Lith writes: Here is a report on the deliveries of The Hobbit Petition to MGM and New Line on September 22nd. The petition, with the 39116 signatures accumlutated at the time of printing, was delivered to the studios along with a copy of MrCere’s open letter to the studios. Though we have had no feedback at this time from New Line, I did receive this very cordial email from Theo Dumont of MGM today, with full permission to pass it along. It should hearten fans a good bit.

“Dear organizers of The Hobbit Petition:

We would like to give you the official statement from MGM. Feel free to pass this along to your members and affiliated web sites. Thank you and please see below:

“Peter Jackson’s phenomenal success with The Lord of the Rings trilogy makes him the first and most ideal choice for directing The Hobbit,” said MGM. “MGM would be thrilled to collaborate with the Academy Award-winning director on this MGM New Line Cinema production. And, I’m sure to the delight of the 50,000 filmgoers who have petitioned us in recent weeks, demanding we bring this film to fruition, we have had a few initial conversations about the project with Mr. Jackson’s representatives.”

Best regards,

Theo Dumont
Manager of Public Relations
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.”