re interested you can read the whole article and interview with Jackson here.
The LOTR movies were awesome and Jackson did an outstanding job of directing…the ending of Return of the King was kinda stupid with all the fagot hobbit humping orgy going on but other than thay…I would say Jackson did what not many other directors could have…he took a written universe and brought it to life, staying for the most part true to the books, and actually had outstanding acting. That is something not too many other longstanding franchises can boast. The original Star Wars Trilogy…yeah. The Matrix Trilogy…yeah. What I am trying to say is that as long as Jackson dirercts…the movie will be just as good as the LOTR movies. That is the problem with most franchises, they make a good first movie and then let someone else direct the sequels…there is only two movies in which this worked…Alien and Aliens directed by both Ridley Scott and James Cameron.
Just as a side note about Harry Potter…….
Phwwww…please……Harry potter is watered down Tolkein-esque drivel for 10 year old girls who dress up in paper hats and want to grow up to be wizards. Have you ever seen a 7 year old running around demented trying to cast spells, believing they can raise occult powers? Not good, and not for my kids.
‘Not worthy’ is the phrase……. .Tolkiens writing, world and storyline wins that one hands down, K.O. in the first round……… .
On the other hand the hobbit would make a great movie for kids to see, I just hope Jackson doesn’t start abusing the storyline too much. 4 years is too long……but I will be first in the line for tickets.
The sooner Potter dissapears the better……;)
Hopefully Hollywood will sort out their differences before Ian Holm and Ian Mckellen “leaves us” – God forbid. They are really the only logical chioces for BIlbo and Gandolf. Besides, I’m very impatiant and don’t think I can wait 4 years to see “The Hobbit”. I just might burst!!!
i have to say, star wars DEFINITELY still has fans, lots of them. and when i thought about it, peter jackson really didn’t stick to the book that much. not as much as he could’ve. same with harry potter, and some of the weird things they added and the things they took out that they should’ve left in.
i love LOTR and i think they did a great job on the movies. i can’t wait for them to make the hobbit, i just wish it would be a little sooner. I’m a HUGE fan of J.R.R Tolkien and i’ve been waiting for the news about this movie since i read the book 2 years ago. All i hope is that whoever does end up making the movie doesn’t end up changing the entire story, like what happened to the Harry Potter series. Thanks for the update, i really appreciate it.
I seriously doubt anyone’s going to expect Ian Holm to play a younger Bilbo by the time this thing gets off the ground–as much as I dig Holm, he’ll be pushing 80 when this thing wraps IF Jackson’s right about with his guess about the timeframe.
My biggest fear is that when the rights are all sorted out Jackson either won’t have the interest anymore or whichever studio ends up producing the flick will want to “go in another direction.” Ridiculous thought? Maybe, but more ridiculous things have happened. After the success of the LOTR movies, I don’t think that The Hobbit would NEED Jackson to gross oodles of cash, but I’m afraid it might need him in order to be successful creatively.
Regardless, I’m not even going to start holding my breath for this one ’til ’08.
Great site, guys!
“Monies money is all that money”
Homer J. Simpson
You’re assuming a little more logic in the studio offices than I’m prepared to grant them …
Hey Todd.
The way I read the quote, Jackson’s guess is that PRODUCTION would start in 3-4 years.
You do raise a good point about it being a guess and that it could possibly take longer.
For me, the only real issue is that this does point towards the fact that this film will indeed get made, and sooner (within 10 years) rather than later. There is just too much money to be made. Even the bitterest of enemies will call a temporary truce if the price is right.
And you should keep in mind that Peter’s guess is just a guess. He doesn’t have any say in the matter in any direction … anybody else remember how long it took to get the Spiderman rights sorted out? They first started talking seriously about making that back in the eighties …
Peter’s guessing 3-4 years just to get the rights sorted out. You need to add another couple on to that for the film to actually be made afterwards, and that’s assuming that Jackson is available to start work on it ASAP and that New Line wants him, which is questionable with the lawsuits flying back and forth. There’s always a good possibility that Sony ends up consolidating the rights rather than New Line, as well … Sony’s got deeper pockets …
Well, thesecretcafe, you see some people are afraid of changes… Like some old Star Wars fans they think OT belongs to them and hate the new movies… the same is with LOTR and The Hobbit books, people are just afraid of changes – I am a big fan of LOTR and I’ve read all the books at least 40 times, but I still enjoyed the movie a lot… Some didn’t because there wasn’t some character in the movie or something was changed a little bit.. so what? I mean it’s not a book it’s a movie so just deal with it…
And Peter just because you don’t share Jackson’s view of Tolkien’s universe doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t direct it, there are more people who like it than those who don’t. Tolkien’s universe doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to Tolkien’s family and if the rights are sold (were sold) to make a movie, so be it – I will enjoy it like a movie, without thinking about the book.
I really cant understand the logic behind anyone suggesting that the Hobbit directed by Peter Jackson would be anything less than incredible.
I see lots of problems in the execution of this movie. The main is the casting: Ian Holm as a young Bilbo? Doubtful to say least.
And… well… LOTR has NOT been a standard in literary fidelity. I don√Ǭ¥t share Jackson√Ǭ¥s view of Tolkien√Ǭ¥s universe.
He´d better left the Hobbit untouched. I fear for terrible changes in the general plot. And I am not so sure of that 300 million bucks. Not at all, in fact.
ok what i wanted to say was “I mean there must be Star Wars fans even in [insert any country in here].
Ok I’m going to disagree with Typical, too. Because if you look at Star Wars they have probably the biggest fan base in the world. I mean there must be Star Wars fans even in . And now I’m not talking about fans of the OT, but of the loyal fans who like the Prequels…
And no way Internet is killing anything, we’ve heard that a lot of times before and it still didn’t happen. Many poeple actually enjoy watching movies in Cinema, or on original DVD. And if not in US and Canada, then in Europe and Asia. Just look at the movie revenues and you will see that movie industry is nowhere near dying…
“You only have to look at the desperate mess that is the Star Wars prequels for proof of that”.
Another unbeliever. *high brow* Hey Typical, come back here after May 19 and lets see if what you just said is true okay?
Hey Typical!
I’ve got to disagree with you 100% on a couple of things. If you look at the Star Wars… how can you say no one is interested in Star Wars anymore is just not true. Look at all the buzz this new one is generating. Both of the preqels made over $400 million domestically… how much “interest” does that show you?
Also, they could wait 15 years for The Hobbit and it’ll still make oodles of cash. Make no mistake about it… people will not lose interest in 3 or 4 years.
As far as your comment about the internet… yeah… interesting times are ahead.
That just about sums the Film industry up, despite the fact that the film is Guaranteed to do massive business off the back of LOTR, they are arguing over the rights. Of course, that is exactly why they are arguing over it nt he first place! By the time they have it sorted, things will have moved on, and no one will care about Fantasy / Tolkien based stories any more. You only have to look at the desperate mess that is the Star Wars prequels for proof of that. The internet will probably have killed cinema by the the early 2010’s anyway.