Both Comingsoon.net and Variety are reporting that MGM’s discussions with Peter Jackson about The Hobbit are at ‘an advanced stage’, with a view to production beginning in 2008 or 2009. The two-film concept is also apparently taking shape. The reports, citing MGM Chairman Harry Sloan as the source, suggest that the first would be a direct adaptation of The Hobbit, and the second would be drawn from “footnotes and source material connecting ‘The Hobbit’ with ‘The Lord of the Rings'”. [Variety] [Comingsoon]