The Hobbit films, previously to be directed by Guillermo del Toro and now to be directed by Peter Jackson again.

up and coming s spielberg should probably get a chance at a big franchise

It's all down to the basket case that is MGM and the extended unsureness around finally resolving a sale so they could get the funding locked in. Personally I'm pretty bummed about this, I think he would have done wonders. Jackson's indicated he's not directing so hmm. Might be interesting to see if he looks at home for someone; it would actually make a little more sense given his often-stated desire to continue developing NZ's film industry as a whole.

yeah jeez del toro is perfect

o shi: JOHN BOORMAN

The main story on this:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/05/30/36920-guillermo-del-toro-departs-the-hobbit/#more-36920

i know these guys are rich and all but i do feel bad for people in such an all-or-nothing business that they can work on pre-production on something for a couple years and then just have it all go up in smoke like this

Maybe he's made some stuff you didn't care for but "dreck"? Please to explain...

The two Hell Boy movies are pretty much my archetype of "cool design", "neat story and characters", "wow is that a shitty finished movie".

^ OTM OTM OTM

i wonder if his Hobbit movies would've had neat stories and characters.

And let's not forget Blade 2

would've been pretty easy to snort "lol The Frighteners" a decade ago too

yes, yes it would.

I dunno: Frighteners felt promising, not quite the movie Jackson seemed to want to make. Whereas del Toro's failures just feel like he sorta sucks. (I enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth until the ending.)

it turns out middle earth was just a figment of a little girl's imagination

Dreamed by a dog on an island.

the little fat beardy girl forgot about tom bombadil, but misremembered in some fucking werewolves in the second film iirc

The above assessments of Del Toro OTM, but damn this could get a lot worse. Scared to hear the next name.

Michael Winterbottom-

Dwarf-orgy (hardcore, obv) followed by prolonged and explicit killing of an actual dragon.

Boorman would be dope actually. Too old now, I suspect.

Haha I've got it-- Von Trier!

was tryin to think of van trier tbh

David Lynch. He did Dune, so why not?

He did Dune

as long as it isn't peter jackson

Good point. xpost

Re del Toro dreck: I liked both Hellboy movies, Pans Labyrinth...he has a great 'fairytale sensibility' imo ...am bummed he's off this.

Just watched Adventures of Baron Munchausen....god Gilliam could make an awesome Hobbit (assuming Gilliam wasn't Gilliam and could bring it in on time, in budget, &c...that is to say, so not gonna happen)

Pretty good summary post on what the background all was:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/05/guillermo-del-toro-hobbit-mgm-peter-jackson-quits-baggins.html

See also the past six months of MGM commentary over at Nikki Finke's site.

If there's one message that "Inside Job," Charles Ferguson's new documentary about the financial crisis, imparts to audiences, it's that even the most far-flung factors can give rise to serious real-world consequences.

On Sunday an object lesson in that truism hit the film world, as fan boys and the rest of us suddenly found ourselves the unexpected victims of Wall Street woolliness.

CHILLING. really brings it all home. "can't happen here" much??

I learned it all from you, s1ocki! Oh wait wrong moral lesson.

If anything I'm betting McKellen's out now as Gandalf; he'd already said he would be involved only if he didn't have to commit for another long back-and-forth period to NZ and I don't think anyone would blame him if he bowed out.

i really can't see how this can possibly happen now unless they just completely hand it over to another studio

Well the only reason why this has to do with MGM at all is the extremely bizarre rights situation, which came about thanks to, of all things, that Rankin-Bass animated Hobbit talked about upthread. Ever since the seventies when Saul Zaentz -- who I think still has final say as original rightsholder, but I could be wrong -- split the difference between the Rankin-Bass TV projects and the Bakshi movie there's been no one overall Tolkien film rights package, and the making of that earlier Hobbit created a situation that eventually resulted in MGM having a say in the matter instead of it just being New Line/Warners straight up. It's one reason why Warners went ahead and put in the bid to take it over but MGM's creditors didn't accept that and etc. etc. here we are today.

