From scifimoviepage.com: Feel that District 9, the Peter Jackson-produced sci-fi box office hit about alien refugees in Johannesburg, South Africa being made to live in squatter camps has too much of an open-ended ending? Then don’t fear. According to director Neill Blomkamp the studio already “wants” a sequel! And who can blame them? Boasting some impressive special effects by Jackson’s WETA outfit, District 9 was made for a mere $30 million and has already scored an impressive $37.4 million at the US box office over the weekend making it the number one hit, edging out GI Joe: Rise of Cobra to the number two spot in the process. (In contrast the budget for GI Joe was rumored to be $170 million!) More..
Xoanon here, of note is the fact that Blomkamp mentions that filming for The Hobbit is expected to last 370 days, starting in April 2010.
From hollywoodoutbreak.com:LORD OF THE RINGS star ELIJAH WOOD may have moved on to other things (like the animated sci-fi film 9) but he’s still keeping an eye on Middle Earth. We spoke to WOOD recently about what he’s been up to and he talked about how much he’s looking forward to the PETER JACKSON/GUILLERMO del TORO collab on THE HOBBIT. 
Ringer Karl Falconer, who attended the BFI IMAX LOTR All-night screening managed to snag the following video of Sir Ian McKellen at last night’s event. The video is on Karl’s Facebook page, so I’ll need to login to see it – but its worth it! First off, Sir Ian revels he will be in New Zealand in March to begin filming for approximately a year, with the first of two films being released Christmas 2011. (as expected, but great to hear from Ian!) As our earlier reports have revealed, Sir Ian also states he ‘pretty well knows’ who will play “Frodo” (maybe a small slip up, and he meant Bilbo) and that we will be happy with the casting (2:22 mark of video). A huge thanks to Karl for sending us the link to his video. [
We heard some rumors this week, that remain unverified, that the script for “The Hobbit,” has been delivered to the studio. The rumors indicate that the first draft that Peter Jackson talked about at Comic-Con is in the process of having a budget built from it. Is this true? Can you bank on it? We don’t know for sure, but we have a hunch this is the case.
Again, we cannot confirm this but we believe Sir Ian. We think the script is finished, the studio likes it (more or less), Bilbo has been chosen. “The Hobbit,” may have a green light, there may be may be a Bilbo who has agreed in principal (or more officially perhaps) and pre-production might have started or be about to begin! (We think it may have started.) If anybody knows more or know differently, send us word immediately! 