From Variety: MGM’s recent announcement that it intended to release “The Hobbit” and, hopefully, get Peter Jackson to direct it, caused major buzz in Hollywood. It also caused a frenzy among Jackson fans, who have been lobbying via petition on the fansite TheOneRing.net for Jackson to tackle the “Lord of the Rings” prequel ASAP. The petition tallied nearly 50,000 signatures and was submitted to MGM and New Line, which share film rights to “The Hobbit.” (MGM owns distribution rights; New Line owns the rights to actually make the movie.) [More]