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According to Collider.com the budget is now said to be a staggering $670 million for the two movies ($335 mil apiece). Wow.

From the Deadline Hollywood site... Producer/director Peter Jackson is celebrating. Warner Bros executives were locked in negotiations all day with New Zealand government leaders. Then Prime Minister John Key announced at a press conference tonight that The Hobbit back-to-back movies will...

Wow, things are a little ugly in New Zealand. Check out this video where the two sides try to explain themselves. While things are indeed tense between the two camps, public opinion is overwhelmingly on Jackson's side. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUN2AGxrnA&feature=player_embedded

http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/peter-jackson-sets-first-names-for-the-hobbit/ Jackson and WB have made some official cast announcements. Also, the conflict between Jackson and the New Zealand unions is said to be "close" to being settled. WB has committed as much as $500 million...

At the end of the day, the studio(s) involved were more confident with Jackson at the helm rather than someone else. Given that four of Jackson's last five movies topped the $500 million mark globally, MGM (and WB) aren't going to have very many qualms about giving him the $200-$300 million...

Another sad case of the "creative accounting" that many studios use to pay as little as possible. This is why the upper echelon stars and directors often have clauses in their contracts that entitle them to independent audits of the books on whatever film they participate in. Unfortunately...

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Guillermo del Toro is in talks (yes!) to helm the two 'Hobbit' flicks with Peter Jackson serving as producer. Read the story here... Del Toro doubles up for 'Hobbit' Read the AICN story here... Guillermo Del Toro To Direct Back-To-Back Features from...

New Line likely wants Raimi because he's the bigger "name" guy (i.e. more blockbusters under his belt), but del Toro seems to be cut from the same mold as Jackson. From how I understand it, Jackson will have the final say on who is directing and it looks like he's going to have a tough choice...

Rumors are swirling that Sam Raimi has completely cleared his schedule for the period following his work on "Drag Me to Hell", which he will direct (from a script written by Raimi and his brother Ivan). Raimi has gone on record in the past stating how much he would love to direct the new...

This is mostly thanks to "The Golden Compass" going tits-up at the box office. Nothing like a $200 million-plus failure to make you (New Line) come to your senses. This deal should've been made long ago. Anyway, I'm glad that its over and the two sides are once again on the same page. Now...

New Line's rights expire in 2010.

Exactly. At the end of the day its all about the "bottom line". And the bottom line is Jackson on board a 'Hobbit' feature has bigger potential than one without his involvement. Even if Jackson doesn't end up directing, you know New Line will make sure to market the crap out of the fact that...

What also aided in the likelihood of a settlement is the fact that New Line has had a very tough time producing many hit movies since 'The Return of the King' conquered the box office (as well as the Oscars) in 2003. Since that year, New Line has only had five big hits (three of them going over...

From everything I've heard it looks like New Line and the Jackson camp are going to settle this whole legal mess out of court, which would make way for Jackson to be involved with "The Hobbit" (both sides still intend on making the prequel into two films). The only issue is whether or not...

In the wake of New Line's recent troubles at the box office ("Hairspray" represents the studio's biggest hit in the last two years), it looks as though studio head Bob Shaye is finally coming to his senses. http:www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=23203 Just settle the lawsuit and move...

Peter Weir would be my absolute top choice. Second would be Raimi and third would be Condon.

New Line's deal probably has some loop-hole that gives them flexibility if they are in the process of filming the movie(s) before the allotted time expires. That's just a guess on my part because I don't know the specifics of their deal. As for Jackson helming "The Children of Hurin", it...

From what I understand, Bob Shaye (the head of New Line) wants nothing to do with putting any kind of money in Jackson's pockets, so I'd be very surprised at this point if Weta (which Jackson is part owner) is hired to oversee the FX work on the two movies. If Raimi does get the gig, he'll...

Bringing in characters from the LOTR trilogy that didn't necessarily appear in "The Hobbit" was always a part of Jackson's plan for the two movie(s). Looks like it'll be one of the things that will be inherited by the new director. If Raimi is the guy, I think he'll do a solid job with the...

My bad, it was backwards. New Line can make the movie, but MGM (Sony) has the distribution rights.

From what I understand, the second movie will not only provide the second half of the story, but also serve as a "better" lead-in to the Jackson trilogy. When Jackson was still expecting to helm the films, he talked about bringing back Ian and Viggo, as well as other castmembers from the first...

In a nutshell, MGM (Sony) has the right to make the movie, but only New Line can release it. The two studios will co-finance the two films. While MGM was hoping the situation between Jackson and New Line would work itself out, the intense bad blood between the two camps pretty much killed any...

If Raimi does take over the reigns of director on the two 'Hobbit' movies, he wouldn't necessarily leave the Spidey franchise. He'd serve as one of the producers on the film(s) and would very likely be back to helm another in the series sometime down the line. Fox got away with Brett Ratner...

If true, this is a move that Sony (who owns MGM) and New Line hope will put them back in good standing with members of the fanboy community who were so upset about the Peter Jackson situation. Raimi is a really hot commodity right now with the huge success of the Spider-Man franchise under his...

If Shaye is as determined not to work with Jackson in any capacity as he seems, than he won't be putting coin in Jackson's pocket by giving the FX contract for the two 'Hobbit' features to WETA (for which Jackson is one of the principle owners). The usual suspects (ILM, Digital Domain, and...

After all of this drama in the press, someone else will definitely be taking the reigns of the two 'Hobbit' flicks. Jackson is currently prepping "The Lovely Bones" at Universal (that film is tentatively set for a 2008 release), as well as trying to get "Halo" off the ground. He's also...

If memory serves, Jackson pitched them as two films largely because no one wanted to do them as a trilogy (i.e. execs were hesitant to flip the bill for them). Shaye was the one that greenlit them as a trio. As for the audit, I agree with Sean. NL did throw an olive branch (well, their...

From what I understand, Jackson's camp contends that they are owed between $50-$100 million more from the profits of the DVD sales than New Line forked over to them (another case of a major studio being accused of "creative accounting"). Since 'Fellowship' hit theaters in 2001, New Line has...

Sadly, this is what Hollywood studios do every day. Its the price of doing business. Still, I am a bit surprised that New Line would pull this kind of crap on Peter Jackson and his team, especially in light of how massively successful the LOTR trilogy was (earning $2.9 billion worldwide)...

From the things Jackson has said over the last few years about the project, the only role that will likely be recast is that of Bilbo (played by Ian Holm in the LOTR trilogy). I'm in agreement that the film, when its finally released, will be met with almost the same amount of anticipation...