Metal Reviews

Most of us LoTR "nerds" have probably been a little annoyed by the dispute between Jackson and New Line Cinema since he was ruled out when it came to the hobbit movies in a near future. Luckely he seems to be back as a producer on two new Hobbit movies based on "The Hobbit"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7150644.stm

And Ian McKellen is most likely to play Gandalf again... Weee... I just wished that Ian Holm could play Bilbo once again, but he is probably too old to play the role, but it would have created a sense of continuity between the 5 movies.
My other wish would be to make these movies less gay - fewer girly men crying.... less Frodo-ish and Sam-ish so to speak

Awesome!!!!!!!!!

Though I'm still a little confused on how they are gonna divide it up into two movies. The book itself wasn't that long...

Awesome indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say leave in everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And make Smeagol's part the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very excited about this.

Apparently, movie one will be the Hobbit, and movie two will be a bridge between the Hobbit and Rings (handling for example, Gandalf vs. the Necromancer, a.k.a. Sauron), chiefly drawn from Tolkien's manuscript notes. I'm very happy about this, and it should be interesting.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! The greatest news of the year!

...but...

Why does Jackson only produce and not direct? Who will be the director? Do they bring in a new director because they want a different tone for this movie? A happier, more playful tone, like the book? Will the new director be any good and not screw everything up? Questions, so many questions!!!



Really? Do you have a source? Seems interesting, but I'm not sure there's enough material in the author's notes to make the second film... is there? And I also think movie two may feel somewhat anticlimatic.

OOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! GAY EMOTICONS FOR ALL BUT MAINLY FOR TOLKIEN!!!!

"That is so hot!"



indeed. I wouldn't mind a more playful tone as such - less emo, and it should perhaps be less dramatic/tense cuz the climax should still be LoTR, imo, this would also help the continuity, while keeping them true to the adventurous atmosphere in the book. But I still hope they will be as poetic, epic and true to the universe created in LoTR.

If that is true I'm very excited, sounds mega-awesome. I'm not a big fan of 'The Hobbit' though, it's kinda silly. Not sure it will translate well into film... Sure it's for kids but I'm not a kid anymore :)

I think it's a great story. And I have a feeling it will be perfect on film.

It had better be good, that's all I can say, since I'm getting pretty sick and tired of Hollywood raping my childhood.

In a sense I'd be happy with Jackson overseeing the film and making sure everything goes correctly, but not directing it. The increasingly over-dramatic tone of his films (mainly Return of the King and King Kong) wouldn't be suitable for The Hobbit. The original story isn't really that epic, and endless slo-mo scenes with quiet music playing as someone stares into space after something terrible has happened would hurt the film.



I myslef was wondering exactly where The Hobbit could be cut in half and leave a satisfactory conclusion for the first part. Brahm's idea makes more sense but I'm still not sure it's a good idea.

Anyway. As long as Jackson, McKellan and Weta Workshop (and the Magnificent Montone Richard Taylor) are on board it can't possibly be a bad film. Right?

that kind of thinking has always ended poorly for me. I will definatly go see this but i will be skeptical. I think there might be a problem with brahms idea. Its the problem i come up with whenever i try to explain something about LOTR to a friend who is less into it. I start by explaining one thing and befre I know it i find myself going into a information dump of stuff that I am sure is confusing but some how to appreciate whats going on iu feel is necessary.

There is also the potential for the second movie to bring in some stuff from the silmarillion and some of the lost tales...etc since there is some over lap into the build up of the war of the ring.


I can't remember, why is it that gandalf and his order defeated the necromancer, who is sauron, but then how does he get to mordor and become so powerful in such a short time?

PJ refuses to direct:


http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/12/ ... -will.html

Link to the information I talked about last time:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30085

Unfortunately, Raimi (of Evil Dead and Spiderman fame) is being rumoured as the director. Not that I have anything against him, but he's wrong for the movies. Though a Bruce Campbell cameo would be kickass.



They go to his hideout in Mirkwood, weaken him, bring it down, and then he escapes and goes to Mordor.

I too am kind of unsure about all this. Yes, a lot of info is being drawn from the Silmarillian and Book of Lost Tales, but I think it might be overkill. The Hobbit doesn't need to be anything more than a fantastic children's tale.

Bruce Campbell as the guy who takes down Smaug? YES PLEASE!

No no no. There's a lot more to The Hobbit than just a book for kids. In fact, if you take away Tolkien's 1st person amusing style of narration, you end up with a series of events just as bleak, epic and dramatic than the ones in LOTR. And with exactly same themes of loyalty, friendship, courage and heroism from the ones you least expect from. It's really the same substance. It has all the ingredients for a movie as successful as LOTR.


Jackson’s manager Ken Kamins said:


Heh, the truth of the matter is somewhat different. It goes like this: New Line has a time limit on their rights to The Hobbit. If they don't make the movie before this deadline (noone knows exactly when it is, but there are rumours it's not very far away, 2010 most likely) the rights return to Saul Zentz. That's why New Line suddenly changed their attitude towards Jackson, but that's also why they can't wait for him to write and direct. But it's a good thing he's on board, with WETA and everything.

I see that Sam Raimi, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro are rumoured for the director job. I don't have much faith in Raimi, I'm undecided about Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men) but let me tell you, if they somehow pick del Toro we might be in for a very special treat. That guy's last movie was Pan's Labyrinth, and that was a genuine masterpiece.

About the second movie, keep in mind that they cannot use anything from Silmarillion. The rights for that belong to Tolkien Estate and Cristopher Tolkien will never sell them. If it would have been up to him LOTR and Hobbit would have never been sold either. Luckyly, Tolkien himself sold those in the 70's, for a few thousands pounds, because he needed money to repair his fence

HAHA!! Really? That is to funny. Where did you hear that?

Actually, this is true. Tolkien was quite poor in the 70s- his works were basically read by nerds and thats about that, and he was prestigious only as a result of his research into Anglo-Saxon studies. Old School, you are also right about the Silmarillion- I had forgotten about that. Yep, Christopher does hate dem movies.

My wish was answered. Del Toro will direct. Pre-production will begin in 2009, shooting for both movies in 2010. First movie will be released in December 2011. Serkis and McKellen will probably reprise their characters. There's a rumor about Viggo too.

webchat with Jackson and Del Toro

Great news!

That made my entire month. Mono be damned, life is good.