Slashdot Mirror
Peter Jackson Hints At The Hobbit
Hellboy0101 writes "News.com.au is reporting that New Line Cinema is currently in talks to purchase the rights to the film adaptation of The Hobbit. There are apparently some difficulties with getting the go ahead from Tolkien's son Christopher, who is executor of the estate. When asked if New Line has approached him about the project, Jackson said he has not ruled it out, but not until after King Kong is done. 'New Line, which spent $US300million ($415 million) making the films, is already planning to continue its Rings success with an adaptation of Tolkien's novel The Hobbit.
More difficulties with the Tolkien estate were looming, said Jackson, who added that he would be keen to get involved after he finishes remaking King Kong in 2006. "New Line haven't actually talked to me about The Hobbit. I know there's difficulty about the rights, certainly if they want to talk to me about it I'd be keen," he said.'"
If they plan to do it, they better do it quick. The only (I believe) common character of the trilogy and the Hobbit is Gandalf. Ian McKellen isn't getting any younger.
Someone should tell Jackson that there's a whole lot you can do for a community besides put up a museum or a monument to what you did with their tax break, and it need not even be an eyesore like that statue he wants. How about building parks and playgrounds? Contributing to local health programs? Financial aid for economically depressed areas? Charities? Libraries? Help for schools?
These and a whole lot of others are ways to give back to the community in ways that really help. And they don't require the permission of the Tolkien estate either.
And the brethren went away edified.
actually, if the movie is tailored for a wide audience (PG-13) then most kids will get a chance to read the book before they're old enough to see the movie.
When I was seeing the "The Two Towers", before the movie started, my wife and I started talking to this young girl (must have been under 8) who was there with her mother. She was seated in front of us and doing the usual young child sit-backward-in-the-seat-and-gape-at-strangers trick. We asked her if she'd seen the first movie; she said yes. We asked her if she liked it; she said yes. I asked her if she liked reading the books (hell, I first read them when I was about her age) and she replied, "Oh no, I don't have to read the books - my mom is buying the DVD!".
I didn't know who to slap - the little girl or her mother.
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
An author was once asked about a film adaptation of his movie that was just awefull. The person making the comment said that they ruined the book.
On the contrary said the author, my book still exists in its original form. Nothing has changed except that a new movie was made.
Mid-Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Convention
Oh, please. Peter Jackson captured the whimsical nature of Hobbiton and that first half of Fellowship of the Ring perfectly. Every scene between Gandalf and Bilbo was magic. It'd just be that same tone throughout the Hobbit, with hints of the darker world to come in the LOTR trilogy.
It would, quite frankly, rock.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Are you sure that's not $400 million New Zealand dollars? (That's about $US200 million.)
In 1976, the Saul Zaentz Co., doing business as Tolkien Enterprises, acquired rights to both The Hobbit and LotR. This agreement included the film rights. Tolkien Enterprises entered into an agreement with WB so that they could film the Rankin & Bass animated version of The Hobbit. Now comes the fun part: WB still has those rights, and they're sitting on them like a broody hen with only one egg.
New Line can't greenlight Peter -- they don't have the rights, and aren't likely to get them in the near future. Rumor has it that a few of the key brass over at the Frog Studio are a little cheesed off about the fact that a bunch of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, and other assorted mangy fairy-tale creatures have been collectively kicking the backside of a certain boy wizard at the box office for the past two Christmases running. Heh.
Now OTOH, the Tolkien Estate is being a pain in the butt about the idea of a movie museum in Wellington. And for that, Christopher Tolkien can rightly be accused of behaving like the dog in the manger.
Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...
Try reading the Silmarillion or the Unfinished Tales. Why, take a look at the Books of Lost Tales as well.
It is quite possible that those beautiful, indeed, essential volumes in the tale of the Middle-Earth would not exist without Christopher, or at least wouldn't, in all probability, fit in so well with the original published works of JRRT. Christopher is, quite understandably so, the best Tolkien scholar par none.
It's actually interesting how real life mirrors the fantasy. What Christopher's been doing with his father's writings is very much the same thing that Frodo and Sam did for Bilbo's Red Book.
I for my part am forever grateful for Christopher for publishing any- and everything his father left behind. And I understand his grudge with the franchising of Middle-Earth, even as I love the movies on their own accord.
Are they selling McLembas already?