Editor Mike Fleming with Deadline New York has a follow up to recent news regarding negotiations with Peter Jackson to direct The Hobbit. While he comments it is “probably the best news for debt-laden MGM in years” it has stepped up the pressure on MGM’s studio backers. He writes:
Now the MGM creditors also must decide either to commit MGM’s half of the production costs for the two films or take available outside funding, all before the studio works out its future ownership strategy. If the creditors don’t seize on the momentum, MGM risks losing its chance to release the first film in December 2012. (The second film would follow a year later.) And there is a good chance that Jackson will change his mind, meaning that inaction costs the studio an enormous opportunity.
He adds that process steps to keep existing rights deals in place probably won’t happen until late July at the earliest, a timeframe viewed as too long to wait for decisions on The Hobbit. Read the entire article here.
From the folks at Universal Studios: On July 1st King Kong 360 3-D will open at Universal Studios Hollywood! In anticipation of opening weekend, check out this footage of Joe Letteri (2010 Oscar winner for Achievement in Visual Effects for Avatar), Senior VFX Supervisor, WETA Digital, talking about the project.
Don’t miss the 25′ tall “eighth wonder of the world” this weekend as he makes his grand debut at Universal Studios Hollywood!
Linuxelf is back with more video goodies from the history of the LOTR films. Take a look at TTT Oscar Winner videos and ROTK Oscar nomination comments from Peter Jackson and Ngila Dicson!
A quote on Ain’t It Cool News has been posted under “Of Incomplete Stories Regarding Spiderman And The Hobbit” and is from a source named “Derek”. For those who are familiar with Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, the character of Derek was played by Jackson himself. When Harry Knowles asked “Derek” whether he was directing, he said:
No, nothing has really changed – I’ve always said that me directing was one option, and so that’s not really news. The studio are working out what that deal would look like, because how else do they know if it’s a viable option? But it’s honestly one of several different options – many irons are in the fire right now. What’s of great concern to everyone right now is trying to stay on schedule and not slip back another year, because we will start losing people – and that’s increasingly difficult as each day passes. A lot of people – both film makers and studios are working very hard right now, trying to get a positive outcome here.”
It appears all sides are pushing feverishly to get The Hobbit moving as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence though hurdles obviously still remain. Stay tuned to TORN as updates and news continues to unfold.
Guillermo del Toro popped up at the Saturn Awards and Collider corned him for an interview about all kinds of things including his involvement with “The Hobbit” and his future projects while Deadline’s report that Peter Jackson is negotiating to take over directing duties of the Hobbit are lighting up the internet.
The Saturn Awards honor the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror which means del Toro is right at home and while walking the press line he stopped and talked about past present and future on video for about 20 minutes. He still hopes to make an announcement at or around Comic-Con about his next project and he talks a about working with Jackson, Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens, Weta Workshop, Alan Lee and John Howe. He even talks about his man cave and says his Comic-Con experience is like Sarah Jessica Parker in a shoe store. And, his is pretty funny! (“I dress like bleep, I drive an old car and I spend all my money on crazy art or toys.”)
TheOneRing.net has yet to get a confirmation of the Jackson report but Deadline is pretty solid and we promise to update as soon as we get official word one way or another. GDT compared talking about “The Hobbit,” to speaking about a girlfriend the day after a painful breakup.
Guillermo del Toro Talks THE HOBBIT, HELLBOY 3, FRANKENSTEIN, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, SATURN AND THE END OF DAYS from ColliderVideos on Vimeo.
Chris writes: The former Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys (now of RiffTrax.com) have finally completed their riffing of the LOTR theatrical films with yesterday’s release of the track for Return of the King, now available here. As you’ll see from the previews, RiffTrax commentaries completely change the character of their subject movies with hilarious results. Previews of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy RiffTrax are available on YouTube:
