Peter Jackson will not direct "The Hobbit"

This is very bad news in my opinion. I'm sure there are a fair few high calibre directors who could do the book justice, but the stylistic differences will be very prominent. Also, no WETA doing the special effects, and I wonder whether this will affect any of the LOTR cast reprising their roles

Maybe they will hire Michael Bay

On a slightly brighter note, it does seem that there are 2 more Tolkien based films in the works, possibly 3 if they split the Hobbit into 2 movies.

Anyway, here's the link: http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1163993546

No director can do the books justice like Jackson, and it doesn't matter how many films they will make if he isn't directing them. I'm very upset and disgusted by this news, and rest assured I won't be seeing whatever crock they put out without Jackson at the helm. If they have any scruples WETA, McKellen, Serkis, Weaving and Howard Shore won't join either, and then the whole thing will really be revealed for the pile of crap its destined to be now. How can New Line be as treacherous as this? I mean even if you don't like the films you could clearly see the effort Jackson put into them and to not be able to conclude them is a travesty for him, his production team and every fan worldwide.

I just hope the uproar will cause New Line to change their minds before its too late.

Last I heard, the movie rights were stuck in legal limbo. I doubt that'll get resolved any time soon. Just pray we don't see Uwe Boll directing it.

Personally I don't think any director can do the book justice. It's too much of a romantic fairytale, the Hobbit. We don't want it spoilt! (Like Troy spoilt the Iliad and the Aeneis in an unspeakable manner: can I now read "Achilles" without seeing Brad Pitt's robust facial structure before me? Ugh. )

I'm more than a little disappointed to see this, but if you really think about it, you can understand Jacksons position - he doesn't really want to become (even if perhaps, he already has?) known only for his work on the Lord of the Rings or, potentially the "Tolkien universe". Personally I'm glad he's not (for the moment) taking part in the shambolic mess that the Halo movie will be.

I was going to dedicated a whole thread to this, but I believe anyone, Jackson fan or critic, should watch this: http://www.jonhs.net/freemovies/bad_taste.htm

Prepare to have your opinions of the man change forever

Originally Posted by Stalins Ghost

I'm more than a little disappointed to see this, but if you really think about it, you can understand Jacksons position - he doesn't really want to become (even if perhaps, he already has?) known only for his work on the Lord of the Rings or, potentially the "Tolkien universe".

Actually it's not because he doesn't want to only be known as the Director of Tolkien movies that he won't be doing 'Hobbit', it's because he and New Line are in a financial dispute and are battling it out in court.

"In a letter posted on a Lord of the Rings Web site, Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said a top executive from Los Angeles-based New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" movie without Jackson.

"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson's manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel,"' Jackson wrote.

"This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," he added. New Line Cinema holds the rights to produce "The Hobbit," and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer the rights to distribute it.

A spokesman from Wingnut Films, Jackson's production company in the New Zealand capital, confirmed to local media Wednesday that the letter was genuine. He spoke on his standard condition he not be named.

The announcement comes amid an ongoing dispute between Jackson's Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema over the amount Jackson was paid for "The Fellowship of the Ring," including DVD payments. " From ctv.ca

So really it's all about Peter Jackson believing he was short changed by New Line Cinema. Kind of naive of him to believe he could sue the company and still remain in good graces with them.

I'm pretty sure another director could do the movie well. Ya'll keep talking about giving the book justice when Jackson changed and added in some stupid things into the movies. I think The Hobbit is the easiest of them all to keep to the book since it is more of a kids' tale. I'm not too let down. I'm sure New Line Cinema, even if they don't use Jackson, won't screw it up because if they did there would be way too many nerds that would hate them forever. Besides, the movies ruined the books for me. As soon as things get popular they get crappy. Just like Borat...stupid pop-culture...

I'm pretty sure another director could do the movie well. Ya'll keep talking about giving the book justice when Jackson changed and added in some stupid things into the movies.

Amen to that Jackson did a decent job with the Fellowship of the Ring, but frankly he and his team were out to lunch in the second and just stopped caring in the third movie.

Huh?? Some people will never be happy with anyone doing the lotr trilogy, no matter how good it was. Imo Jackson did one hell of a job considering the size and scope of Tolkiens books. Do you guys have any idea whatsoever how completely :wub: those movies could have been?

PT made some choices I disagreed with for sure, but the overall project was great. We could nitpick the movies all we want, but the bottom line is that through some miracle we had a FAN of Tolkien making those films, and it showed. He spent years making those movies because he loved the material just like we do.

