The Hobbit
 

Suprisingly no thread for this yet, or it's old enough to not turn up in searches.


Anyways, Del Toro was slated to direct. Then he left the project earlier this month. Now it's being reported that Peter Jackson has decided to fully take over.
So it's gone from good, to bad, to better than before.

Discuss.

Last I heard Jackson wanted to do it in two parts. Is that still the case?

Yea. They wrote two movies.

As of right now it's all written and planned. Del Toro and Jackson wrote together, but MGM's financial problems held things up a bit so Del Toro had to leave.
Now it appears to be going ahead.

I don't think anyone's been cast besides Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis

Which dwarf?

Robin Williams.

love the Hobit. I am a Thorin Oakenshield mark

The one with cancer? Was he in the animated version?

I'm over scenery porn.

Pass.

Just like the books.

Yeah, pretty much.

So they finally got all the problems holding this up worked out. It got the greenlight last week and is far along in pre-production. I think they start filming this winter and it releases in late 2012.
Peter Jackson is directing now, since Del Toro had to leave.

They announced the casting today:

http://images1.fanpop.com/images/ima...29_300_455.jpg
Martin Freeman from the The Office UK as Bilbo

http://www.tvthrong.co.uk/files/u847/gisbourne.jpg
Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield


Also, a bunch of various actors playing Dwarfs and such. I don't think they've said who is voicing Smaug and stuff yet.
Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are back. Hugo Weaving too. No idea on who else is back.

http://www.tvthrong.co.uk/files/u847/gisbourne.jpg

This guy doesn't look like a dwarf.

they're chopping off his legs below the knees so he can live the part

That's what makeup is for. John Rhys Davies wasn't even recognizable outside of his voice, and I would assume the same would go for anyone else

It's a good thing Peter Jackson held onto control or Eddie Murphy would be playing every role

Yeah, I would have hated the scene when Smaug burns LakeTown and a fat black family's farts cause even more damage.

Other cast:

Aiden Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) as Thorin’s nephews Kili and Fili; Graham McTavish (Secretariat, 24) as Dwalin; John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) as Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) as Bombur; Mark Hadlow (King Kong) as Dori; and Peter Hambleton (The Strip) as Gloin.

eddie murphy is the only name i recognize in this thread

Hasn't this film been in the works for ages now?

Thorin is described as being fierce, and aged with a superbly long beard. This should be interesting.

Yeah, but he had this dwarfish look about him.

This guy is too pretty.

What are you saying? That nobody tosses a dwarf's salad?

That's exactly what I'm saying.

Martin Freeman is perfect..

It might be a while longer before they make this film:

THE prospect of losing a two-part, $500 million Lord of the Rings prequel prompted New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to act.

Just four months before principal photography was due to begin, director Peter Jackson warned Thursday that Time Warner's New Line Cinema will move production of the The Hobbit - beset by labour uncertainty - out of the country.

New Zealand Actors' Equity union, which previously called on actors around the world to refuse to work on the film, appeared to back down after Jackson's warning, with Actors' Equity organiser Frances Walsh declaring "industrial issues" no longer a barrier.

After Jackson's comments, Key stepped up his campaign to keep the project on Kiwi soil, The Wall Street Journal reports.

He and members of his government want to meet with Warner executives in New Zealand to discuss what can be done to make sure it does not lose the blockbuster.


According to New Line spokeswoman Candice McDonough, the California-based company has not decided where to make the film. She declined to comment on whether production executives would meet with Key.

"It's really tragic for New Zealand," Key's spokeswoman Jane Fraser-Jones said of the possible loss.

With an economy struggling to shake off the effects of the global financial crisis and a recent earthquake in Christchurch, the country's second-largest city, the government is eager for the investment the film represents.

Some economists estimate that the real economic cost of losing The Hobbit would far exceed the $500 million budgeted to make the film.

Doesn't sound like there's any problem with the production. Just New Zealand trying to convince them to film there.
Is that decision supposed to stall them? Seems like they will decide and get underway regardless.

They started filming!

Much-Maligned The Hobbit Actually Starts Filming
Greg Tito | 21 Mar 2011 5:26 pm
Filed under: greg tito, new zealand, peter jackson, the hobbit
After union disputes, sickness and bankruptcy, The Hobbit production started principal photography today.
Peter Jackson has been trying to get this film made for a bloody long time. He started off just producing the prequel to his blockbuster fantasy The Lord of the Rings with Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro as director. When del Toro couldn't work the filming into his schedule, Jackson offered to step in but the financial troubles at MGM threatened to derail The Hobbit and it took a joint deal between Warner Bros., MGM and New Line to provide the necessary funds. Then, just when it looked like it was moving forward, a union boycott demanding that more roles be offered to New Zealand actors almost forced production to move to Europe or another location. Finally, Peter Jackson himself had to be hospitalized with a perforated ulcer. Despite all the troubles, The Hobbit, which will be told over two films, began capturing images on celluloid today under Jackson's direction.

http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/gl...v/50/50868.jpg
http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/gl...v/50/50870.jpg



The film stars Martin Freeman (The Office, Sherlock) as Bilbo Baggins journeying with a group of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield, played by British TV veteran Richard Armitage. Returning from The Lord of the Rings is Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Elijah Wood as Frodo. Also returning is Ian McKellen as Gandalf, the actor having confirmed that he will reprise his role in the new movies.
Despite the good news that Jackson has begun shooting, we fans still have a long time to wait as the planned release dates are 2012 and 2013. I'm still quite interested in the framing element of Frodo reading the story of his adoptive father's exploits from the Red Book of Westmarch. I think it will really bring the disparate elements not only of The Hobbit but also Tolkien's amazingly in-depth source material and backstory.
Ya, I can't wait.
Source: Warner Bros. PR

Looking forward to this.

Fuck Frodo.

Read The Hobbit.

Finally :love:

Wait, was Galadriel in The Hobbit? I can understand a young Frodo but even that is a bit of a stretch.