LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Director Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc said on Tuesday they have agreed to make two movies based on the book "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien, ending months of legal wrangling.
Jackson, the director of the smash hit "Lord of the Rings" movies, and producer Fran Walsh will executive produce both a "Hobbit" movie and a sequel, but no decision has been made about who will direct the films, Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of New Line told Reuters.
MGM Chairman Harry Sloan, who was credited by all parties for bringing about the deal, said Jackson found it "impossible" to direct the film and meet proposed release dates in 2010 and 2011 due to other projects on which he is now working.
"He can't get it scheduled and he doesn't want the fans to have to wait for the next two movies," Sloan said. He said the studios might postpone the films if Jackson changed his mind.
Jackson's representative could not be reached for comment.
Jackson, Walsh and the studios share approval "on all major creative elements" and will start considering screenwriters and directors in January, Shaye said.
The movies will be made simultaneously in New Zealand, starting in 2009. Industry experts estimated the films would each cost $150 million to $200 million to make, based in part on the $400 million cost of the first three and inflation.
The studios will likely have to negotiate more expensive deals with "Rings" cast members, such as Ian McKellen as Gandalf the wizard, if any of them return for "The Hobbit." But they could save money on special effects that were designed and built for the "Rings" films and could be reused.

Master of ‘Rings’ to Tackle ‘Hobbit'

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: December 19, 2007

LOS ANGELES — Goblins, trolls and dragons were a breeze compared with the caustic clash of egos that kept “The Hobbit” in Hollywood limbo for years. But a settlement announced on Tuesday between Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema holds the promise that peace will break out in Middle Earth and that fans could see the first of two resulting movies by December 2010.





The pact, which two people involved said was worth nearly $40 million to Mr. Jackson, ends years of litigation and acrimonious auditing over his share of the profits from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Those movies grossed $2.9 billion worldwide, made Mr. Jackson’s reputation and vastly enhanced New Line’s stature among the major movie studios.
Though Sam Raimi has stated his interest, it is unclear who will direct the two Hobbit movies, but Mr. Jackson will not. Mr. Jackson and his producing and writing partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, are committed to making “The Lovely Bones” through 2008 and then he is directing “Tintin,” based on the Belgian comic strip, for Steven Spielberg.
But Mr. Jackson and his wife, Ms. Walsh, will be executive producers of the Hobbit films, and they will share with New Line the right to approve all creative elements: director, screenwriter, script, cast, filming location, even the visual-effects company used (as if there were any doubt that his Weta Digital would be chosen). “They can assure that the films will be made with the same level of quality as if they were writing and directing,” Mr. Jackson’s manager, Ken Kamins, said.
Settlement of the litigation freed New Line, which held the rights to make a “Hobbit” movie, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which has distribution rights, to cut a 50-50 financing deal: New Line will make the two films and distribute them domestically, and MGM will distribute them overseas. The untitled sequel is described as bridging the 60-year gap between the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” and the beginning of the “Rings” trilogy.
Despite the treasure involved — or perhaps because of it — the Jackson-New Line marriage grew testy by 2003, when Mr. Jackson began complaining about his share of the profits. New Line paid added bonuses, but Mr. Jackson nonetheless began an audit, which was said to particularly antagonize Bob Shaye, the studio’s co-chairman with Michael Lynne.
Warfare broke into the open in February 2005, when Mr. Jackson sued New Line over his audit, saying the studio was stonewalling his accountants. After Mr. Jackson told fans in a Web posting late last year that New Line had formally dropped him from “The Hobbit,” Mr. Shaye exploded on the Web, “He thinks that we owe him something after we’ve paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars.”
A thaw began some weeks later, Mr. Kamins said, when Mr. Jackson dined at the home of Harry Sloan, the chairman of MGM. It held distribution rights to “The Hobbit” and Mr. Sloan was desperate to get the franchise moving. By May, during the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Shaye joined a multiparty conference call; it was the first time they had spoken in about two years, Mr. Kamins said. “That call created a tone that really lasted into the fall,” he said.
If Mr. Sloan was motivated to spur a deal — he said the “halo effect” alone from “The Hobbit” could help attract talent and financing to MGM — Messrs. Shaye and Lynne of New Line were said to be facing a deadline of their own: their contracts as studio bosses expire in 2008, and the public combat with Mr. Jackson was a cause for frequent criticism. (Mr. Jackson at one point offered his “Lovely Bones” project to every major studio except New Line.)
The studio, meanwhile, has had a run of two years with only two hits, “Rush Hour 3” and “Hairspray.” Its costly “Golden Compass” opened to a disappointing $25.8 million gross in its first weekend.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Shaye admitted that he had taken some aspects of the dispute with Mr. Jackson quite personally, but he and Mr. Lynne insisted they had faced no pressure from above to cut a deal.
Mr. Lynne said, “No one told us we had to resolve it one way or another.”

Ugh. Here we go again. Stupid midget bastard movies, sick of them.

Like I car about some lame dwarf named Dildo playing with some ring.

-HECK!

Nay, nay, nay, them Hobbit movies was cool.

I tried to watch them once and kept falling asleep.

Yeah they were cool. If by cool you mean lame sauce.

My head about exploded that the 3 hour snoozer movies had extended versions with hours of more footage. Is there anything they didn't shoot. 30 hours to show midgets walking to drop a ring in a volcano.

-HECK!

I'm kind of excited, but I'm wondering what the sequel to the Hobbit will be. Was there a sequel other than LOTR? I'm not a pro on this...

Probably that book I can't pronounce or spell, the simerillian.

Don't they still have the sets and stuff from LOTR in New Zealand? I think I remember they do tours and stuff of Hobbiton ...?
Would the same guy play Bilbo?

They are taking The Hobbit, the book, and making it into two movies. Stretching that story for every nerdy penny they can earn.

-HECK!

Lame

You can hear the executives now, wishing they'd split Lord of the Rings into 6 movies.

Aparently they wanted Daniel Radcliffe to play the Hobbit, he has said no, as it's too similar to the Potter movies, with wizards and what-not. But I can't really see him as a Hobbit anyway, wouldn't have been my first choice.

I wish I had four hands, so I can give this movie idea four thumbs down.

Fuck the hobbit. Fuck every hobbit. I did not like any of those faggy hobbit movies. THEY SUCKED.

Seriously, after "taking the ring to the volcano" tell me what the stupid ass movies were about? And use more than 25 words.

Exactly.

-HECK!

1. long
2. ass
3. story
4. about
5. some
6. stupid
7. little
8. people
9. who
10. go
11. on
12. an
13. epic
14. drawn-out
15. journey
16. which
17. the
18. old
19. gay
20. wizard
21. could
22. have
23. done
24. in
25. five
26. minutes

That took 26 words I'm afraid