It’s now official: The Lord of the Rings screenwriting team of Peter Jackson (pictured), Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens will join The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro to pen the screenplay for the two planned Hobbit movies. Sources tell EW.com that the scribes’ deals are all complete and they have already begun writing. (With shooting scheduled to begin Fall 2009, at the earliest, in New Zealand, the quartet better get busy!) The Hobbit will center on Frodo’s uncle, Bilbo Baggins, and his initial discovery of the immensely-powerful ring. New Line and MGM plan to release the two films Christmas 2011 and Christmas 2012.
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens join Guillermo Del Toro penning 'The Hobbit'
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And so it was that the world let out a collective nerd-gasm.
Amen.
Hooray, some good news in the wake of the Harry Potter movie delay debacle. Now we’re guaranteed to have a faithful version of this book on film. Just a tiny request from a humble fan: please bring Viggo and Orlando back to join Ian McKellan in reprising their roles. PLEASE!!!!
*** Hey, Legolas Greenleaf ***
How can you be looking for a faithful version of the book, and also want Legolas & Aragorn in the movie, who aren’t in The Hobbit? But Elrond (Hugo Weaving!) is.
Nerds, nerds, nerds, nerds!
Whoo hoo! I’m so excited, I don’t know how I’ll possibly wait until 2011… I wonder if it’s too late to start a career in something related to movie-making so I can go join them…?
Spenner, I think he’s talking about the second movie, which happens between The Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy
as long as legolas doesn’t surf on a shield through any battles, yay…though the more I think of it, the more I remember that the screenplay adaptation was actually my least favorite thing about the LotR movies…but whatever! I refuse to be picky fanboy! yay!
The second movie, the in-between one, is a great idea! All the outline is there, in appendices and backstory told by (as I remember) Gandalf. Aragorn would absolutely be part of it – the hunt for Gollum – as well as lot of other familiar characters including the Elves from Lothlorien. Legolas and others would be a little harder to explain given that they are apparently meeting for the first time at the Council of Elrond.
Spenne: LOTR borrowed from other sources. There was dialogue and set pieces that came from work outside of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ or took from the appendices. Nearly all of Aragorn’s romance with Arwen was drawn from Tolkien’s appendices and retroactively inserted into the Ring narrative. A similar ploy could be used to bring Aragorn back for Bilbo’s journey (or, perhaps more appropriately, to surround and follow Bilbo’s journey), since Tolkien provided an extensive backstory for the once and future king of Middle Earth in his other writings. And Thranduil figures in The Hobbit, so a cameo by Orlando as Legolas is not unreasonable. You killjoy.
Jackson himself commented on some of these potential plot lines in an interview last September with AICN, where he talked about how he’d “love to work with Viggo again [possibly by having] Aragorn protecting the Shire.”
If they keep it true to Tolkien’s works (even his lesser known works and appendices), I’ll be happy. But don’t rewrite too much of it. The stories were all brilliant in print once–it can be as well on celluloid.
I’m really frakkin’ happy about this.
Oh, crap. I better stay away from my Tolkien sites now; the outrage over this development will hurt my brain.
Wait… is that Peter Jackson nowadays? He’s looking an awful lot like Dominic Monaghan in “Lost”.
I’m proud to be a nerd
Hahahahahaha! This is the best piece of news I’ve heard all week. It makes my day! I’m glad Jackson got the last laugh when the studio came crawling back to him and his team, after making a big spectacle out of not wanting him to direct this movie. I know Del Toro is loved by many, but I still wish Jackson was at the helm.
It’s going to be a great script!
Shona, you are right. He DOES look like Dominic Monaghan.
wow,u’d figure ew would know about the story, how does it center around bilbo but not about him finding the immensely powerful ring, it centers around smaug and the treasure. great research work there ew!
joeblo: Uh, what book were you reading? The Hobbit DOES center around Bilbo’s finding of the ring DUUUUHHHHHH!!!!! What, did you miss that big ol’ chapter in Gollum’s cave, you know, Riddles in the Dark? Ring a bell?
jack, yea i never daid he doesnt find the ring, i just said that’s not what the story’s centered on. yea your right, one chapter, not the whole book. the ring didnt become a focal plotline until the lotr trilogy.
Joeblow: But read the article again. They’re talking about The Hobbit the MOVIE, not the BOOK. Hello????
so ur trying to say they’re going to deviate away from the storyline of the book and make the movie more about the ring? right…. that’s just like something peter jackson would do
just because that was the articles discription doesn’t mean that’s what it is
peter jackson has stayed very true to the books
Hey JBlow:
Two movies. Part one will end with him finding the ring and escaping Gollum. Part two will end with Smaug and the war. A little imagination and a basic understanding that books and movies are two different formats would appease your cynicism.
so u have cynicism in ur vast vocabulary but not sarcasm?
i’m well aware of the format of the 2 movies. the article didnt state movie 1 and movie 2, it stated the hobbit as a whole. all i was stating is that the MAIN plotline is not about the ring, and i know that peter jackson stays true to the source material but i guess sarcasm doesn’t come off as well in writing, huh?
Nonsense, eveyone — the story is about GANDALF. He is so freaking cool — everyone send well wishes and Echinacea to Ian McKellen — he will MAKE these movies.
Wow, you guys are not getting it. Though Joeblo can’t type well enough to get his point across he’s not totally wrong. The main focus of the Hobbit was about Bilbo’s adventure with the Dwarves. When Tolkein first wrote the Hobbit (long before the LOTR) he didn’t imagine yet what the ring actually was going to be. I’m sure that del Torro, Jackson, and company with put a little more emphasis on the ring without deviating from main story too much. So though the main story isn’t about the finding of the ring, making Joelbo right about that, it is a huge part of the continued story. Joeblo please use spell check or something, your posts are even more obnoxious when you can’t understand what you’re writing.
Too bad the world is going to end a week after the release of the second one. No extended edition DVD…
Legolas isn’t in the Hobbit, but his father is…..
Watch out for a huge, overblown war for the Battle of the Five Armies. I see siege towers, massive catapults, hordes of Goblins and Michael Bay-esque explosions. It’ll horrible.
You people are blowing one sentence WAY out of proportion. Do you realize that? Do you? DO YOU??? The finding of the ring is what links The Hobbit to Lord of the Rings. Get it? RINGs? Jeez, you people are hopeless.
I’m told that the reason for two movies is to allow the writers/director to embellish on the story of Gandalf and his fellow wizards meeting up with the Necromancer (aka Sauron) and the battle they hold with him. This, I understand from the books, is when Saruman begins his path to the “dark side” which fruition we see in LOTR. I am excited to see what Peter et al can do with this aspect of the story.
in an on-line interview with jackson & del toro they said the 1st film would pretty much cover the hobbit storyline with alot of attention on smaug the dragon & the 2nd film would bridge the 60 years inbetween the hobbit & the fellowship of the ring which is how lotr characters could fit into the 2nd film plus giving an opportunity to incorporate other tolkien mythology & give jackson & walsh room to stretch creatively; i’m really happy jackson is getting more involved because imo del toro’s strength is his visionary visual style ala hellboy 2 but doesn’t hold a screenwriting candle to jackson & partner fran walsh