GdT and The Hobbit

[WarBlade]

News of a Hobbit movie with Guillermo del Toro's name circling around the future director's chair seems to be popping up more and more with every passing day these days.

He's left an extended riddle both on TheOneRing.net as well as on the Hellboy II forums...

http://newboards.theonering.net/forum/gf...post=89411

A riddle for you all-

Half familiar, half unknown.

A thing it is, ¨It almost is-¨

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

The day of the moon will be
when all is revealed to thee
Questions will cease
Answers will please
We´ll learn of the Shire
and all you desire.

At ten minus Three.
Joining to be
Ten minus Eight
Add to the slate
of the two dozen princes
that die without winces.
And add to each day of
the week.

He teases us. Yes he does Precious.

[Occhidiangela]

News of a Hobbit movie with Guillermo del Toro's name circling around the future director's chair seems to be popping up more and more with every passing day these days.

He's left an extended riddle both on TheOneRing.net as well as on the Hellboy II forums...

http://newboards.theonering.net/forum/gf...post=89411
He teases us. Yes he does Precious.
[/size][/font]

A riddle for you all-

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Time.

[size=2]The day of the moon will be
when all is revealed to thee

[/size]ON a Monday the news will come out.

Questions will cease
Answers will please
We´ll learn of the Shire
and all you desire.

Great news for fans.

[size=2]At ten minus Three.
Joining to be
Ten minus Eight
Add to the slate

[/size]
Seven and two, I guess two different announcements.

[size=2]of the two dozen princes
that die without winces.

[/size]
Blackbirds, missing the ref.

And add to each day of
the week.

Mini series.

Probably wrong.

Occhi

[WarBlade]

The widely anticipated announcement has been made...

http://www.variety.com/VR1117984595.html

Guillermo del Toro to direct 'Hobbit'

Filmmaker signs on helm feature and sequel

By DAVE MCNARY



In a major step forward on “The Hobbit,” Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel.The widely expected announcement -- which had been rumored for several weeks -- came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers [url=javascript:zodInfuser.FillDescriptions('Peter Jackson');]Peter Jackson[/url] and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide [url=javascript:zodInfuser.FillDescriptions('Motion Picture Group');]Motion Picture Group[/url].

Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.

Del Toro won’t leave for New Zealand immediately as he’s still in post-production on U’s “Hellboy 2,” due out in July. His previous pic, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” was released through New Line’s Picturehouse and set a record as the highest grossing Spanish language film in U.S. box office history.

The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over “The Lord of the Rings” and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” into two live-action films. Sam Raimi had been preceived as the initial front-runner as director but Del Toro had emerged in recent months as the likely candidate.

The studios didn’t give a start date on production and don’t yet have a script. Though no screenplay deal’s been set, it’s expected that the “LOTR” scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro.

With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it’s likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012.

Jackson’s WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities -- built for “The Lord of the Rings” -- will be used for both films. And New Zealand will again be the site of Middle-earth, with the story centering on Bilbo Baggins taking the Ring of Power from Gollum.

[Dr.Disaster]

I wonder who'll bent his mind to come up with a Tolkien-worthy plot for the second movie. After all they must not reveal that Bilbo has the One Ring until his 111st birthday.

[FoxBat]

I would surmise that they're splitting The Hobbit up into two manageable movies instead of putting people through 3-4 hours again. (And hey, why NOT make more ticket money on half the movie...) If they try to concot an actual sequel, it will be forgotten faster than The Lost World.

[WarBlade]

From what I've read so far the indications are that the first movie will be an adaptation of the book we know and love. Sources indicate that the second movie will be looking more at the missing period of history between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Having said that, everything I've read so far looks pretty vague.

That idea for the second movie puzzles me. Initially when I read about a two-movie plan I thought that there would be a split of The Hobbit into two films, but I can't see where one would effectively break the story. Now I'm scratching my head over all the events that take place in that period of history after Smaug is slain...

A flashback to the assault on Dol Guldur to keep Sauron's attention away from Erebor? Possibly.
Gollum seeking the ring, Gandalf seeking Gollum? Probably.
Aragorn as a child? Aragorn/rangers set to watch over hobbit lands as Gandalf's suspicions about the One Ring grow? I don't know.

It seems to me that there are a lot of interconnecting events that could emerge, but I can't really picture one cohesive story yet.

[FoxBat]

That's about the worst idea ever. Shame they have to mlik the series dry and go out on a sour note.

[WarBlade]

An overview of this weekend's online chat with Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson is now up on TheOneRing.net.

Read on

[WarBlade]

The director shares a few thoughts on Smaug.