The Hobbit Production Troubles

TheNumenorean

TheNumenorean

The Shire
It's been a while since I posted anything on the site and since the news broke about Guillermo leaving the helm as the director, I've been wanting to weigh in on the whole matter. My intention is that this discussion thread will be something of an overview of the pre-production, production, post-production of the film as it is being made... when that actually happens. There have been many film adaptations throughout cinematic history to have trouble getting from stage one (acquiring legal rights to source material) to going into theatres. I think that if and when we get to see The Hobbit film, it will be fascinating to know of all the things that happened before it was finally filmed successfully, so I hope to over time create a timeline of the various conflicts, setbacks, legal disputes, director changes, etc. that will help people to better appreciate the complexity of filming an adaptation of this magnitude. So, please, if you have information, criticism, or ideas for this thread be sure to share them.
 
PJ and GDT are notorious for capturing the story on film as well capturing the process of capturing the story. A film about a film.

I'm sure there will be a telling much like there was for the LOTR trilogy.
 
Personally, I think that already The Hobbit has such an interesting history as a film project and I would love to see an epic documentary covering all aspects of adapting it. I don't know who here may have seen the film Lost in La Mancha about director Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to make a film about Don Quixote, but seeing a similar doc on the struggle to get a Hobbit film made would be really interesting. Perhaps TORn could do it as a follow-up to Ringers. I'd love that.
 
Yes, one would hope that any documentation of the film's troubles would end in "and the film became a critical success, a Box Office smash, and was received by audiences as an instant classic worthy of Jackson's trilogy". Whether that will indeed be the case, who knows, but a Tolkien fan never despairs.
[;)]
 
THERE AND BACK AGAIN

The long road to The Hobbit:

2003: The Lord of Rings trilogy earns US$2.91 billion (NZ$4.2 b) at the box office

December 2007: New Line Cinema and MGM announce that Jackson and Fran Walsh will be executive producers of The Hobbit, a two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings, to be largely shot in Wellington. Tentative start date on filming is 2009.

April 2008: Guillermo del Toro joins as director and co-screenwriter with Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

July 2009: Jackson says The Hobbit still technically has to get "the green light" from the studios and has no budget.

November 2009: MGM, US$3.7 billion (NZ$5.4b) in debt, is put up for sale.

March 2010: Del Toro says studios are considering making the film in 3-D.

April 2010: The 23rd James Bond film, another MGM project, is postponed indefinitely.

Last week: While promoting the film Splice , of which he is an executive producer, del Toro says he has been in a "tangled negotiation" with The Hobbit because of problems with MGM.

Yesterday: Del Toro quits as director.

http://newboards.theonering.net/forum/gforum/perl/gforum.cgi?post=262579;#262579
 
my guess is that the only way we would be able to see the entire adaption of the hobbit from book to motion picture would be if the appendices were also created for this movie.
 
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