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Wednesday
29Jul2009

Wait a Minute...'The Hobbit' Hasn't Been Greenlit?

DateWednesday, July 29, 2009 at 9:28PM
Huh? Peter Jackson, who has said as recently as this month that we're a few weeks away from announcing a new Bilbo Baggins for The Hobbit, on the heels of director Guillermo del Toro jumping that schedule up a little bit last month. But now Jackson says the movie may not happen.

Seriously. Kind of.

Of the new Bilbo, Jackson told MTV, "You never go offering a role to an actor until you have a script that they can read, and you also need a schedule so you can tell what dates you need them to work."

Extending that line of logic, Jackson revealed that while the film is in development, it's not a guarantee, in part because the script still has a few weeks of work left:

"We have to deliver that to the studio. They have to read it. They have to like it. They have to agree to a budget. They have to green-light the movie, because we haven't really got a green-light. Everybody assumes that The Hobbit is being made, but the reality is, unless we can write a script that the studio likes and present a budget that they like, there won't be any Hobbit film being made."

Now...we'll still operate under the assumption that this movie will get made. However, remember the squabbling over profits with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's still a fresh wound for New Line and the Tolkien estate, which still may try to block the production of the film. And then there's the crippled studios, most of which had second quarter losses in revenue and/or income.

So, yes, it's more than likely that The Hobbit would be a major hit, but given all of those obstacles and the surprising develpoment that there's no completed script, maybe. Just maybe...

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

Sounds like he's publicly putting some pressure on lazy screen-writers to me.

Thursday, July 30, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterWill

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