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The Hobbit (merged thread)

post #1 of 1134
8/4/02 at 10:12am
Thread Starter 
What does everyone think the chances of Peter Jackson eventually doing the Hobbit are? I know he has other movies he want's to work on after the trilogy, but man, I would love to someday have the Hobbit to go with the LOTR. It would just feel so much more complete. Is it just wishfull thinking?
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post #2 of 1134
8/4/02 at 10:42am
JohnE wrote:

Quote:
What does everyone think the chances of Peter Jackson eventually doing the Hobbit are? . . . . Is it just wishfull thinking?



I saw him in an interview done just before the release of Rings and he said he would not be doing a Hobbit movie.

Maybe, he'll change his mind, but I doubt it.
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post #3 of 1134
8/4/02 at 11:38am
I believe that New Line or Peter Jackson wanted to make The Hobbit but the project instead turned into Lord of the Rings.
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post #4 of 1134
8/4/02 at 2:35pm
I'd be willing to bet that there is a close to 100% chance that within 5-8 years Jackson WILL film The Hobbit.

JOn
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post #5 of 1134
8/4/02 at 2:39pm
I hope so, because that one brief scene in FotR of Ian Holm as a younger Bilbo in Gollum's cave was great. It nailed the scene dead on and was the first indicator to me that Jackson had "hit the bullseye"..
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post #6 of 1134
8/4/02 at 3:18pm
I'm pretty certain that a live action film of The Hobbit WILL be made. But when and by whom is a bit more unclear.

With the commercial success of just the first installment of The Lord of the Rings, we'd have to be crazy to think that no one will be interested in making this movie. I'd say it's a given.

As I understand it, there are legal issues about the rights. I believe New Line has the rights to the film, as far as making it. However, I think United Artists holds the distribution rights (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here). So this still needs to be sorted out.

I've heard that Peter Jackson has said that he didn't want to make it, but people do change their minds. After he's finished with the trilogy and the Extended Edition of Return of the King (let's hope we get this) and has had a chance to work on something different for a year or so, hopefully he'd more more open to the idea of doing it.

I've heard that Ian McKellen has said that he wouldn't want to return to the role of Gandalf,, but he has recently said that he'd be open to the possibility. So who knows exactly what will happen. But I'd bet there are people at New Line already trying to make this happen.
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post #7 of 1134
8/4/02 at 3:19pm
As the geeks all know, Jackson was working on King Kong before switching to pre-production on LOTR. To put people off the scent, he told collaborators (such as Weta Workshop) that he was preparing the Hobbitt. A few weeks into pre-production the designers learned that they were, in fact, working on the a LOTR film. (At that point, LOTR was to be two 3hr movies backed by Miramax.)

Apart from how PJ feels about remaining in Middle Earth after having spent nearly 9 years (from inception to ROTK DVD) working on LOTR, there is the problem of acquiring the rights to The Hobbitt. I'm sure New Line would be keen to produce it, with or without PJ, but so far they have been unable to secure the rights (from Buena Vista/Disney, I think.)

If anyone does the Hobbit, I pray that it's Jackson. I don't trust anyone else with this material, and it would tie in so well with LOTR.

Doesn't look likely anytime soon but I guess we can always hope - I never thought anyone would direct a satisfactory live action LOTR film in my lifetime. How great to be proven wrong.
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post #8 of 1134
8/4/02 at 3:34pm
The Hobbit without Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen would not be The Hobbit. I think the only way to make the prequel work is to have both back.
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post #9 of 1134
8/4/02 at 3:53pm
I think there are other filmmakers that could make The Hobbit. It might seem different than what Jackson did. But there are other filmmakers out there that are as good, and even better than Jackson. I think Spielberg could make a damn good Hobbit film.

But if Buena Vista owns the rights to THe Hobbit, all I can say is good luck to New Line with getting the rights. Because it probably won't happen now that LOTR is a success. Buena Vista will probably keep those rights. Are we sure that is who own the film rights?
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post #10 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:08pm
I think Spielberg could make a damn good Hobbit film.

I disagree wholeheartedly. Don't get me wrong, I love Spielberg (loved A.I. and Minority Report! Jaws and CE3K among my all-time favorites), but his style isn't suited to fantasy such as this.

