Exciting news, another Tolkien movie is waiting for us!

The Guardian notes that Guillermo Del Toro has agreed to direct THE HOBBIT. Yay! This is much much better than some of the earlier names that were being thrown about, once it was clear Peter Jackson was not handling (he's still producing). I loved THE LABYRINTH, and Del Toro is clearly a fan of sf/f, so this could be a great match.

Eos Books (http://outofthiseos.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/del-toro-to-dir.html)

Never heard of him or "The Labyrinth", I'm afraid. Should we be excited by this?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0457430/

I saw it. Quite a special movie (I am not sure if it's everyone's taste though). Heh, but it won three Oscars!

It was called "Pan's Labyrinth" in the UK - good movie!

It was called "Pan's Labyrinth" in the UK - good movie!

Thanks - I recognise that title. I didn't see it, but it received "rave" reviews, as I recall.

He has a movie currently in the theaters called The Orphanage. It's a ghost story.
He is also working on a movie version of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

Hm. I wonder how much "interpretation" will be in this version of the Hobbit story. I'd call it the least symbolic of Tolkein's works.

He has a movie currently in the theaters called The Orphanage. It's a ghost story.


That movie is not written or directed by Guillermo del Toro. He is only one of the producers.

My mistake, sorry.

New Line will be making 2 Hobbit movies. Probably it will be The Hobbit and a movie that connects it with Fellowship of the Ring. I can't imagine splitting The Hobbit itself into 2 movies.

Too bad the second movie couldn't be just "The Scouring of the Shire." I understand why there wasn't room for that in the LOTR movie, but it's always been one of my favorite parts of the story.

Too bad the second movie couldn't be just "The Scouring of the Shire." I understand why there wasn't room for that in the LOTR movie, but it's always been one of my favorite parts of the story.Not enough there to be a full movie. And I believe at least parts of that were filmed for RoTK, but left on the cutting room floor, and are on one of the Director's Cut DVD editions.
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Dennis

New Line will be making 2 Hobbit movies. Probably it will be The Hobbit and a movie that connects it with Fellowship of the Ring. I can't imagine splitting The Hobbit itself into 2 movies.My understanding is two films: The Hobbit, and another covering the period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, with things like Gollum meeting the Dark Lord, Aragorn's pursuit of Gollum, and Gandalf snooping in Dol Goldur.

That one will be especially interesting, as there is far less text to base it on. Jackson will have to interpolate a great deal and create the dialog from whole cloth. (One of the things that impressed me about LoTR is how much of Tolkien's dialog Jackson was able to leave in.) My first question when I heard Jackson was to exec produce wasn't "Who will direct" but "Who will write the screenplay?"
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Dennis

New Line will be making 2 Hobbit movies. Probably it will be The Hobbit and a movie that connects it with Fellowship of the Ring. I can't imagine splitting The Hobbit itself into 2 movies.My understanding is two films: The Hobbit, and another covering the period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, with things like Gollum meeting the Dark Lord, Aragorn's pursuit of Gollum, and Gandalf snooping in Dol Goldur.

That one will be especially interesting, as there is far less text to base it on. Jackson will have to interpolate a great deal and create the dialog from whole cloth. (One of the things that impressed me about LoTR is how much of Tolkien's dialog Jackson was able to leave in.) My first question when I heard Jackson was to exec produce wasn't "Who will direct" but "Who will write the screenplay?"
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Dennis

This is great news. Del Toro also made a great movie called "The Devil's Backbone," kind of a ghost story set in an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. As good as Pan's Labyrinth I think, though both are great movies. I think he's a better director than Peter Jackson actually; not only that but somebody who knows how to incorporate visual effects without letting them overpower the film. This news makes me very very very excited about the Hobbit movie.

I'm glad that Peter Jackson won't be directing this one as I don't think he did a very good job with the pacing of the LoTR trilogy (for 9 hours of movie, I still felt like I was being constantly pushed from one scene to the next). Guillermo Del Toro seems like a good choice to take on this project, and this gives me an excuse to re-read The Hobbit!

Don't like to rain on your parade, but it looks like these films could be delayed; apparently the Tolkien estate are taking New Line to court over non-payment of their percentage of the profits, and threatening to withdraw the licensing deal unless they pay up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7240421.stm

Don't like to rain on your parade, but it looks like these films could be delayed; apparently the Tolkien estate are taking New Line to court over non-payment of their percentage of the profits, and threatening to withdraw the licensing deal unless they pay up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7240421.stm<snort>

Why am I unsurprised?

There was uncertainty about Jackson's involvement in The Hobbit for some time because he was suing New Line for non-payment of his share of the profits from the LoTR trilogy.

Typical movie biz, alas: people whose contracts entitle them to a share of the net never see a dime, because somehow, after the accountants are finished, there isn't any net, regardless of how big the grosses were.
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Dennis

Saul Zaentz, who sold New Line the rights to the movie also sued them a couple of years ago. Some of the actors with smaller roles (like Rosie Cotton) also sued a few years ago. Peter Jackson has already been mentioned, and now the Tolkien Estate (which seems to be a charity called the Tolkien Trust) is suing. Sounds like New Line has been doing some creative accounting.

And with the big shake up going on at Time Warner it's possible they may do away with New Line as a separate studio altogether.

I'm afraid I've had to delete a number of posts in this thread. Sexually explicit content, even when meant humourously, really isn't appropriate for MR.

Thanks for your understanding.

Due to the number of inappropriate posts in this thread, this thread has been closed.

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