Filmmaker Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema co-CEO Bob Shaye have buried the hatchet and are finally set to work together on a big-screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. New Line and MGM will co-finance and co-distribute The Hobbit, as well as a sequel yet to be titled. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will handle international deployment.
Having settled all litigation against New Line relating to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson and his Wingnut Films co-producer, Fran Walsh, will serve as executive producers on the two fantasy pics, which will be shot simultaneously with New Line managing production. Pre-production is slated to start soon, with principal photography tentatively set to start in 2009. New Line and MGM are looking to release the first movie in 2010, with the second following in 2011.
‘I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line,’ says Jackson. ‘The Lord of the Rings is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael [Lynne], and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank [MGM chairman and CEO] Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”
‘Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making The Hobbit,” adds Sloan. ‘Now that we are all in agreement on The Hobbit, we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.’
New Line’s attempt at launching a fantasy film franchise based on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books is proving to be a very expensive miscalculation. The first movie, The Golden Compass, opened to just $25.7 million domestically and saw a steep drop-off in attendance in its second weekend. It’s no wonder the studio is eager to travel back to Middle-Earth with Jackson, considering the Lord of the Rings trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide and garnered a multitude of Academy Awards. For more information about the Hobbit films, go to www.TheHobbitBlog.com.
