Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro (the Hellboy movies) has agreed to direct four new movies and produce scores of others for Universal Pictures by 2017. The deal will come into effect in 2012, as soon as Del Toro finishes work on his two Hobbit movies for MGM and New Line Cinema.

The films Del Toro will direct are new adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, as well as an adaptation of Dan Simmons' upcoming Drood, a novel chronicling the last days of author Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist). Strangely, no Hellboy 3.

Source

Maybe not.  Sorry

Glick!

Universal — which has a three-year first-look deal with the helmer inked in June ’07 — and del Toro are making a long-term commitment by setting up four directing projects, including remakes of "Frankenstein," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Slaughterhouse-Five."

Del Toro is also on board for an adaption of H.P. Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness." Oh, and uhm, some kid's book called "The Hobbit." He seems to me like a big kid who is getting to direct anything he ever wanted. What a blessed dude.

Now that Hellboy II director Guillermo Del Toro will helm The Hobbit, Warner Bros has chosen the less prestigious Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing) to replace him in directing a new Tarzan movie. While it certainly would have been interesting to know what Del Toro would have done with Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic tale, I actually think Sommers is a perfect fit for the job.

Stephen Sommers is an extremely underrated director who delivers films which are meant to be entertainment and nothing else, and he does that well. If you need proof he can churn out a good Tarzan, check out his 1994 adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

Stephen Sommers' movie will be an original take, not a retelling of any of the books or previous movies (though I'm sure elements will seep through). We will write the screenplay with Stuart Beattie, with whom he already collaborated on his next movie, G.I. Joe: Rise Of Cobra, to be released next summer.

Tarzan is best known to moviegoers for the 1999 eponymous Walt Disney cartoon and Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes, starring Christophe(r) Lambert. Others may recall a series of twelve films starring Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the thirties and forties. No date has been set for this latest adventure.

Source

The Opinion » This was what got me started on the whole J.R.R. Tolkien mania;his books make you want to read more and more!The Hobbit is a nice Tolkien novel to start with,it's easy to read as Tolkien had written it for younger readers.Those who started with reading Lord Of The Rings will find The Hobbit refreshing and not half as "stifling".And the big bonus is that you'll be able to "retrace" time's steps and actually find out how Bilbo got the Ring,how did Gollum come into the story,and several other minor details which are not compulsary to find out but fun to read.

The Rating »

The Recommendation » 8+

For a long while now, a revamped big-screen version of Tarzan had been near the top of Guillermo del Toro’s increasingly crowded to-do list. In fact, he had even engaged the services of screenwriter John Colley on the movie. But now del Toro is fully preoccupied with The Hobbit, producer Jerry Weintraub is pressing ahead with the movie anyway, and he’s already zeroed in on the director he wants to replace del Toro.

Stephen Sommers.

Yes, it seems that once Sommers finishes work on his current movie, next summer’s G.I. Joe, he’ll swing across to Warner Bros. and begin work on bringing Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Lord of the Apes back to the big screen. Sommers will co-write the screenplay with Stuart Beattie (who wrote G.I. Joe) .

Of course, there will be some internet fanboys bemoaning this choice, but we’d advise them to hold fire. After all, Del Toro told Empire Magazine last year that he hoped to make his take on the Burroughs’ source material very pulpy – and if there’s one thing at which the director of Deep Rising excels, it’s pulp. So let’s hope he’s going to adhere to del Toro’s preference for pulp.

Furthermore, G.I. Joe looks like it should be a blast – and it can only be a good sign that he is so keen to reteam with Beattie. So perhaps Sommers has his creative mojo back after the disappointment of Van Helsing.

It’s all early days yet, so we won’t know anything for a while about Sommers’ plans. But I have many, many questions - for instance, is this going to be a Greystoke-style faithful adaptation of Burroughs’ Tarzan Of The Apes, or a reimagining of the character, a la Sommers’ remodelling of The Mummy franchise?

Starring: Ron Perlman, Luke Goss, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, Seth McFarlane

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Screenplay: Guillermo Del Toro

Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

Original Score: Danny Elfman

Running Time: 120 mins.

