The Hobbit (film series)

From Tolkien Gateway

New Line Cinema and MGM announced on December 18th, 2007 that two films based on The Hobbit, "'The Hobbit' and its sequel" will be made immediately and shot simultaneously, with principal photography to take place in 2009, and a release date of 2010 and 2011. New Line Cinema has also announced the litigation between Peter Jackson and them has been settled. New Line Cinema has started an "Official Movie Blog" for the films at TheHobbitBlog.com.

The Hobbit film

The Hobbit film, set to be released in 2010 and will cover the events in The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins and Thorin and Company set forth to the Lonely Mountain.

Sequel

Little is known about the sequel to The Hobbit film aside from it will be filmed at the same time as the first film, and has a release date of 2011. The film is assumed to portray events after The Hobbit, but before The Fellowship of the Ring, drawing extensively from material in the Appendices found at the end of The Return of the King (leading some to dub it the "Appendix movie"). According to a web chat which Jackson and del Toro had with fans, the story could take place during the events of the Hobbit; this is because Gandalf continually disappears in the book. Jackson said "Those gaps are great! There's a lot of stuff going on, which is distracting him"; this is indicates that the story may focus on the White Council's attack on Dol Guldur.

Possible focuses:

  • The White Council meets to discuss The Necromancer
  • The White Council attack The Necromancer’s stronghold at Dol Guldur. Sauron abandons Dol Guldur and takes up residence in Mordor.
  • Gollum leaves the mountain, searching for the “thief” Baggins.
  • Sauron declared himself openly, starting to gather power to Mordor.
  • Aragorn and Arwen's love story.
  • Aragorn's ascent from a young man first meeting Arwen into a seasoned traveler and warrior, meeting Gandalf, and his career in Gondor under the pseudonym "Thorongil" driving back an invasion by the Corsairs of Umbar.
  • Aragorn searches the wilds for Gollum.

Confirmed people involved

Unconfirmed people involved

Locations

  • Scouting for locations for the films has already begun. [2]
  • Pre-production on recreating the Shire and planting foliage will begin this summer [3]

Special effects

Weta will continue their role in handling the special effects. Del Toro has stated he wishes to focus more on animatronics for the films.

"The only thing I will be pushing for more in these films that the other three are full animatronics and animatronic creatures enhanced with CGI, as opposed to CGI creatures themselves. We really want to take the state-of-the-art animatronics and take a leap ten years into the future with the technology we will develop for the creatures in the movie. We have every intention to do for animatronics and special effects what the other films did for virtual reality."
― Guillermo del Toro [4]

Issues concerning production

The Hobbit as a movie has been anticipated by many fans since the release of the movie trilogy, even before pre-production began there has been and are currently issues which could delay the production of Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit. In early 2005 it came to the public attention that Peter Jackson was suing New Line Cinema. [5] This casted doubt on whether the Hobbit movie would ever happen, Jackson later told fans that due to the dispute, that he would not direct or produce the film. [6] However in late 2007 it was confirmed that Jackson would not direct, but would be an executive producer for two Hobbit movies.[7] It was later announced that Guillermo del Toro will direct the films, and that Jackson will be an active 'executive producer' with the possibility that he would help direct some scenes if necessary.[8]

In May 2008 it was reported that Christopher Tolkien would ask "for 'one last crusade' against the film's producers in his long-running legal battle over money owed for the Lord Of The Rings movies."[9] On June 6 2008 it was schedueled for him to go before a Californian judge to ask to "terminate" film rights to The Hobbit. The trial has not yet conclude and will continue on October 19, 2009; with two status conferences scheduled before then. Please note that, based on the latest information, it appears likely now that this lawsuit will not affect the production of the Hobbit movie.

See also

External links