The Hobbit has finally been given the greenlight and will be made in 3-D with Sir Peter Jackson in the director’s chair.
Shooting will begin in February.
The announcement was made today jointly by New Line Cinema – which bankrolled The Lord of the Rings – and its parent company Warner Bros.
The announcement did not state whether the two part prequel to The Lord of the Rings would be shot in New Zealand.
Matt Dravitzki, Jackson’s assistant at Wingnut Films, said an annoucement on the place of filming would be “probably a week or two away”.
[Read on]
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The LA Times is reporting that Lions Gate has thrown its hat in the ring one more time for control of MGM. Earlier this year, Lions Gate’s $1.4 billion bid was rejected by MGM and its creditors as being too low. The new proposal calls for a merger between the two companies with MGM lenders coming out of the deal with a 55% ownership in the new company, and a 45% share for Lions Gate. According to the Times, the development comes one day before Lions Gate is scheduled to square off in a Canadian court with dissident shareholder Carl Icahn. Ichan, Lions Gate’s biggest shareholder, is suing Lions Gate over bad management decisions. Interestingly, he has also been purchasing MGM debt which, if converted to equity in a merger, would give him a substantial stake in MGM.
Where is Spyglass in all of this? Their offer to take over management of the studio in return for a 5% stake is still on the table (current lenders would get the other 95%). MGM lenders are scheduled to vote on the Spyglass deal on October 22 (another day to mark on your calendars). According to the Times, if MGM takes the Lions Gate offer instead, there will be a breakup fee owed to Spyglass of $4 to $5 million. Check out the following two Company Town blog entries at the Times for updates on the latest Lions Gate offer and where Carl Ichan fits in. Thanks to message board member ranger123 for the link to the first blog article.
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A story out of New Zealand declares that ‘The Hobbit’ will be the most expensive movie in history. It cites as a source The London Daily Telegraph which got its figure by saying “it was reported”. We tried to follow the trail and to the best of my knowledge the giant sum was first reported as a needed cash infusion for MGM as “production costs” but never was it said (as far as I can tell) to apply only to “The Hobbit.”
The article then confuses readers with references to Christopher Tolkien and the Tolkien estate threatening to pull the plug on the production. The difficulties with the Tolkien estate happened a few years ago in a lawsuit over profits from “The Lord of the Rings.”
New Line Cinema, the studio behind the LOTR film trilogy, is now owned by Warners and MGM owns 50% of the rights of the planned pair of films.
Official pre-production hasn’t started yet but much of the work has been done in “development,” which has been reported to have cost as much as $50M. These figures have not been verified.
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If you have glanced at TORn or even the internet this week you will have noticed the “Hobbit” news stories coming fast and furious from every corner. Peter Jackson has spoken about the collective of rumors and the current status of the two-part films. He spoke with EmpireOnline and made it clear that people are working hard, but nothing has officially happened yet. Jackson said:
We’ve seen these reports before, reports saying there was going to be a greenlight in a couple of days — well, a week’s gone by and there isn’t one. You can’t believe everything you read. There is only one thing you want to believe and that’s when the studio announces a greenlight. As far as I’m aware that’s not going to be today. I keep hearing positive things. Everyone’s working very hard. There’s a lot of people at Warner Bros. who are working around the clock trying to manoeuvre through the MGM complexities.
The rest of the article is really interesting with heavy Jackson quotes. You can read the rehash lots of places but why not go to the source?
It is clear from Jackson’s comments that the MGM situation remains sticky but that the will to get this picture in production is strong both on a studio level and from the Jackson camp. Not spoken of was the unsettled labor situation in New Zealand but it seems likely that dispute would also delay a greenlight but all parties seem to taking care of that issue behind the scenes and not in the press, likely so as not to give the NZ film industry a bad name internationally. The saga of the two-part film continues!
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A source has told the New Zealand Herald that attempts by the Council of Trade Unions to settle disputes between producers of “The Hobbit” and actor’s unions have failed.
The story also details the progress that MGM is making with leadership and finances to reach a point to greenlight the two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. The story, with newer and better information than is being regurgitated by countless websites, can be found here. And as always, stay tuned for the best and latest info!
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While Peter Jackson and the actor’s unions have gone very quiet on their dispute, MGM is finally moving forward which is a great bit of progress for two planned films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. The planned bankruptcy the venerable studio is seeking gives it leadership and the chance to put money into films instead of putting money towards interest payments. A headline with “bankruptcy” isn’t sexy, but it is good news for those wanting “Hobbit” films, especially when the word “planned” comes before it.
You can read about it from Forbes, Reuters, or the Associated Press.
And, unlike other news outlets that have promised not to write about the “Hobbit” films again until they write a review, we promise to bring you lots and lots and lots of news as often as possible!
For those not aware, MGM holds 50 percent of “The Hobbit” and its financial situation has stalled the film that has also faced several other significant hurdles.
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