An Unexpected Parting

It looks like Peter Jackson and Co. have been give the arse from New Line's production of The Hobbit.

Much to the distress of his fans, Peter Jackson has said he no longer plans to direct "The Hobbit," a prequel to his mega-successful "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, because of an ongoing accounting and legal dispute with New Line Cinema.

In a highly unusual move, revealing some of the behind-the-scenes moves in a high-stakes negotiation, Jackson spoke directly to his fan base during the weekend, posting his explanation of recent events on TheOneRing.net. The statement from both Jackson and his wife and fellow producer, Fran Walsh, concluded: "This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness or rancor. We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of 'The Hobbit' go and move forward with other projects."

Shame, really. They did a fantastic job with at least the first two instalments of Lord of the Rings, and it's probably going to be more difficult to recruit the likes of Ian Holm (Bilbo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) with Jackson and his team on board. (And I guess my old stomping ground will have to lie dormant for a few years longer.)

I must confess that the idea of a film version of The Hobbit doesn't excite me nearly as much as the news that a motion picture version of The Lord of the Rings was in the works did. I read the latter novel first, and found the more child-oriented Hobbit too, well, child-oriented.

Oh, well. Back to trawling through this derivative crap.