A recommendation to ban the construction of dams on a Central Otago river to protect a rare fish…
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A recommendation to ban the construction of dams on a Central Otago river to protect a rare fish called Gollum, named from The Hobbit book, has been hailed as a major victory by environmental groups.
A tribunal – appointed by the Ministry for the Environment – decided to protect the “bug eyed” fish came after receiving submissions from anglers, environmental groups, gold-miners, skiers and kayakers favouring further protection of the Nevis river.
Hobbit fans have been waiting for years to see progress on the movie version of Tolkien’s classic novel The Hobbit. Or at least word on what final decision will be made. There is now hope that some answers may be forthcoming.
Stuff.co.nz posted an interview with Peter Jackson mentioning that Warner Bros was “making progress untangling the MGM situation, so we should have certainty with The Hobbit sometime soon”. A decision on whether Jackson would direct the film has not been reached but that verdict likely would be part of any potential announcement.
According to the article, Jackson is anxious to finalize everything in order to “map out a five-year plan for projects that will keep many people very busy”. That would be happy news for the movie industry in New Zealand and the very enthusiastic fan base.
You can read the entire article here.
Ain’t It Cool News sat down with Guillermo del Toro to talk about his upcoming projects and other topics, including The Hobbit. As in other interviews, Guillermo expressed disappointment over his departure but reiterated his confidence in ultimately making the correct decision.
However, he did mention there is still involvement in The Hobbit. Not directing, of course. And he would still love to see Peter Jackson take the reins. Del Toro says he’s still “an active writer” as well as “an active partner in their quest” to get The Hobbit made. He also remarked that while he is in favor of 3D overall, he felt it would be inappropriate for The Hobbit. He said “it needed to be consistent with the trilogy” and that if used it could take “a little bit away from the classicism of the tale”.
You can read the entire interview here.
File this under the unusual news of the day (via Monkeyday.org)…
New babies are showing up regularly at the Philadelphia Zoo this year. The latest is the aye-aye, born July 14, joining other recent giraffe and orangutan births.
The aye-aye boy, born to mom Medusa and dad Tolkien, was named Smeagol after his resemblance to the Lord of the Rings character, according to a release by the zoo.
Smeagol already has started to leave the nest box to explore his exhibit at the Zoo’s Peco Primate Reserve.
Check out all the pics at MonkeyDay.org.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are reporting progress on the MGM debt situation that has famously kept two ‘Hobbit’ films progressing and have stalled a greenlight on the films for years now.
THR details the plans to make the nearly $4 billion dissapear here while the Variety story here details a Wednesday conference call involving debt holders. A lot of things need to fall into place but both stories indicate a September 15 deadline is being respected, which a source told TORn would be met, unlike previous deadlines which have previously been extended. Thanks to friend Kristin Thompson for the heads up on the Variety article.
The L.A. Times blog recently did a big story on Gary Kurtz who was a guiding hand in the Star Wars galaxy until he left after “The Empire Strikes Back.” He talks a lot about those films and his split from George Lucas over creative differences but he drops a little nugget about what Weta will be up to as well. It says,
He’s now working on a ramping feature-film project called “Panzer 88” that he says will begin filming later this year and will feature visual effects by Weta, the same New Zealand outfit that populated Middle-earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
It isn’t thought that this should have any effect on the pair of movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” but people in New Zealand are certainly staying busy. Read the whole story here.
