As MGM announces it’s planning The Hobbit as a tentpole release (with New Line, and hopefully with Peter Jackson at the helm), PJ contemplates optioning the Termeraire books by Naomi Novik. Get back to Bag End, Pete!
Tag: The Hobbit
A Long-Expected Party?
Is something stirring in Middle Earth? While Peter Jackson announces he’s producing a remake of The Dam Busters (to be directed by Christian Rivers, WETA’s head animatic guy from LotR and Kong), very vague rumors emerge from the head office at New Line of a July 2007 start date for filming of The Hobbit. Let’s hope they at least give PJ the right of first refusal…Giving this property to somebody like Ratner would be absolutely criminal. Update: Another intriguing LotR link (albeit from the Mises Institute), via Dangerous Meta: Tolkien v. Power.
The Hearts of Men are easily corrupted.
Uh oh…will The Hobbit end up being a Brett Ratner film? Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films is apparently suing New Line Cinema over its share of FotR profits. Well, this is surprising. I didn’t realize relationships had cooled to that extent. Update: More details here.
The Lion Heads East.
Sony beats out Time Warner and ends up snagging MGM Hmm…that’ll make a film version of The Hobbit considerably more complicated.
The Burglar and the Voyager.
Drop the Kong…it’s looking increasingly likely that Time Warner will beat out Sony in acquiring MGM, meaning that New Line Cinema would finally secure the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. (!) Also in development on the mythical front right now is a version of The Odyssey more family (and Gods) oriented than the recent Troy…No word on if Sean Bean will reprise Odysseus.
Visions to Come.
It’s been a quiet January as usual for fanboy and fangirls, and particularly in the wake of the Grey Havens last month. But lots of news out and about today: Terry Gilliam and James Cameron both discuss their next projects (The Brothers Grimm and Untitled Big Idea CGI Sci-Fi respectively), USA Today looks at a number of fantasy projects (including Lemony Snicket, Narnia, Elric, Artemis Fowl, and The Hobbit), and a longer trailer premieres for Frodo (and Charlie Kaufman’s) next project, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, also featuring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, and Mark Ruffalo (previous trailer here.) Also, we’ve got a few more new Spidey II pics, some small Episode III tidbits, and The Ring‘s Martin Henderson possibly up for Superman. (Hmm…I hope not.)
Smaug Awakens 12.19.06
The site’s getting killed at the moment, but at some point this fan-made teaser for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit is definitely worth checking out. Brought a smile to my face. In loosely related news, the second Animatrix trailer is also up – not half as intriguing as the first installment, but worth a look if you’re at all into anime (which, frankly, I’m not).
My Precioussss….
The official poster for TTT debuts….looks like no love for Merry and Pippen this time, or Eomer, Faramir, Theoden, Treebeard, or Wormtongue, for that matter. Nevertheless, we’ve got less than two months until the big show, and exactly two weeks until the extended Fellowship…it’s a good time to be alive. Update: Are PJ and Sir Ian thinking of The Hobbit?