Peter Jackson & Newline Join With MGM To Produce THE HOBBIT!
The news that fans of The Lord Of The Rings have wanted so desperately to hear has just been announced. Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh are going to Executive Produce two films based on The Hobbit! Here’s an extract from the press release:
ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT,” EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED FANTASY ADVENTURE EPIC
NEW LINE AND MGM TO CO-PRODUCE AND SHARE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS
PETER JACKSON AND FRAN WALSH TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE TWO FILMS BASED ON “THE HOBBIT”
Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:
* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.
* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.
* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.
Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”
Click here to read the full announcement.
All I can say to this news is:
HELL YES!
When the news was first announced that they were going to try and make two movies out of The Hobbit (which is a very short book) and Peter Jackson wasn’t going to be involved, due to the long running dispute with Newline, I had no hopes for the movies. Now? Now I cannot wait to return to Middle-Earth with the man who so wonderfully introduced us to it as a movie destination in the first place!
This has made my day. The first movie is scheduled to begin production in 2009, with a release in 2010 (take note every other movie studio – don’t release anything big at Christmas time 2010 as it will once again belong to Peter Jackson!) with the second movie following in 2011. Now they just need to convince the man to take directing duties on the movies and it’ll be perfect. How’s that for a Christmas present, Middle-Earth fans?
[Source - TheOneRing.net]
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2 Responses to “Peter Jackson & Newline Join With MGM To Produce THE HOBBIT!”
Is it coincidence that this announcement comes right after The Golden Compass tanked the big one? Methinks not!
No it probably isn’t a huge coincidence that they’ve announced this after the disappointing release of The Golden Compass but I don’t think it’s “tanked” at the box office.
According to Box Office Mojo it may have only taken $41,639,000 at the domestic US box office since it’s release 11 days ago (I cannot believe I’ve described that total as “only”!) but if you include the worldwide receipts so far it’s taken $133,154,574 in total since it’s release with an opening weekend of $25,783,232. That’s not that bad, especially as it has only been out for 11 days. And it’s still number 3 in the USA movie chart.
Nope, it might not be doing as well as New Line had hoped but I don’t think it’s “tanked” just yet.
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