Neill Blomkamp has yet to be approached for THE HOBBIT

A rumor popped up last week on the Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net claiming that Peter Jackson's protage Neill Blomkamp (District 9) was already set to direct The Hobbit. The speculation was that the official announcement would be made at the upcoming July Comic-Con in San Diego. We didn't run the story at OWF because it just sounded like obvious rumour mongering because of Blomkamp's past history with Jackson (he was chosen to direct Halo for Jackson back in the day, and of course their work together onDistrict 9). Unsurprisingly, the story today has been confirmed as a false starter. Vulture have contacted the director's agency William Morris Endeavor, who said that, "not only is Blomkamp not doing the movie, no one from MGM/United Artists or Warner Bros. has even contacted them about his directing the film." Blomkamp is instead working on an original science fiction script for Media Rights Capital, set to be released sometime in 2011. Entitled Elysium, this film is as secretive as a J.J. Abrams project, though Blomkamp has said that it will take place on an alien planet, with €œmany sociopolitical ideas, wrapped up inside something that is like a Hollywood action film." This sounds remarkably similar to District 9, at least in terms of the mix of science fiction action with a political message. Blomkamp also claims that he doesn€™t want the budget to exceed District 9 by much, allowing him the freedom which would be lost with a larger budget which might encourage studio involvement. If freedom to do his own thing is the intention, perhaps it is for the best that Blomkamp won€™t be directing The Hobbit. After Guillermo del Toro left the project, I have come to consider it highly likely that the final result won€™t be anything nearly as good as what could have been. The fact that del Toro bailed should be a glaring sign that there is something wrong that isn€™t being reported. Whether it is a script issue or a control problem, there had to be a valid reason for del Toro to abandon the work he had already put into the project. Peter Jackson has said that he doesn€™t want to direct because he would be competing with himself. This seems an asinine statement to me; one which could only be made if he knew that The Hobbitwould not live up to the expectations the Lord of the Rings films left fans with. Personally, I think he is underestimating the dedication of a fanbase. When fans of a franchise really want to like something, they manage to find a way to justify the quality of anything related. Just ask George Lucas. If Jackson is looking for someone to do his bidding, a more malleable director, perhaps this would explain why Brett Ratner looks to be a viable option.