Guillermo Del Toro, a director that seemingly comes from the "one for you, one for me", school of direction, splitting his time between smaller more personal projects (The Devils Backbone, and most recently Pans Labyrinth) and bigger budget 'Hollywood' films (Mimic and Blade 2). With the exception of Mimic, which was a bit of a disaster, all of Del Toro's films have gained a lot of critical acclaim, and quite rightly so he seems to have such a good eye for fantastical imagery and a real knack for the highest rate of storytelling. So all of this past in mind where exactly does Hellboy II: The Golden Army fit into his repertoire? The answer is, everywhere!

He has hit that perfect balance between what he loves as a film-maker and what the audience loves to see, combining his storytelling and vivid imagination to create a summer blockbuster that has evidently been hand crafted with great love and affection by all involved, Fantastic 4 this is not! The original Hellboy, also directed by Del Toro and starring the same cast, was a sufficient and faithful enough adaptation, and despite being very enjoyable, with a standout turn by Ron Perlman as the titular Hellboy, it was seriously lacking in a number of areas. It seemed that Del Toro's visions had been reined in somewhat by the studio and the brief running time left many side characters fighting for screen time leaving us with an especially weak villain, on top of this there were no standout action scenes, a real issue in what was meant to be a set piece driven comic book adaptation. In fact, given the modest box office success, it's surprising Del Toro was rewarded the chance to make another, so out went Columbia Tristar and in came Universal offering only the same budget as was estimated for Hellboy 1 (highly unusual when making a sequel). However the difference is this time Del Toro's reins have been removed, this is his cut of the film, with his vision and imagination on full speed ahead.

In some ways this could be seen a slight reboot of the franchise, nothing would be lost through being a Hellboy virgin upon watching it, and the only through line from the past film is the love story between Selma Blair's Liz Sherman and Hellboy, though what happened last time round seems almost redundant. The 'pedestrian' character Meyers from the last film is explained away through one line of dialogue leaving no loose ends to tie up starting the story afresh.

Beginning with a fantastic fairytale played out through marionettes we discover that there is a pact between the fairytale world and our own, so that we may all live in peace. Us sticking to our world and the fairytale creatures to theirs. However the fairy prince Nuada is not happy with this pact and feels they should have the right to rule where they wish, overthrowing his father and seeking to destroy the world of humans, using the one thing that can eliminate all in its way, The Golden Army. To say any more would be to spoil the subtle twists and turns, but needless to say it builds to a climatic fight between the forces of good and evil.

The strengths of Hellboy II are primarily in its vision and the performances, Ron Perlman once again shines giving Hellboy true pathos, making him at once funny, angry, driven and very childlike in some ways, and in a trait all the main characters share, conflicted. This is a film of conflicts drawing you to think rather than just take in what you see only to forget it two minutes later, in the decisions the characters make, so to do you in deciding what is morally right and wrong, in much the same way as this summers other excellent blockbuster, The Dark Knight, did.

One thing Hellboy does have over that certain Dark Knight is a wonderful sense of humour, one scene in particular stands out and had me in stitches, it really gives this assortment of freakish looking characters more humanity than many a human in most other films! The addition of Johann Krauss is also a welcome one, making something that is essentially a wisp of mist into a fully rounded 'person', through Seth Macfarlanes brilliant voice work. Of the other new additions villain of the piece, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) shines, makes his character very sympathetic to the point where you may well want to root for him in his quest, he isn't so much evil as feeling betrayed.

So what of the weakness is Hellboy 1, a lack of action, while he hasn't fully remedied this problem it's certainly a huge step in the right direction. The fight with a forest god in the middle of the city is amazing and the snippets in the trailer really do this scene no justice, to see the foliage drop from the creature onto the city is absolutely stunning. Both thrilling, funny and on a grand scale, this is what Hellboy needed. The problem is that comes a little over an hour in, leaving a lacklustre final fight with the Golden Army disappointing rather than devastating. That said the lead up to the final fight is fantasy film at its finest, the rock creature in Ireland and the Angel Of Death (looking like something straight out of Pans Labyrinth) are worth the admission price alone!

