Christmas Present for Tolkien Fans

There's some good new for fans of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films. The Daily Mail has reported that Jackson and New Line Cinema have agreed to work together in making J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The Hobbit, which is often referred to as a "prequel" to the LOTR, was actually Tolkien's first commercially successful book. The success of The Hobbit resulted in Tolkien writing what some consider to be the greatest novel of the 20th Century.

Jackson and New Line settled their lawsuit over the proceeds from the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring and worked out a deal with MGM Studios in order to clear the way for making a film version of The Hobbit. Jackson, who directed the three LOTR films, will be the executive producer this time around. The director has not yet been named. As I have long suspected given the success of the LOTR films, The Hobbit will actually be two films and will be shot simultaneously, in the same way Jackson shot the three films for the LOTR. Let's face it. There's too much money to be made to only make one film.

With Peter Jackson on board, the odds of Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and Andy Serkis reprising their roles has greatly increased. Tolkien fans will note that the characters played by a couple of these actors do not appear in the book, The Hobbit. However, we are talking about the film, The Hobbit. I doubt Hollywood will have too much cognitive dissonance over that minor point. As many Tolkien fans found out with the LOTR films, the movie ticket isn't the only price you pay for seeing Professor Tolkien's world on the big screen.

UPDATE:

There is a website that has been set up by the film-makers in order to keep fans updated on the latest news regarding The Hobbit film.