Jackson Out As 'Hobbit' Director - Who else could direct?

[philosophie_en_rose]

http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2006-11-20/


Shocking fans who had assumed that director Peter Jackson, who was responsible for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, would direct The Hobbit -- a kind of prequel to those films -- and another Lord of the Rings epic, Jackson said on theonering.net website Sunday that he had been advised by New Line that the studio "would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit ... was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker." Jackson said that the studio cited the ongoing lawsuit that Jackson filed against New Line in June of 2005, charging that the studio had committed fraud in reporting the revenue for 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which allegedly resulted in Jackson being underpaid millions of dollars. If the notice from New Line was a ploy to induce Jackson to drop or settle the lawsuit -- as Jackson seems to suggest in his message to "Ringers" -- it apparently failed to achieve its objective. In the message, Jackson said that he was "very sorry our involvement with The Hobbit has been ended in this way. ... This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor. We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Who else could do it?

In short- no one.

Even Jackson would have trouble with it. As tough as LotR was to adapt, The Hobbit must be tougher.

New Line's going to fuck it up royally.

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. And could New Line get Ian McKellin to play Gandalf?

:shrug: WETA digital is a strong studio, but Jackson is pretty hit or miss with his films. (King Kong is not LOTR. It's not even the Frighteners.)

The Hobbit would be a challenge to adapt, but I think Jackson could have done it. It's too bad that we'll never get to know.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. What you're going to have here...

is a movie that's made by a corporate board meeting.

Think "Jaws 2."

[Dukkha]

2. in other news...The Hobbit movie will suck.

Brilliant decision New Line! :eyes:

[Book Lover]

5. So he should try to finagle rights to "Farmer Giles of Ham"

which is an adorable Tolkein short story/fable which would work perfectly as a feature-length movie.

AICN link, in case you're interested: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30755