VERDICT

The run of excellent comic-book adaptations continues, a very different beast to The Dark Knight and injected with Del Toro's full imagination. The finest fantasy film you're likely to see in many a year, despite a lack of good action scenes there is so much more here to distract from this small misgiving. Character, story, and a film stuffed with the greatest array and characterisation of creatures since we visited Middle Earth....funny that! Lets hope that this does well enough to warrant a third, though god knows whats left in Del Toro's imagination to show!

After seeing both ¨Pans Labyrinth¨ and ¨Hellboy II: The Golden Army¨ i do not doubt that Guillermo Del Toro have the ability to create intriguing Fantasy worlds. (Even if i do consider both Mimic and Blade 2 to be two of the worst movies ever made). So, this means that i suddenly have something to look forward to in the two upcoming films based on Tolkiens ¨Bilbo¨.

But what exactly? Will ¨The Hobbit¨continue on the path that Peter Jackson set out with the Lord of the Rings trilogy or will Guillermo Del Toro create his own Lord of the Rings saga with his own special design and storytelling that we´ve seen in both Pan and Hellboy? Will he re-cast, or will he let Peter Jacksons casting for the LOTR-trilogy comeback, and so on.

Their sure is a lot of potential with The Hobbit and i hope that Guillermo Del Toro will do it to his own movie(s) and not just do another film to please the already existing LOTR-fans. But then again, who knows. I look forward to more information about this promising adaption!

[via Variety]

• NBC Universal has made its first move into British TV production by acquiring drama specialist Carnival, whose hits include “Hotel Babylon,” for an estimated £30 million ($55.5 million).
• The move represents another milestone in NBC U’s aim to double revenues generated outside the U.S. by 2010. Jeff Zucker, president and CEO, NBC U, said: “International growth is one of our key strategic priorities...boosting our ability to create programming for specific local audiences around the world

[via Variety]

• Longtime William Morris agent Adam Sher has been named CEO of Ryan Seacrest Prods.

[via Variety]

• Who wants to see a movie about love and gnomes? It will be a CGI-animated Shakespeare adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" from Miramax and Elton John's Rocket Pictures, set to complete prod in '10, and starring the voices of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt. Too bad for animation. I think they'd be pretty cute on-screen.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

• Virtually every ­communications-technology breakthrough of the past 20 years, from the internet to TiVo to handheld playback devices and YouTube, has served to chip away at network television’s vast audience. Gone forever, Jeff Zucker will tell you, are the All in the Familys, the Friends, the Mary Tyler Moores, those great, fit-for-every-demo sitcoms that sucked up huge audiences and delivered vast swaths of advertising-friendly viewers. “It was a lot simpler back then,” Zucker laments, “when there were three networks and you could run your programs once and repeat them twice and that’s all you had to worry about.”
• NBC is still dead last in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

[via Portfolio]

Women To Watch

ALISON TARRANT
SENIOR VP-INTEGRATED SALES AND MARKETING, THE CW

[via AdAge]

LAUREN ZALAZNICK
PRESIDENT OF WOMEN'S LIFESTYLE NETWORKS, NBC UNIVERSAL

• NBCU's mass target means more than just pure demo buys, however. After identifying Bravo's audience of tech-savvy, big-spending 18- to 34-year-old consumers as "affluencers" last year, Ms. Zalaznick has been working with each of her networks' research teams to identify key behavioral patterns and spending habits.
• Oxygen is being rebuilt around "Generation O," or "trenders, spenders and recommenders," with similar assignations for each of NBCU's digital and on-air brands. "You want people who are activated to use the product of a life stage rather than a demo stage," she says. "It's about what they do in their lives -- their behaviors."

[via AdAge]

VIVI ZIGLER
EXEC VP-NBC DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT AND NEW MEDIA, NBC UNIVERSAL

• Now video on NBC.com is easy to find, and it plays smoothly b/c Vivi Zigler has reshaped the website as a vital destination for visitors and an important new viewing venue for NBC shows.
• Fine-tuning --> NBC lure online advertisers. Digital ad sales this year will increase >20%
• This spring, NBC.com launched a new digital unit, NBC Digital Studio, to develop web series with brands built in from the start. Omnicom Group's OMG Digital is onboard as an initial partner.
• "Product placement isn't about putting a Coke can on a table. Maybe a fruit juice is looking to be used in recipes, but maybe the cooler version is to build out a web series with your friends building their own restaurant," says Ms. Zigler. "You have things you might not think about, like our out-of-home network, video screens in elevators, taxicabs, in stadiums. ... Each property will have its own unique distribution plan."
• In the year ahead, Ms. Zigler, 48, will also focus on growing mobile distribution, building out Facebook applications and developing new widgets for shows that can be embedded. In the first three months of this year, NBC's widgets generated 15.4 million impressions, a 15% rise over a year ago. Most widgets are ad-supported.

