Sir Ian McKellan has wrote on his personal website about his thoughts on the revelation this week that Peter Jackson would not be returning to middle earth to direct The Hobbit. This is what he had to say... "I'm very sad as I should have relished revisiting middle Earth with Peter again as team-leader. It's hard to imagine any other director matching his achievement in Tolkien country" Absolutely agree with that. It really is unimaginable to think of anyone else doing a Tolkien adaptation. He went on... "We will have to await developments but being an optimist I am hoping that New Line, MGM and Wingnut can settle outstanding problems so that the long expected 'Hobbit' is filmed sooner rather than later," So Ian McKellan wants in to reprise his role of Gandalf that seems clear, even if it's unfortunate that Peter Jackson won't be helming. So the hunt is on for a new director, which means that we are probably going to be subjected to TONS of speculation about who is to take over on The Hobbit over the next few weeks/months. Theonering.net are reporting that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi has been swiftly offered the chance to direct the Tolkien adaptation which would make sense for a couple of reasons.... 1) great storyteller and has an eye for visuals like no other (Spider-Man, Evil Dead) 2) can work big movie projects (Spider-Man 1-3) 3) has worked in New Zealand before (he worked on Xena Warrior Princess and Hercules there) 4) has a similar background in movie making to Jackson (very low budget before hitting mainstream). IF there is to be a Hobbit movie without Jackson, then Raimi is about as good a choice as any. I love what he has done with the Spider-Man franchise, and I really enjoy his earlier work on The Evil Dead and even his 90's work on The Quick and the Dead. But for now, I would put this in the rumour pile. source - theonering.net, iesb