The Hobbit has always been my favorite, and I always had a decent feeling that if PT ever made it, it would be a fine adaptation. Now all that is out the window, and most likely, the studios are going to just rip out a movie as fast as they can get it made. They feel that Jackson's lotr trilogy has already laid the foundation so now they can get away with anything, and they will most likely will.

Without Jackson, The Hobbit has about a 90% chance of being totally raped. Now with this "timeline" they have to make the film, we should all be very very scared. Just hire Michael Bay and get it over already. *shiver*

Then again this could all be a clever trick on Jackson's part, releasing that statement, the internet community is already steamed about this, it could force those a-holes into re-thinking this obviously stupid move.

Just my 2 cents

Originally Posted by conon394

Amen to that Jackson did a decent job with the Fellowship of the Ring, but frankly he and his team were out to lunch in the second and just stopped caring in the third movie.

I totally agree. Gollum carried The Two Towers and Return of the King was just...mediocre. Sure, the battles were cool, although unrealistic (which is weird because Tolkein knew about warfare quite a lot, having served during WWI), the movie was too long, and Denethor was made to seem like a totally evil guy which wasn't what it was like in the book, at least in my opinion.

Originally Posted by conon394

Amen to that Jackson did a decent job with the Fellowship of the Ring, but frankly he and his team were out to lunch in the second and just stopped caring in the third movie.

They were made all at once over a two year span. It was quite an epic undertaking, with most of the actors even getting lord of the rings tattoos to commemorate it. Not that I care, it was all watered down kiddie fluff anyhow. Counting the enemy as you kill them? Come on. Little ******y hobbits dancing around *spew*. Fantasy in general is so wimpified these days. Nothing beats Conan, either the originals by Howard, the movies by Delaurentis, or the old SSOC's.
The hobbit could do with a good old school director, who makes ample use of blood bags and can do the last battle against the dragon justice. I better run now as the vast army of nerds throw their pen protectors and star trek pins at me

The Hobbit won't be as good without Peter Jackson. It would lack the imagination he brought to the Lord of The Rings Flims

WOW Im TOTALLY In shock there's ppl who either dont like the LOTR trilogy or think they were mediocre??? :hmmm:

Personally, I preferred the hobbit to LOTR. The latter went on and on and on and meandered on uninteresting things. The film was better than the book in my opinion.

I dont know if any of you are interested in this but ill post the link someone sent me today its basicaly a petition saying you want him involved

http://www.petitiononline.com/hobnow/petition.html

Both the book and the films are amongst my all time favourites. However I did find a lot of the films simply too dark, especially during the all important battle scenes. Usually this happens for low budget productions when the producer is trying to conceal a minimal amount of extras and special effects, but this can hardly have been the case with this multi million pound production. Maybe it was felt it would make it more moody and dramatic, but it just caused me to lose track of the action at times. The film musical scores were magnificent however especially Annie Lennox singing "Into the West". The ancient Celts believed that their souls travelled to the western horizon towards the setting sun and this I think matched completely Tolkien's vision in the ending.

This is a great pity though. Hope that Peter Jackson does not go the way of many actors who quit for fear of being typecast never to be seen or heard of again.

Hmmm I have trouble imagining someone more suitable to directing The Hobbit than Peter Jackson... this is not good.

Too bad, hopefully it will still be created. I heard he also wasn't doing the new halo movie too.

I'm not dissaponted that Peter Jackson does not direct 'The Hobbit'.

I hope that the new director would follow more intrigue of the book and does not include something that is not seen in the book as Peter Jackson did few times in the movies.

Peter Jackson is a great director but I don't give him a credit that he created events outside the books for his movie.

Rejoyce if this is true, and it seems to be.

From IMDB

As Lord of the Rings fans mounted a protest following word that New Line had dropped Peter Jackson from consideration as director of The Hobbit and another Lord of the Rings prequel, producer Saul Zaentz has given assurances that Jackson will indeed direct the two films. A German website, Elbenwald.de, posted an interview with Zaentz, who acquired the rights to the works of the late Rings writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, in 1976 (the Saul Zaentz Company owns Tolkien Enterprises), in which Zaentz says, "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson. ... Next year The Hobbit rights will fall back to my company. I suppose that Peter will wait because he knows that he will make the best deal with us. And he is fed up with the studios: to get his profit share on the Rings trilogy he had to sue New Line. With us, in contrast, he knows that he will be paid fairly and artistically supported without reservation." (The preceding quotation is a translation that appeared on TheHobbit-Movie.com from the German interview posted on Elbenwald.de.)