[via AdAge]

The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 11 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi

This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit Frodo Baggins and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. With new and extended scenes carefully added back into the film the 12-disc set also includes hours of bonus features.

The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) is available at Amazon for $64.99. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• The Ultimate Matrix Collection (The Matrix/ The Matrix Reloaded/ The Matrix Revolutions/ The Animatrix)
• The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)
• The Lord of the Rings
• The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Al parecer seran 2 peliculas que van a contar la historia de Bilbo Bolson, el tio de Frodo, cuando va a la montaña solitaria acompañado de Gandalf y 12 enanos a recuperar el tesoro robado por el dragon Smaug, obviamente en el camino se va a topar con el anillo unico y tendra que burlar a nada mas ni nada menos que Gollum para quedarselo.

Las peliculas estan pautadas para ser estrenadas en el 2011 y 2012. En mi opinion van a estar muy buenas... esperemos... sino no se acuerden de mi y no me puteen!!

Smaug el temible dragon que enfrentara Bilbo.

The Shack

By William P. Young

Contrary to my wife I actually really liked the Shack.  I appreciated the authors desire to publish a book that deals with suffering in a deeply theological way while at the same time embedding the theology within a  narrative.  I agree the writing is probably 6 out of 10 with a few spots where "Pappa" (God) slips into coy folksy wisdom which is pretty yucky.  I think most of the doctrinal issues many folks have criticized it for disappear if you remember that the genre is fiction narrative not theological essay.  I'll publish a more detailed review soon.

The Hobbit

by J.R.R.  Tolkien

I picked this up one night off my shelf.  I though I had read this book as a kid but I realized as I read that I hadn't read it I had just seen the awesome 80's cartoon version.  I also had the record read along book based on the same video.  I loved the Hobbit.  I was struck by the drastic shift in dramatic tone between TH and LOTR.  Lord of the Rings is a full of sadness, loss and pathos which is one of the reasons it's such a spectacular work of art.  The Hobbit is almost a childrens story with its use of humor and more fanciful tone.

The Fellowship of the Ring

By J.R.R. Tolkien

This was the first time I read this since the movies came out.  I think I enjoyed it the most of the 3-4 times I've read it.  I noticed for the first time that Tom Bombadil speaks in iambic pentameter all the time, not just when singing.  It made me for the first time contemplate reading that hulking behemoth called The Simarilion.

Florence of Arabia

By Christopher Buckley

This book is hilarious! It's about a plan to stabilize the middle east through a feminist revolution instigated by a women's television network.  Strange premise but just imagine the women of The View engaging in their chatter while wearing burkas giving advice on how to defend yourself from an angry husband during Ramadan.   Although it turns kind of dark at the end this book  it is fantastic.  Plus it makes fun of the French relentlessly which is always fun.

No Way to Treat a First Lady

By Christopher Buckley

This is the best book I've read this year.  It's about the murder trial of the First Lady after her husband is discovered dead in bed next to her.  This particular president is a ridiculous womanizer based on a certain non-fiction former president.  In my mind this book is probably only surpassed in hilarity by Boomsday (another Buckley book) and Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

Church on the Other Side

By Brian McLaren

I'm not done this one yet.  Typical of McLaren it's thought provoking and gives a good critique of the errors of modernism.

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Vintage Jesus

By Mark Driscoll

Vintage Jesus is good although my least favorite Driscoll book.  It's an excellent, funny, vernacular explanation of orthodox christology.  If you're looking for a graduation gift for a high school student this would be a good pick.

