A J.R.R. Tolkien film without director/producer Peter Jackson at the helm? The thought incited fans to protest after New Line Cinema announced that it would move on with plans to produce a feature adaptation of The Hobbit without the New Zealand filmmaker who made the hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, Jackson may get his chance to make the movie after all.
Recently interviewed for German website Elbenwald.de, Saul Zaentz, who owns Tolkien Enterprises, said he wants to make The Hobbit with Jackson when the rights revert back to the Saul Zaentz Co. next year. Zaantz acquired rights to Tolkien’s works in 1976 and produced the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, which Ralph Bakshi directed.
In the interview, Zaentz said he’s confident that Jackson would choose to work with him rather than New Line. Jackson and New Line had a falling out when the filmmaker took the studio to court over profits he claims he was supposed to receive from the Lord of the Rings films.
First published in 1937, The Hobbit is a prequel of sorts to Lord of the Rings books. The tome follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins as he travels Middle-Earth with great wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves on a quest to retrieve a treasure stolen by the dragon Smaug.
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