Source: New York Times | Posted By: Dan Geer
Looks like this is kind of the news that fans of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy have been waiting for.
The New York Times is reporting that Warner Brothers’ New Line Cinema unit and MGM have finally worked out a deal to finance two theatrical films for an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, with Peter Jackson on board as director. Filming is set to start in February of next year, with the first film slated for release in 2012 and the second in 2013.
Good news, right? Well, not so fast. There is still the ongoing dispute with New Zealand and Australian Actors Unions, which could end up forcing the budget for the films to be redrawn, delaying the production even further. Yep, you read that right. Hit the jump for more.
For those of you unaware of the situation, it basically comes down to various actors from the unions claiming that The Hobbit is a nonunion production because of the project’s planned use of nonunion actors – which has, in turn, lead them to call for a boycott of the films and Peter Jackson proposing to move the production from New Zealand to Europe if the matter is not resolved (hence the possible redrawing of the budget). If you care to read up on all the nitty-gritty details of the situation, you can do so here, but this is the basic gist of it.
Sooooo, The Hobbit has overcome one problem only to be presented with another. Can we all say “there and back again”?
It really is hard to believe that these films will ever happen, considering all the hangups the production has had. But, at least MGM seems to have reached a resolution concerning the financing of the films, which was the biggest problem The Hobbit had to overcome. Things should be moving a lot faster now that that’s over with. I just hope people can just stop bickering and get on with it already!
Stay tuned into PCM for more details as they come in.
Update: You can read the official press release over at ComingSoon.net!
Update 2: It appears that the disputes with the Unions are resolved. The filming location for The Hobbit films will in fact remain in New Zealand! Head on over to /Film for details!