Jackson achieved the perfect balance of fantasy and realism, which is why Middle-earth is so freaking believeable in FOTR. He accomplished the impossible in my eyes, a long-time fan of the books.

I'm sure many directors are capable of bringing The Hobbit to the big screen, but none will achieve that perfect look and feel the PJ has given us of Middle-earth. I can't imagine anyone else making a Tolkien inspired movie now, but I would of course give it a chance, no matter who made it.

I know Peter's heart is pretty much set on King Kong, but I would kill to have him do the Hobbit! And while he's at it, some tales from the Simarillion....sigh....a guy can dream can't he?
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post #11 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:08pm
I agree with Terrell here. Whilst Peter Jackson would be great, and to get Ian Holm and Ian McKellen to replay their roles would tie in nicely with the LOTR trilogy, I think other filmmakers could make a great film of The Hobbit, and, from what I can recall, it is tonally different from LOTR anyway.
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post #12 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:12pm
I thought I had heard from several other HTF members that the rights belonged to Paramount.
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post #13 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:14pm
Quote:
it is tonally different from LOTR anyway.
True...it seems a lot less detailed. More happens in less pages basically. It's also geared towards children more.

Whoever ends up making it, it will be highly anticipated by me
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post #14 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:37pm
Quote:
but none will achieve that perfect look and feel the PJ has given us of Middle-earth.

Well, a lot of that has to do with the fact that you saw Jackson do it first, and you loved the results. Let's just say for argument's sake that Spielberg did do FOTR instead of Jackson, and you loved it just as much. You'd be saying the same thing. Nothing wrong with that. It doesn't have to be Spielberg. I just threw that name out there.

As for the rights, whichever studio has the rights, probably isn't going to give them up now. That is unless New Line forks over an insane amount of money.
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post #15 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:42pm
Quote:
I'm sure many directors are capable of bringing The Hobbit to the big screen, but none will achieve that perfect
look and feel the PJ has given us of Middle-earth.
I would tend to agree. I think PJ was exactly the right filmmaker, at exactly the right time, with exactly the right resources and collaborators, to make just about the best possible version of LOTR (judging by part one, anyway). Any other director for this material would seem to be a step down at this point, and I don't care who you name.

That said, I greatly doubt that PJ will be the man who eventually directs a live-action Hobbit, although it would certainly be nice if the inevitable film could share some elements with the current films - designs, locations, perhaps some cast members. Perhaps some enterprising, up-and-coming second unit director on LOTR could make it his or her directorial debut, with PJ as a producer.

--Jefferson Morris (still awaiting his damn FOTR dvd)
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post #16 of 1134
8/4/02 at 4:45pm
I am pretty sure New Line does hold the rights now. AFAIK, they bought it so another studio wouldn't cash in on LOTR's success and make a totally mediocre movie just for the sake of making money.

I would hope PJ would at least be a producer. I just want them to keep the style/look of Middle-earth they've created. Use the same Hobbiton and Rivendell for one...they are too damn good already. Maybe they could try to be as consistent as possible with the cast as well, though that may be hard.

Hobbit is a different style of story, so they'll need to approach it differently than LOTR and maybe be more light-hearted or frivalous with the whole thing, but pleeeeeaaaase keep the current designs of the Shire and Rivendell
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post #17 of 1134
8/4/02 at 6:30pm
I don't want PJ to make it because I don't want him to become another George Lucas. There are people out there who only know Lucas for the Star Wars movies, and he seems to enjoy that very much. I want PJ to finish the LotR movies and then move on to make some fresh, new movies.

I think he should definitely have something to do with the movie, but I don't want his talent to be put solely on one film series.
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post #18 of 1134
8/4/02 at 6:49pm
While I would like to see it made I don't think PJ necessarily has to direct it. The Hobbit has a different feel than LOTR I think another director could handle it quite well. I might be nice if PJ was involved in some way and I would like to see Ian Holm and Ian McKellen reprise their characters otherwise I think many people would have a hard time with it. Think if Harrison Ford had been replaced by Tom Selleck in ROTJ.
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post #19 of 1134
8/4/02 at 6:58pm
Well, Lucas had made many more films than just Star Wars. Indiana Jones, Willow, THX1138, American Graffiti, etc. There's far worse things to be known for than Star Wars. But that's another discussion for another thread.

