What do Bilbo Baggins, Hellboy, Blade, and mutant cockroaches share in common? By the year 2010 they all will have traveled through the imagination of director Guillermo del Toro. Guardian Unlimited is reporting that it was announced at the French premiere of the del Toro produced horror film "The Orphanage" that the Mexican director will helm two films based on "The Hobbit" and events bridging the story with "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy for release in 2010 and 2011.
Peter Jackson - producer, director and writer of "The Lord of the Rings" films - will be overseeing both "Hobbit" films as an Executive Producer but it's unclear how much of his own creative input he'll push down the pipe onto the director. I hope they will strive for continuity of style with "The Lord of the Rings" in regards to the creature design, clothes, armor and music so that the five movies can be watched as a cohesive story.
Guillermo del Toro is a wise choice as director for these films. He's established himself as a compelling fantasy director. I didn't think "Pan's Labyrinth" was as good as everyone kept telling me it was but I expect "The Hobbit" films to be on par with "The Lord of the Rings" in quality. The first couple pieces of the puzzle are in place but we'll have to wait a while longer to see if Sir Ian will come back as Gandalf.
Comments (11)
It's just sad that they are splitting it up into two movies. Not enough there to do so. It's simply a way to shaft more money out of us. And it'll work too :(
Posted by stromm | February 1, 2008 7:08 PM
Posted on February 1, 2008 19:08
Pan's Labyrinth was an excellent movie, especially when compared to the standard Hollywood crap of that year. I agree, Guillermo del Toro is a wise choice as director. I was getting worried when they were throwing out names like Sam Raimi. That would've sucked. Del Toro is probably the best choice besides Peter Jackson himself. All they need to do now is cast the right actor for Bilbo and recast actors to reprise their roles from LOTR. I think they just need Gandalf, Gollum, and Elrond.
Posted by Maxor127 | February 1, 2008 8:03 PM
Posted on February 1, 2008 20:03
Any guy who can make a movie entirely in Spanish that appeals to me THAT much is a-okay with me.
Posted by Don | February 1, 2008 8:58 PM
Posted on February 1, 2008 20:58
Why can't/don't they use the same bilbo as in the LOTR trilogy? They could make him look the same age he did when they made those films and in the books he is supposed to look exactly the same as when he finds the ring. Gandalf says "You haven't aged a day!"
Posted by Adrian | February 1, 2008 9:06 PM
Posted on February 1, 2008 21:06
'facepalm' omg this movie is going to be total shit. WTF why is peter Jackson directing this.. sigh
Posted by EL1aS | February 2, 2008 1:17 AM
Posted on February 2, 2008 01:17
I am an enormous fan of the LOTR Trilogy and have tried to keep up to date on any updates since first hearing about the Hobbit project shortly after the release of ROTK. From what I have read recently they are making two prequels to the LOTR. However, they are allegedly not splitting the Hobbit into two movies; Rather, the first movie will encompass the entire story of the Hobbit and the second will fill in the events leading directly upto the FOTR. With Peter Jackson as Executive Producer I have no doubt that both prequels will be held to the same level of creative integrity as the LOTR. No disrespect to Del Toro, he's a very competent and creative filmmaker, but these films could not be anywhere near the same caliber of quality or successfulness as the LOTR without a deep involvement from Peter Jackson and I think New Line Cinema finally realized that.
Posted by Robert | February 2, 2008 5:09 AM
Posted on February 2, 2008 05:09
'facepalm' omg EL1aS is blind! Why didn't he read the article to find out who IS directing? WTF why is EL1aS even posting this.. sigh
Posted by Krazeee | February 3, 2008 5:25 AM
Posted on February 3, 2008 05:25
The thing is... there wasn't really that much going on between the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. That is to say, the only real mention of events during that time is in LotR itself (and it's appedicies) and that isn't really enough to make into a whole movie. The only thing I can think of is they will try to fill in some of the blanks (like show Balin and his company try to retake Moria and fail, or show the death of Frodo's parents and how he came to live with Bilbo) but to do that they would be making their own narrative instead of adapting Tolkien's work...and you don't just make your own Tolkien.. the executors of his estate would prevent that.
I heard a rumor that the other film was to be the Silmarillion, but that would be an even bigger disaster to try and do then stretch the time between Hobbit and LotR into a movie.
Posted by Mike | February 3, 2008 5:15 PM
Posted on February 3, 2008 17:15
Why two movies.....? The Hobbit is one movie.............WHY TWO! Have to wait a whole year to see the other half....................just plain stupid.
Posted by unclesharkey | February 4, 2008 4:28 AM
Posted on February 4, 2008 04:28
As long as the new director is fat and looks like Peter Jackson did during the LOTR period, we're in good (and chubby) hands.
Posted by CKV | February 4, 2008 6:49 AM
Posted on February 4, 2008 06:49
If you are going to go Mexican, why didn't they go with the best?
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco would have been a great choice.
Posted by Phil | February 11, 2008 4:13 PM
Posted on February 11, 2008 16:13