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Activate

By some guy

I'm only adding this book to bulk up my reading list.  It's a church strategy book about how to structure a small group program.  It's an excellent solution to some of the typical difficulties of small group ministry like inviting in new people, involvement of men, difficult to place people etc.

Genesis

By Derek Kidner

Another bulk mention.  Actually this is probably my absolute favorite commentary of all time, not that that's really difficult.  Since I'm preaching on the Joseph narratives of Genesis this summer I've picked this as my primary source material.  Kidner is concise but profound.  I found him because Tim Keller mentions him every time he preaches on Genesis or the Psalms.

Hurt

By Chap Clark

This is a book on adolescent sociology.  The basic thesis is that teenagers in our culture have been systematically abandoned by adults.  What care teenagers do receive is often closer to resume development for college than true soul nurturing care.  I recommend this book to any parent of a teenager whether or not they go to christian, public or home school.

Long Hard Road Out of Hell

By Marylin Manson

Yeah I know this is a weird pick.  There's lots of kids in my youth group who like Manson so I thought I'd check out his book.  He's pretty narcissistic and seems to be trapped in the mentality of a high school student which might explain his popularity among that group.

Tears of My Soul

By Reaksa Himm

This book is pretty brutal.  It's about a survivor of the killing fields of Cambodia.  The dedication is to about a dozen of his family members who were all killed by the Khmer Rouge.  It's fascinating to hear a non-western experience of a holocaust.  It seems the way the Cambodian people experienced what that did is very different from how the Jews did during WWII.  Granted the situations were very different.  I'm talking about how a Western culture deals with a murderous totalitarian regime verses an Eastern.

The book records Reaksa's subsequent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how, interestingly enough it was the Christian gospel that ultimately allowed him to forgive, not seek revenge and heal.  Specifically it was a belief in God's justice and wrath as well as believing in the grace he himself had personally recieved that allowed him not to kill his families killers.

The Husband

By Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz is always good for a thriller.  Yes his characters seem to reappear under new names from book to book but you don't read Koontz for great literature, you read if for a ligntning paced plot.  He's the only writer I know who can make 350 pages span a 12 hour period of the characters life.  In this book a gardner who makes very little money has his wife kidnapped and held for ransom for several million dollars.  He of course doesn't have the money so he goes to great lengths to collect the cash.  Still it's not Koontz best.  For that I'd recommend Strangers, Watchers or Seize the Night.  All three are awesome.

The Innocent Man

By John Grisham

I was hesitant to pick this one up but a very nice lady in Colorado recommened it to me, she had read it the day before and happened to own the bookstore I was buying it in.  Anyway I needed a book for the plane.  As it turned out I finished it in 24 hours before I got on the plane.  The Innocent Man is John Grisham's first non-fiction book.  It's about a murder in Ada Okalahoma and the subsequent false imprisonment of an innocent man.  It is a true story but is just as gripping as typical Grisham.  It depicts how town culture, mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, political arrogance and pride and police incompetenace and corruption all swirl together to create a justice system, at least in Ada, that was entirely useless at reaching the truth.

This book has done something I hadn't thought possible.  It has made me seriously rethink my pro-death penalty stance.  Not on biblical grounds, on that I'm confident Scripture authorizes lethal force in the punishment of crime.  Rather on the basis that our criminal justice system is capable of such gross and ridiculous injustice.  The book reveals how this isn't just an isolated incident but a systemic problem.  Yikes.

Sursa(link complet):

www.getthebigpicture.net

John Rhys-Davies as Beorn: He was terribly allergic to the latex mask that turned him into a dwarf, so let's let Big John play a human this time. He's perfect for the magical man who spends most of his life shapeshifted as a bear.

Craig Parker as the Elvenking: He was great as Galadriel and Celeborn's captain-of-the-guard and the elven hero of Helm's Deep, Haldir. He would be equally as great as the elf who holds the dwarves captive in Mirkwood and the elven hero of The Lonely Mountain.

Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan has Dwalin and Balin: Swarthy they are not, but they do have excellent rapport, and they are very funny together. Makeup and CGI can work wonders, especially with PJ and del Toro at the helm, so I think Billy and Dom as dwarves could be totally great. Plus, they both need the work.

