It’s finally official: Guillermo Del Toro, the acclaimed writer/director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, has come aboard The Hobbit, a two-film epic he will direct over the next four years. The long-awaited news was announced today by New Line’s new head, Toby Emmerich, and MGM’s new head, Mary Parent. Del Toro will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and his Wingnut and WETA production teams. (Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, will executive produce both movies.) Del Toro will direct the two films back-to-back, with the first movie telling the story of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original book and the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The recently downsized New Line will oversee the development and production of the films, cofinancing them with MGM. Warner Bros. will distribute the film domestically, while MGM will handle the international release.
Apr 24
2008
10:25 PM ET
Guillermo Del Toro hired as director of 'The Hobbit,' at long last
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Awesome news, they literally couldn’t have done any better than Del Toro!
Great news!!!!!
Great news!!!!!
Who’s adapting the screenplays?
Woot! Great news for everyone! Does this mean that the second film will involve some of the same actors from LOTR?
Yes some of the actors will be featured, the ones whose characters were in the book. The Hobbit will translate to a really great movie. Fanboys rejoice. here is a quote from Guillermo
“all I can say is that I am diligently going through all Tolkien material related to Middle-earth but only as a way of bridging a gap in my reading.I still respond the strongest to “The Hobbit,” but as an avid reader of Mythology I find a lot of his other writings fascinating. A perfect Cosmology forged from very eclectic sources”
The second movie will be the interesting one. The Hobbit was a perfect length to translate to a screenplay, but there is no book for the bridging material, man o man I can’t wait!
That second movie will have to be assembled from the Appendices–young Aragorn and his career as a wandering sword, Bilbo adopting Frodo, maybe the fighting in Mirkwood that drove Sauron out and back to Mordor (oh god more Legolas.) Tolkien left behind a chronicle of the events but not a narrative, so the narrative will have to be constructed. Easy enough — fanfic writers have been doing it for years. Watch out for lawsuits!
FAB!
I’m anxious to see how del Toro will do this film. I’m sure with the help of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, it won’t be too terribly different from the Lord of the Rings films. How about actors, though? Will fans get to see Ian Holmes and Ian McKellen (amongst others!) back again? Sure hope so!
Excellent news — now I can get the imagery from the 1977 Rankin/Bass production out of my mind.
http://blog.newsok.com/staticblog/
I think Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will be adapting the screenplay, just like they did for LOTR. Basically the same production crew will be used for the movie, with the addition of Guillermo Del Toro.
I’m so excited. I can’t wait!!
hobbit overload. way to steal the thunder of the final harry potter movies.
but don’t you think they’d mention who’s going to adapt the screenplay?
the film (the lord of the rings)is totally awsome its really rocking really nice movie friends forever
thanks for that