The Hobbit Spoiler

Director Guillermo del Toro seems to be really committed to make the Hobbit movie a success.

Two movies are in store. Let's listen to del Toro to see what he is planning for the Hobbit:

He knows that he has inherited a great responsibility with the right to adapt the Hobbit to the cinema:

I really hope that his cooperation with Peter Jackson who directed the Lord of the Rings will work out. It has been a long since the last Lord of the Rings movie and so far, no movie could compare to any opus of the trilogy for it was really great.

May del Toro create a new masterpiece with the Hobbit! Any bet concerning Bilbo? Who will interpret the epic hero?
:)

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The Hobbit is an upcoming two-part film based on the novel of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film is in development and Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy will serve as executive producer and co-writer. Guillermo del Toro worked on the project with Jackson for over two years and would have been director, but left the project in May 2010. Originally, both parts would have served as separate films. The first would have adapted The Hobbit and the second would have bridged the gap between this and The Lord of the Rings. It was del Toro's intention to split and expand the narrative of The Hobbit over two parts of a single film.

Cast

In a June 2009 interview, Guillermo del Toro confirmed that three actors had been cast in the respective roles they played in Jackson's film trilogy:

* Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey[1]
* Andy Serkis as Gollum[1]
* Hugo Weaving as Elrond[1]


Development
See also: Development of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh expressed interest in 1995 in filming The Hobbit, which would be part one of a trilogy (the other two would have been based on The Lord of the Rings).[3] Frustration arose when Jackson's producer, Harvey Weinstein, discovered Saul Zaentz had production rights to The Hobbit, but distribution rights still belonged to United Artists (which had kept those rights, believing that filmmakers would probably adapt The Hobbit rather than The Lord of the Rings, and therefore wanted a profit).[4] The studio was on the market, so Weinstein's attempts to buy those rights were unsuccessful. Weinstein asked Jackson to press on with adapting The Lord of the Rings.[5] New Line Cinema eventually produced The Lord of the Rings, and their rights to film The Hobbit were set to expire in 2010.[6] In September 2006, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, owner of UA, expressed interest in teaming up with New Line and Jackson to make the prequel.[7]

In March 2005, Jackson launched a lawsuit against New Line, claiming he had lost revenue from merchandising, video, and computer games releases associated with The Fellowship of The Ring.[8] He did not seek a specific settlement, but requested an audit to see whether New Line had deprived him of money.[6] Although Jackson wanted it settled before he would make the film,[6] he felt the lawsuit was minor, and that New Line would still let him make The Hobbit.[9] New Line co-founder Robert Shaye was annoyed with the lawsuit and said in January 2007 that Jackson would never again direct a film for New Line, accusing him of being greedy.[10] MGM boss Harry Sloan halted development, as he wanted Jackson to be involved.[11] By August, after a string of flops, Shaye was trying to repair his relationship with the director. He said, "I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit."[12] The following month, New Line was fined $125,000 for failing to provide requested accounting documents.[6]
Peter Jackson, executive producer of the films.

On December 18, 2007, it was announced that Jackson would be executive producer of The Hobbit and its sequel. New Line and MGM will co-finance the film, and the latter studio (via 20th Century Fox) will distribute the films outside North America – New Line's first ever such deal with another major studio.[13] Each film is budgeted at an estimated US$150 million,[14] which compares to the US$94 million budget for each of the films in Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. After completion of the merger of New Line Cinema with Warner Bros. in February 2008, the films were announced as scheduled for release in Decembers 2011 and 2012.[11] Producer Mark Ordesky will return to supervise the prequels.[15] Jackson explained he chose not to direct because it would have been unsatisfying to compete with his previous films.[16]

That same month, the Tolkien Estate—through the Tolkien Trust—and HarperCollins Publishers filed a suit against New Line for breach of contract and fraud and demanded $220 million in compensation. The suit claimed New Line had only paid the Estate an upfront fee of $62,500, despite the trilogy earning an estimated $6 billion worldwide from box office receipts and merchandise sales. The suit claimed the Estate was entitled to 7.5% of all profits made by any Tolkien films, as established by prior deals. The suit also sought to block the filming of The Hobbit.[17][18]

