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

Betcha Middle-Earth has a magical creature with eyes in its hands that we won't have known about until this movie comes out.

And I for one would be happy to have that around.

There's a quick mention of the Necromancer at the start and end of the book, the end part being Gandalf and Elrond talking in Rivendell about having driven the Necromancer out of Mirkwood but that he's still at loose. So there is a brief explanation but that's it, and it's after the fact, so yeah, it's the lack of information about his departure which makes the story.

(That said -- I can't remember if these details I just mentioned were always in the story or were part of the revisions Tolkien introduced in the second edition done as part of his retconning after LOTR.)

Someone told me yesterday that the Necromancer is actually Sauron. Is this true? I only recall the Necromancer from RPG supplements...

Yes, same character.

I think that's so.

wait, 'pan's labyrinth' is not good?

'pan's labyrinth' is good. greenwood becomes mirkwood due to the creeping penumbra that is sauron reconstituting himself as the necromancer

i think there are people here who don't think pan's labyrinth is good and they are people you can ignore

Feel free to ignore me then! Love, love, love Devil's Backbone but Pan's was just pretty, boring, drivel. I disliked Children of Men too, if that helps your casual dismissal.

yes

An epic Smaug will be great. I still remember Smaug from the animated movie, thinking "Jeez, how are they going to kill THAT guy?" His voice was awesome - "I can hear your breathing. I can smell your breath." Damn!

I, for one, hope they go with an elongated, wyrm style dragon, instead of a shorter, stouter dragon, a la Reign of Fire.

Turns out, I quote the passage about Bard's black arrow whenever I find something I've misplaced - "You have never failed me, and I've always recovered you!"

Especially funny when you've misplaced a cocktail two or three times.

Haha nice. (And yeah that speech of Bard's might actually be Tolkien's best take on epic dialogue.)

Smaug as a character similarly is his best out-and-out evil character, as opposed to the ominous but ultimately near voiceless Sauron and Gollum and his broken psyche. Gives him a chance to create a creature who is nothing but sneering spite and cruelty and needs no other explanation.

His voice was awesome - "I can hear your breathing. I can smell your breath." Damn!

Fuck yes, Richard Boone. I wish he'd lived long enough to do more voice work.

Complications:

I've collected several knowledgeable accounts of what happened during yesterday's multi-hour contentious MGM conference call with bondholders who were "very loud and very upset". Here's why:

The call was for the benefit of the lenders, and MGM management made the presentation along with Stephen F Cooper, that Zolfo Cooper restructure specialist. MGM made a desperate plea for money because the studio had missed its numbers and was going to be out of funds very soon. "The implication was that it's teetering on bankruptcy," one source told me. MGM said it needed $20M in short-term cash flow to cover overhead, and an additional $150 million to get through the end of year and continue funding its projects, and to start Peter Jackson's Hobbit.

The Bond franchise is the other big one under consideration in all this. Comments in the story speculate Warner will swoop in to lock it all down.

(Lock down the Hobbit, not Bond, etc.)

the hobbit would be a much bigger money maker than bond. cost more though I guess.

I guess I just am comfortable with the fact that I read these books decades ago. So if someone wants to make a spectacular $200million fantasy film based on these properties, I'll gladly get high and watch them.

this is the the best outlook on this subject i've read.

these are also more conventional fantasy stories - not nearly as complicated or as much info to try to squeeze in as LotR, so i'm actually more hopeful about these than i was about the Fellowship of the Rings when it was announced. i just hope each one isn't 3 hours long. i really have no patience for long-ass movies.

Thanks for the back-up rockapads. See you in the front row.

have changed outlook from 'not seeing these' to 'will be seeing these but am dreading them'

That's years of dread dude. Bummer.

it's fairly low level stuff, tbh. am coping.

How in the world is MGM 'teetering on bankruptcy'?

Nvmd, this is a dismal looking list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer_films#2008

xpost reparations for those traumatised by stargate

Maybe the MGM managers should go on a magical quest to steal some treasure off a big dragon.

IT WAS NEVER ABOUT THE MONEY U FUK

BAGGINSES' JOB TITLE WAS "THIEF" FFS

you may have something there.

Wow, how did MGM become such garbage?

del Toro's out.

So happy about this. Love this guy's imagination, but he has a knack for making dreck.

Then again, you could do a lot worse. Fingers crossed for Alfonso Cuarón or, why not?, David Gordon Green.

We're not talking about Brett Ratner here. Maybe he's made some stuff you didn't care for but "dreck"? Please to explain...

time to get luc besson on dis ting, about a decade too late imo

cometh the hour, cometh mcg

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.

That was the lulz and best thing in the films, I wouldn't go so far as to say befitting the original conception of this children's book but nothing like the travesty of the barrel sequence, or the rollercoaster in the golbin caves.