Peter Jackson to produce The Hobbit?
Written by ady on August 15, 2007 – 10:32 am -It seems Jackson and New Line Cinema are close to kissing and making up at last. However, Raimi is still favorite to direct but there could be a producer slot for Peter Jackson.
This is a shrewd move by New Line Cinema. With Jackson back on board the effects team who did the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, a company based in New Zealand called WETA, would also return. This would ensure The Hobbit movie would retain the same look as the previous visits to Middle Earth.
It would also mean The Hobbit movie gets the treatment from arguably two of the top three Hollywood blockbuster film makers (Spielberg being the other). NewLine need The Hobbit to be a hit after a bit of a slump. Swallowing their pride and bringing Peter Jackson back into the fold makes sound business sense as many LOTR forums were not happy about the Jackson saga and some have been talking of a boycott of the film!
Posted in The Hobbit Movie |
August 27th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
i’m just going to say now that i would never accept Sam Raimi as a director, If he directs i can tell you now i will not being seeing another movie ruined by this man.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Oh now come on.. Sam Raimi has a style of his own that would work really well when mixed with PJ’s. Evil Dead Series being the most notable (the comic book style of direction is EXACTLY what was needed for Spiderman).
So please tell me, give me the list of movies that “this man” has totally ruined?… I’ll guarantee that a high majority of them made a hell of a lot of money and have a huge fan base. Hell I even thought Darkman was good.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
The problem with Sam Raimi is that his directing/producing tastes are good for stories that are as deep as a puddle of water on the sidewalk. As soon as you put in him on a story that doesn’t have sex and explosions, he’s going to be out of his element. If he directs, I have a funny feeling there’s going to be “sexy elves”.
That’s exactly what Middle-Earth isn’t about and sticking to the moral high road runs very contrary to what Hollywood has become. PJ needs to have the same creative freedom that he had for LOTR because there is SO much story that fans crave. I wish they’d make a special dvd release like they did for LOTR and add 75 minutes of footage to fill in the story because the dwarven culture was so untouched in the LOTR movies.
As far as the making alot of money comment goes… The Spiderman movies all had huge budgets so percentage wise they didn’t really return much once you take into account all the marketing and production costs.
August 29th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Raimi directing w/ Jackson producing would be good, but Jackson directing w/ Jackson producing would be better. Either way I hope they sort it all out ASAP.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
The difference here is that LOTR + The Hobbit have an incredibly strong fanbase; and by strong, I mean finicky, nitpicking every detail, knowing the subtleties of the story inside and out.
Sure, Raimi might make a “fun” movie that makes Newline some money.
But, to have LOTR done by Jackson and a very accurate way that pleased many of these Tolkien fans, then suddenly have someone take on The Hobbit in a totally different style would be a slap in the face to not only these fans, but to Tolkien’s story as well.
It would also provide a huge amount of discontinuity among two interrelated stories, which would entirely discredit Newline in general.
If anyone _but_ Jackson is behind the mast, this film will be a disappointment. Not only to loyal fans, but to anyone who enjoyed LOTR and expects a prequel of the same caliber.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Why should New Line Cinema swallow their pride. Both parties are to blame. They both should sit down and work out there difference of opinion. It is not like Peter did this all alone. The money New Line Cinema put into this for promotion, advertisement, etc.. is also an argument on where profits went and who should keep those profits. Peter has gotten a lot of publicity due to New Line Cinema. He did not do this movie alone. He was given every single outlet Time Warner had including: TBS, TNT, HBO, Cinemax, Time, Life, TimeWarner Cable, AOL, and over 200 sub-divisions from 6 Company’s New Line Cinema’s Parent has. As far as mocking or bad mouthing another Director is bad. Each director has a vision. Peter Jackson’s vision can be replicated if not, outdone. I believe the work he did on King Kong was not his best and that came after LOTR. I still believe the original KK was better.
September 10th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Mark, how do you know that “both parties are to blame”? Frankly, I don’t trust large corporate interests, and I trust them even less when billions of dollars are at stake (in this case, specifically, the LOTR movies grossed 2.9 billion dollars at the box office, alone). Newline has Jackson and his vision to thank for this windfall (not vice versa).
As to Sam Raimi, I’m not a big fan. I find his style very B-movie-ish, which has it’s place and appeal, but not in a Tolkein movie (PJ seems to give a nod and a wink to this genre in LOTR, but he rarely over does it). I also find Raimi’s style disjointed - cutting and pasting with no flow (unlike PJ). True, The Hobbit (book) has a completely different tone than LOTR (much lighter and child-like), but as Borgurth says, Raimi should stick to comic books and leave sophisticated literature to others.
September 14th, 2007 at 6:23 am
New line sucks so much Peter Jackson needs to direct this movie no question about it. Oh ys and Sam Raimi needs to not direct…EVER!
September 14th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Thrain–
Certainly Newline has Jackson to thank for his vision, but Jackson also has Newline to thank for plowing the millions into the film to make it come together. One needs the other. They ought to work it out. My thoughts are Newline is flirting with blowing it by not using Jackson. Jackson will, IMO, appear petty by not delivering to his fan base.
September 15th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
There is just one director who can make the ‘Hobbit’ and this is Peter Jackson! All the others make exactly those mistakes which Peter Jackson didn’t do! I don’t want a ‘Willow’-style movie with shrieking witches and too many dwarfs and also no ‘Xena’-style movie with sexy leather elven and bold muscle machos like in ‘Eragon’! They never reach the capacity of Peter Jackson! The only two persons who could make the ‘Hobbit’ but together with Peter Jackson are Steven Spielberg and Peter Weir - but only with Peter Jackson as their master! Sam Raimi doing this film you shall all live a huge million disaster! Yep!!!
September 27th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Here are the top 10 things i think PJ should tell Raimi if they’re teamed up:
10- no sexy elves… ok… one sexy elf… that’s all you get. one, no more.
9 NO WE CAN’T LEAVE OUT BILBO!!!
8- No, we are not changing the title of the movie, either.
7- no, we’re not changing bilbo’s name.
6- Jessica Simpson cannot be an elf
5- Tobey McGuire is not allowed on set at any time, just because there are spiders doesn’t require spiderman.
4- only explosions caused by the dragon are acceptable.
3- we’re not making this movie in powerpoint like your last 3 movies.
2- The only creatures that could remotely wear spandex are elves and I’ve already said: NO EXPLODING, SEXY ELVES!
1- As the Donald would say: “You’re Fired!”
September 27th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
The only way this movie can be a success is to keep the same Director & production team as the LOTR Trilogy. Any change in mood or appearance and the film will be a complete dissaster! Peter Jackson as director…otherwise leave the story to our imaginations!!!
September 28th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
How can we get the real players to comment here?
November 18th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Do not forget that LotR has set insanely high standards and making something that could come even with it is extremely difficult. And I agree, PJ is the only director who can accomplish that task.