Have we decided who owns the rights yet? I think we've got 3-4 different studios mentioned.
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post #20 of 1134
8/4/02 at 7:34pm
I don't know for sure Terrell but I was under the same impression Sean was in that New Line has the rights to the film, but United Artists had the rights for distribution.
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post #21 of 1134
8/4/02 at 8:09pm
Okay, I just didn't see a clear cut answer earlier, with studios ranging from Buena Vista to Paramount. Thanks.
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post #22 of 1134
8/4/02 at 8:31pm
Kami, I'm REALLY diggin' the new sig. I haven't finalized my plan yet, but I think I'll fire up the TTT preview before the main feature this Tuesday morning. Anyway, about the topic at hand, did it occur to anyone that by ROTK PJ could very possibly have had it up to here with hobbit-holes, prosthetic feet and Middle-Earth?

Cause I sure as hell don't think that would ever happen
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post #23 of 1134
8/4/02 at 9:18pm
Terrell, like I said, I was under the impression about those rights etc. I'm not 100% on it.
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post #24 of 1134
8/4/02 at 9:26pm
I've had my fingers crossed for a PJ-directed Hobbit movie sinxw I realized how amazing the LOTR flicks were gonna be. It's a MUCH simpler and more straightforward tale, but it's got a LOT of sequences that would translate well to the screen...plus it's just a cool adventure story.

Obviously I'm not holding my breath, but it would be a perfect fit.

We'd get to see a young Gollum!
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post #25 of 1134
8/4/02 at 10:40pm
Quote:
I think Spielberg could make a damn good Hobbit film.

Oh my god, that would be so terrible. Gollum would be reduced to a lovable creature that's just misunderstood and flies in a basket on Bilbo's bicycle. And all the swords would be changed to flashlights to avoid controversy.
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post #26 of 1134
8/4/02 at 10:44pm
It might be tough to get McKellan back for it by the time they do it. He's not exactly young and waiting at least 3-4 years before it would get going again wouldn't help.

You couldn't use Holm at all as far as I'm concerned. I would think you would want to have someone younger. It's one thing to hide his age in one brief cave scene and quite another to do it for an entire film.

With the money LOTR has done you would think the Hobbit would be a certainty, yet at the same time it seems like a project that will not come about any time soon.

I wonder if they are saving any of the sets right now? Certainly for reshoots I suppose, but once they pass that point? And what is going on with the Shire on that farmers land? I wouldn't think he was keeping it like that unless it's now a big tourist spot.
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post #27 of 1134
8/4/02 at 11:33pm
Thread Starter 
I could probably live with new actors, so long as they kept the look and feel of Middle Earth as Jackson has portrayed it. I just don't know if I'd want a different director behind the helm though. PJ has just done to good of a job.
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post #28 of 1134
8/5/02 at 10:11am
What I'd like to see happen is the hobbit done as an animated film, like Shrek (except of course, going with Weta as opposed to PDI). It could be book-ended with live action pieces with Ian Holm as Bilbo, reading the story of the hobbit from his book. This would allow for Ian McKellan and Ian Holm to return to their roles, without the burden of going through makeup and a gruelling physical production. Done properlly it could work out really well.
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post #29 of 1134
8/5/02 at 10:29am
They really made Bilbo too young in the cave sequence of FOTR, because the Ring was supposed to keep him from aging (cf. Gandalf's comment about not having aged a day). So as long as they don't wait too long, Holm could still do it, especially if he put on a few pounds. Of course, whether he'd be well enough (anyone know how his cancer treatment is going?) is another question. I'd love to see him do the film, though. I think Holm is one of the best things about FOTR.
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post #30 of 1134
8/5/02 at 12:07pm
I agree completely. FOTR is awesome, but in my opinion the two characters who are more or less flawless are Gandalf and Bilbo. I can't imagine a better Gandalf than we got, it was perfect. If the Hobbit is going to be made they should just shoot the thing now while they have both of those actors around. Especially as neither of those characters is supposed to change appearance much, it's fairly essential.

I'll finish by saying if they wait and do it with different actors, well it's gonna suck as bad as the new Star Wars movies (sorry Terrell, couldn't resist when I saw you in this thread! )
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