The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
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June 1 : 2010

Peter Jackson doesn’t rule out directing The Hobbit

Readers no doubt read the news the TheOneRing.net broke Sunday, revealing that Guillermo del Toro has decided to bow out of directing The Hobbit. The delays in getting the project greenlit by Warner Bros. and MGM were frustrating to a director who famously is used to working on several projects at the same time.

Today Stuff.co, the New Zealand news site, has a story on Peter Jackson’s interview with the Dominion Post:

“If that’s what I have to do to protect Warner Bros’ investment, then obviously that’s one angle which I’ll explore,” he said. But stepping in as director would be difficult as he had signed writer and director contracts with Hollywood studios for two other films, with one likely to begin next year. “The other studios may not let me out of the contracts.”

Peter made some comments about when filming might begin, in the light of this dramatic development:

Jackson said The Hobbit’s US$150 million budget was a ballpark figure, but it could be higher if it was filmed in 3-D.

Jackson said November was now the earliest start date for shooting, but it depended on finding the right director. “I just don’t know now until we get a new director. The key thing is that we don’t intend to shut the project down.

“We don’t intend to let this affect the progress. Everybody, including the studio, wants to see things carry on as per normal. The idea is to make it as smooth a transition as we can.”

Of course, the idea of Peter directing The Hobbit is an attractive one to fans, though I would hate to see him forced into doing so simply to save the project.

The stuff.co post has a good summary of the Hobbit situation and its background.

(Thanks to Paulo Pereira for sending me the stuff.co link.)

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    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

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    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”