David Wenham as Bard: It's a tough call amongst the humans. Viggo? Too iconic as Aragorn to ever be anyone else. Sean Bean? Too, what, rogueish, I guess; too mischevious to be the put-upon warrior. So, it should be Faramir returning as Bard. Speaking of put-upon! He deserves to be the one to slay the dragon this time around.

Brad Dourif as the Great Goblin: He's fantastically creepy as Wormtongue. How awesome would he be all done up in del Toro creature effects? He looks like a goblin just walking down the street, anyway.

Christopher Lee as Lord of the Eagles: Duh. And, he wanted to be Gandalf in LOTR so this gives him the chance to at least play a good guy.

Bernard Hill as Thorin Oakenshield: King Theoden resurrected as another heroic leader. Hill has the stature, the voice, and the presense to play the noble dwarf. He was so charming in all the behind-the-scenes footage, too, that I'd hate to see The Hobbit made without him.

Do you think PJ will make one of his customary cameo appearances? Maybe we'll see a quick glimpse of that rascally Kiwi asleep under Smaug's belly...

After all, it’s the Hobbit that sets the table for the great trilogy. We get to see Bilbo’s adventures through Middle Earth before finding the ring. We meet Gollum for the first time and find out the real story of the Ring. How could Peter Jackson not be involved?

Well, the man from New Zealand will be leaving to set up shop in his home country for four years beginning in 2009. Unfortunately, he will not be directing the prequel. That has been put in the able hands of Guillermo del Toro. TicosLand.com has seen Mimic, Blade II, Hellboy and The Labyrinth of the Fawn. We are sure that he will do the Hobbit justice, especially since Peter Jackson will be the executive producer.

In fact, the duo had begun a search for writers, but it now appears that they have decided that no one could do it better than they. So del Toro and Jackson will co-write the adaptation to J.R.R. Tolkien’s book and write its follow-up.

At TicosLand.com, we will be anxiously awaiting the release of the film in Costa Rica. We are sure that it will be a cinematographic spectacle.

Don’t forget to visit the TicosLand.com web directory. It’s how we will continue to grow and provide better features and services. We want to continue to make our reach global.

Po naťahovačkách Petra Jacksona so štúdiom New Line Cinema a nekonečnom rozhodovaní o tom, kto bude vlastne prvé príbehy zo Stredozeme režírovať, sa filmoví fanúšikovia (samozrejme, aj tí, ktorí majú radi J.R.R.Tolkiena a jeho tvorbu) konečne môžu tešiť. Produkcia Hobbita sa totiž pohla ďalej a štvorica Peter Jackson, jeho dvorní scenáristi Fran Walsh a Philippa Boyens no a aj režisér Guillermo Del Toro, začala pracovať na scenári k dvom (áno, dvom) fantasy filmom. Oba scenáre majú byť podľa posledných informácií hotové v treťom kvartáli budúceho roku, keďže samotné natáčanie sa má začať už v jeseni 2009. Premiéra prvého filmu je plánovaná na rok 2010, pokračovanie by sa malo v kinách objaviť o rok neskôr, teda v roku 2011.

Shooting is scheduled to commence in New Zealand during Fall 2009 at the earliest.  The first of "The Hobbit" films is planned for a December 2011 release, and the second one for a December 2012 release.

Well, the Hobbit movies just got that little bit closer with the completion of deals for Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo Del Toro to write the two movies (yes, we thought deals were done too). With all I's crossed and T's dotted, the trio can now get on with the business of penning both an adaptation of JRR Tolkien's first Middle-Earth book and a sequel of invented events.

The scripts will have to be complete by the latter half of 2009 since shooting is scheduled to begin in the autumn, with the release of the films then set for 2010 and 2011. It all seems such a very long way away.

From DARK HORIZONS

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080820k.php

Peter Jackson will not only produce "The Hobbit" which will be directed by "Hellboy" director Guillermo del Torro, Peter has also officially signed on to write the screenplay with the same writers whom he wrote with in the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy". Peter Jackson is set to pen "The Hobbit" with Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens.

"The Hobbit" will be split into two films and Guillermo del Torro will direct both films.

Variety Reports:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990816.html?categoryId=2554&cs=1

Hope they do the film good. I have mixed feelings on this one.

Kev