Guillermo del Toro has said he was a fan of Jackson's trilogy and had discussed directing a film adaptation of Halo with him in 2005. Though that project stalled, they kept in contact.[16] In a 2006 interview Del Toro was quoted saying "I don't like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits, [...] I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff".[19] After he signed on to direct in April 2008,[20] Del Toro posted on TheOneRing.net forums that he had been enchanted by The Hobbit as a child, but found that Tolkien's other books "contain[ed] geography and genealogy too complex for my prepubescent brain". In taking the job of director, Del Toro was now "reading like a madman to catch up with a whole new land, a continent of sorts – a cosmology created by brilliant philologist turned Shaman". He also posted that his appreciation of Tolkien was enhanced by his knowledge of the fantasy genre and the folklore research he had undertaken while making his own fantasy films.[16]

Pre-production began around August 2008, with Del Toro, Jackson, Walsh, and Philippa Boyens writing the scripts.[21] Del Toro collaborated with Jackson, Walsh and Boyens via videoconferencing, and flew every three weeks, back and forth from Los Angeles, California (where some of the designs were done)[20] to New Zealand to visit them.[22] Del Toro spent his mornings writing, and afternoons looking at material related to Tolkien to help him understand the writer's work. He watched World War I documentaries and asked for book recommendations from Jackson, who is a collector of World War I memorabilia. Del Toro felt Tolkien's experiences in that war influenced his stories.[23]

By November 2008, every week Del Toro, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens would realize something new about the story which continually changed the script.[24] The writing hours increased to twelve each day, as they dedicated three weeks to finally deciding the films' structures.[25] During the first few months of 2009, writing would start from 8:30 am and end at 3 pm when Del Toro would meet with Weta (i.e. Weta Workshop and Weta Digital film effects companies). Completion of the story outlines and treatments ended in March 2009, and the studios approved the start of writing the screenplay.[26] Filming was expected to take place throughout 2010 in New Zealand, with Del Toro renovating the Hobbiton sets in Matamata.[16] On his part, Jackson kept the Rivendell scale model and the Bag End set (which he has used as a guest house) from the trilogy.[9] During the middle of the shoot, there was expected to be a break which would have allowed Del Toro to edit The Hobbit while sets would be altered for the second film.[27] The director expected the shoot to last 370 days.[28]

In September 2009, New Line and the Tolkien Estate reached a settlement, with New Line paying the Estate an undisclosed sum. J. R. R. Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien said in a statement: "New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of The Hobbit."[17][18] Jackson revealed in late November 2009 that he anticipated that the script for The Hobbit would be finished by the beginning of 2010, delaying the start of production until the middle of that summer (several months later than previously anticipated).[29] The announcement created doubts about whether the film would make its previously-announced release dates of December 2011 and December 2012.[29] Jackson reiterated that no casting decisions have been made.[29] On January 22, 2010, Alan Horn said the first film would likely not be released until the fourth quarter of 2012.[30]

Due to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's financial troubles, the project had not been officially greenlit as of May 28, 2010, as Del Toro explained at a press conference. "There cannot be any start dates until the MGM situation gets resolved... We have designed all the creatures. We've designed the sets and the wardrobe. We have done animatics and planned very lengthy action sequences. We have scary sequences and funny sequences and we are very, very prepared for when it's finally triggered, but we don't know anything until MGM is solved."[31][32] Two days later, Del Toro announced at TheOneRing.net that "[i]n light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming", he would "take leave from helming", further stating that "the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. [...] I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director".[33][34] Reports have been surfacing around the internet about possible directors for The Hobbit. Apparently the studios want Jackson but names like David Yates, Brett Ratner and David Dobkin have all been thrown around.

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