I love LORD OF THE RINGS, the most perfect trilogy ever created on screen. What Peter Jackson did with Tolkien's work was the pinnacle of big budget fantasy film-making, and the only 10 hours of any universe I have literally sat down and watched in one full day. When you watch those extra's on the DVD's of those incredible movies you can see how much work and effort was put in my the hundreds of crew members working on the picture, all of them knowing that opportunities to work on something as special as this do not come around very often.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS is to the youth of today what the original STAR WARS movies were for each and everyone one of us. I wouldn't be blogging today if it wasn't for STAR WARS (probably, anyway), and just how many writers of the future grew up with Middle-Earth? You all know last week I went to see the ridiculously expensive LORD OF THE RINGS musical in London as a Christmas gift to my girlfriend. It's a pretty cool production, at one point there's that huge spider brought to life on stage which had the women next to be screaming for her life and although it was great. I came out of it hoping to soon hear news that THE HOBBIT was edging closer to be made. And folks today it has. And in a rare feat in Hollywood, we are getting exactly the man we want...
The Hollywood Reporter carry what is probably the most exciting news I've ever had to cover on Obsessed With Film. THE HOBBIT is being translated into two BACK-to-BACK film productions first hitting our cinema's in 2010 and then 2011. Del Toro will be directing the two massive $150 million films based on THE HOBBIT for New Line and MGM, and for me it's peanuts compared to the billions that Del Toro and Peter Jackson (who is over-seeing it) will recoup on this thing. It would seem that the two movies will be an extended version of THE HOBBIT tale and not one movie, and then an abridged film with THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING as we previously thought. Del Toro's CV is far stronger than any other director in this genre with his productions of HELLBOY and especially the fantastical and awe-inspiring PAN'S LABYRINTH. And let us not forget that Tolkien's book is so rich and beloved, one of the most famous books ever written that has yet to be made into a film. The only thing stopping this production at the moment is the WGA strike, so no-one has been tapped up to pen the script at this time. Del Toro and Jackson will be working as supervisors on the script, no doubt having the final say once a draft is handed in. If not Jackson, then del Toro had to be our firm second choice... and I bet there's a few who would actually take del Toro over Jackson. Guillermo seems hungrier than any other film-maker out there. He's hungry for success, hungry to make epic pictures and tell his stories with the fantastical creatures he comes up with. Can you just imagine the world he is going to create here? He's gonna have fun with Doug Jones... and then his Smaug. Wow, I can't wait. Are we happy about this? Surely we are. We got what we wanted! Although is THE HOBBIT worthy of a 5 hour + epic that this will probably be?