Actually looking over at Finke (though the story is by Mike Fleming) there's this:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/del-toro-leaves-the-hobbit-and-evidently-peter-jackson-wont-be-next/

...which mentions that Sam Raimi had initially wanted the directing job. So maybe him?

Some 'where it stands' stuff from that story:

It seems particularly unfortunate that after putting years into writing scripts and making endless trips to New Zealand, del Toro would depart solely because of the MGM situation. That rationale only came up recently, after del Toro completed two scripts with the original Lord of the Rings writing team of Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh. They'd just begun talking about shooting in 3D. If MGM is really the sole reason, that's too bad because there are signs that things are going to happen soon to decide the ultimate ownership of The Hobbit and other assets. Clearly the fact that the studio -- and a talented production and marketing team -- has been frozen in suspended animation has been as much an albatross around The Hobbit as it has been for the James Bond series. But everybody is happy with the two Hobbit scripts and all involved still expect production to start late this year or early next year--it will have to, if New Line and MGM are to get the pictures in theaters December, 2012 and December, 2013. This franchise is too valuable to let languish much longer and the debt holders of MGM won't be happy when they realize that the director has walked because they've allowed things to fester so long and handcuffed the executives brought in under Harry Sloan to turn things around.

Though under financial duress, MGM has continued to meet its rights payment obligations on The Hobbit, but hasn't been able to do any more than that. Warner Bros is the lead studio on the project, and has ultimate say on green light, but perhaps the films are too large an investment to front alone, or that prospect doesn't benefit the leverage Warner Bros has in a potential buyout of MGM's assets. Rumblings are that there may well be a new player entering the fray shortly, bringing equity and new experienced management. Summit Entertainment and Spyglass are the names most often mentioned, though we also hear Terry Semel and Peter Chernin, the latter of whom reportedly doesn't want it.

Everyone knows that at the end of the day it'll be the dude that did "Transporter"/"Incredible Hulk," or Joe Johnston, or some other competent hack that can bring this in quickly and on-budget - hell, even Ratner or McG - because Hobbit movie = movie that really does not need to be made. After all this dithering, I imagine they want to just get it done (in 3-D, natch) and over with.

If anything I'm betting McKellen's out now as Gandalf

This'll be an absolute laughing stock if this turns out to be the case.

McKellen's been "out" for a while now, I thought.

I make the bad jokes so you don't have to!

And they are appreciated.

LOL one of the projects Del Toro now returns to is a Dan Simmons adaptation. That's more his speed if you ask me. Dude is a visual wizard but makes empty films.

Between those two articles the outlook sounds pretty bad. Cuaron or Raimi could do it IMO.

"Dude is a visual wizard but makes empty films."

Is angst-ridden Bilbo with rich interior life appropriate for The Hobbit?

Well I mean empty in the sense of leaving you with nothing afterward. Surely this film should have feeling of some sort.

That's because of his scripts, though. Which wouldn't have been a problem on The Hobbit.

He did co-write it, and they are using those scripts, but Jackson/Boyens being the other 2/3rds is probably safeguard enough. Del Toro strikes me as someone who could really shine in collaboration, actually. His movies come CLOSE to hitting the mark.

Pan's Labyrinth is great. I'm under the impression The Devil's Backbone is too, though I have yet to see it.

TDB is the best thing he's done, though I'm also inordinately fond of Hellboy II.

his more popcorn movies aren't that great, although i wish they were (first 30 mins of hellboy 1 is awesome tho). his more personal arty ones are better.

I tried so hard with those Hellboys.

they should get jodorowsky to direct and turn it into a 10hr epic w music by pink floyd

I thought the character relationships in the second one rang true and were even quite affecting. The production design was not just gorgeous, but also incredibly full of personality. Add great action scenes, and what's not to like?

xpost re Hellboys

the action scenes were lifeless horrible eesh

2nd Hellboy was a major buzzkill to me, lame story/villain and some of the most painful attempts at snappy banter ever. one of those rare movies that would've been improved by the auteur farming out some of the script to a more formulaic Hollywood hack.