I’m just back from a two-week trip mostly spent at the Vancouver International Film Festival.  Time to catch up on blogging.

Nothing all that earth-shaking happened while I was gone, apart from MGM getting its requested suspension of interest payments on its debt. The cool reception of its last film of 2009, Fame, does not help its long-term prospects for holding onto its Hobbit production and distribution deals. Still, it might manage to limp through and retain its current assets. (A sale of the entire company, including the Hobbit rights, is rumored to be a distinct possibility.)

One thing I do note in some recent online publications is the report that the principal photography on The Hobbit may happen later than previously announced. The only target date I’ve seen mentioned up to now is next March. Now the recent interview with Ian McKellen on Empireonline has him saying, “And they’ll be going when they’ve always said they would be, which is next spring–March or April. Guillermo even told me at one point, ‘We’re going to film for 383 days.’”

He also remarks that “The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon. Then they’ll be budgeted, and then they’ll be cast.” This is another indication that Peter Jackson’s July prediction that the first script would be turned in within weeks was perhaps too optimistic. I think we’ve all been expecting announcements about the acceptance of the script, the budgeting, the greenlighting of the film, and the casting. So far, none of this has come out.

Geoff Boucher’s recent Los Angeles Times article states flat out that “principal photography won’t begin until April.” I have no idea what the source for that claim is.

I’ve also heard rumors that the production is somewhat behind its expected schedule. If that’s true (and it is just a rumor at this stage), I can’t believe that the Tolkien Trust’s lawsuit had anything to do with it. I doubt that MGM’s recent financial crisis did, either. Warner Bros. has been funding the costs involved in the pre-production process so far.

There is one other possibility, and I should emphasize that this is pure speculation. It could be that WB/New Line requested revisions after seeing the first script. That would explain the almost complete lack of news we have had at a period when we expected all sorts of announcements to be made. Or possibly the studios decided that they needed to see the scripts for both parts of the film before greenlighting the whole thing. Again, I have no evidence whatsoever for such a possibility. It’s just one explanation that I don’t think anyone has floated yet.

I guess my point is that we have been without concrete news on the progress of The Hobbit for quite some time now, and we’re pretty much dependent on speculation at this stage.

[Update, also October 13: TheOneRing.net has some news on a British TV interview with Ian McKellen. The interview itself isn't posted yet, but fans have sent in information on its contents: "He has received ‘both’ scripts. Original LOTR cast members will be returning. He has signed the declaration that he will not talk to friends, family or even his agent about the script! He does not know who is cast as Bilbo, but believes he will be an English actor."

It sounds like the period of little news may be drawing to an end!]