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By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Friday, June 25th, 2010 - 1 Comment »
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WB Trying To Take Control Of The Hobbit Story?

This is one of those funny stories.
Peter Jackson may end up directing The Hobbit(s). PJ may have always – except when Guillermo was on board – have directed The Hobbit(s).
And Peter may never direct The Hobbit(s).
The story this morning… not from Peter’s camp. Not from MGM. Who is left? Warners.
The misleading piece, floated by Deadline, puts the cart before, after, and under the horse. MGM needs to get a deal done so this can all move forward. MGM seems to be getting closer to a deal… any deal. And so, Warners seems to be getting ahead of the story so that when things do move forward, it will be their strategy that brought it all together.
The truth is and has been that whatever Peter Jackson wants is what will happen. He could hire a circus monkey to direct the movie and WB would ask, “Who’s his agent?” And understandably. Peter, Fran, and Phillipa have written the script and Peter & Fran will produce the film. All a given. Does he want another 5% for directing? “Yes, Mr. Jackson… thank you, Mr. Jackson.”
With Peter producing and/or directing, this is a multi-billion dollar project. Without Peter (and Fran and Phillipa), it is a question mark. Not a complicated equation.
All that stuff about hiring another director makes it sound like someone other than Peter and Fran would be making the call. Same with 3D. Etc. Of course, they hear from Warners and Warners has already thrown millions down this well. Jackson and Walsh are very respectful of that. But no one at Warners is driving this train.
And really, it may be a serious strategic mistake to be pretending in the media that it is otherwise. Expect the next story to break where PJ wants it to break… probably OneRing.net. There is, after all, a reason why they all live and work in New Zealand. It’s not to get caught up in all this mess.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that Jackson will end up directing… if he and Fran Walsh decide (or have decided) that is what they want to do. And they might. They would like to get the film shooting before this year is over, don’t want the bloom to fall off the rose, and don’t want a giant hole and a later looong project messing up the WETA schedule. These may be the biggest factors of all.
The more interesting issue, to me, is whether Spyglass or Summit or Lionsgate can commit the $200 million for The Hobbit(s) in the next couple of weeks. Whoever ends up running the leaky ship of MGM, the #1 priority of the people who have lost billions on the company is getting The Hobbit(s) on its merry way.
And the best way to do that is to let Peter do what Peter wants.

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One Response to “WB Trying To Take Control Of The Hobbit Story?”

  1. Dr Wally says:
    June 26, 2010 at 6:51 am

    One positive thing to come out of this mess will be if the extended cuts of LOTR (which were being held back until Hobbit’s bow) come out on Blu-Ray sooner.

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