The Hobbit Update

I saw on http://www.rottentomatoes.com the latest comments made by director Sam Raimi about making The Hobbit. Raimi has been rumored to New Line Films choice to direct the movie since their falling out with Peter Jackson. According to the Rotten Tomatoes site, Raimi said in an upcoming interview in Entertainment Weekly that if Jackson didn't want to do the film and Bob Shaye (CEO of New Line Films) did and both men gave him their blessing, he'd be happy to make the film. Considering that these two men can't agree on any thing now a days, Raimi would do well to work on other potential projects in my opinion.

Honestly, I don't think The Hobbit will be made until New Line Films loses the rights to it. Saul Zaentz owns the rights permenently from what I understand. He sold them for a set time to New Line. New Line must make The Hobbit in that set time frame. If New Line fails to make the film in that time frame, poo on them. Once that time frame is up, the rights revert back to Zaentz. Zaentz has supposedly shown sympathy to Jackson's beef with New Line and it sounds like he'd be willing to do a deal with Jackson. For your information, Jackson claims there were accounting irregularities with the Lord of the Rings and he wants an independent audit of the movies. New Line has refused to do this and accused Jackson of being greedy i.e. we paid you a quarter of a billion dollars and now you want more. Bob Shaye has said for effective purposes that he has blacklisted Jackson from making The Hobbit. This is where Raimi comes in. It has been rumored that Raimi was approached by New Line about making the film. Considering the enormous differences between Shaye and Jackson, it is extremely unlikely Jackson will make The Hobbit for New Line Films. I've heard the rights will go back to Zaentz sometime in 2009. New Line must start production on the film before then. I haven't heard any word that New Line even has a completed script for the film. If they haven't, the chances of them making the film are very remote.

It is annoying that I'll have to wait till probably 2010 or later to see The Hobbit made by Peter Jackson. Hopefully, Sir Ian McKellen will still be alive then to play the role of Gandalf then. Also, I hope Hugo Weaving will be able to play Elrond. Barring that, none of the other actors actresses will need to return. You can point out there is Sir Ian Holm who played Bilbo but, in my opinion, he'll be way to old to play Bilbo. I think they'll have to get someone else for the part.

If you need a Tolkien fix, there is some good news. Christopher Tolkien finished putting together what will be the last work ever done by J. R. R. Tolkien. Over the years, Tolkien wrote a number of stories about the First Age. The First Age was age when the elves first appeared and created a number of kingdoms. It is also the age when one of the Gods of Middle-Earth rebelled against the supreme God Iluvatar and carved out his own kingdom in Middle-Earth. The novel "Children of Hurin" tells of one man who fought against the dark God and a terrible curse the God laid on him. By all accounts, it isn't a very cheery story. Still, it is previously unpublished Tolkien. The novel also has some outstanding illustrations by Alan Lee who worked on the Lord of the Rings movies and has a number of outstanding illustrations for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It's in book stores now if you're interested. Cheers all!