Bilbo!

You know, I don't normally do much business blogging, largely because I'm not much of a business guy, but on a day like today I kinda wish I did, because then I'd be able to publicly gloat at my powers of analysis/prognostication instead of asking you to take my word for it.

But I swear, on my honor, that when the box office returns for the first weekend of The Golden Compass came in a couple weeks back, I said to at least half a dozen people of my acquaintance, "Now the only way Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are gonna keep their jobs is if they make up with Peter Jackson."

And lo, according to my bestest buddy Nikki Finke, it is come to pass. Check it out here, Hobbit-lovers.

UPDATE: The text of the just-sent-out press release is below the fold.
Read it, then break out into song...

Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s Chairman and CEO. "Now that we are all in agreement on 'The Hobbit,' we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film."

Bob Shaye, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO comments, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” notes Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of “The Hobbit” release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Oscar®-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards®, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

For more information about “The Hobbit” films, please visit www.TheHobbitBlog.com.

Comments

[tk]

Oh thank god. For a while there, I was afraid the George-Lucasification of Peter Jackson would remain incomplete...that a filmmaker of immense and exicting talent with a couple of fantastic early films under his belt would fail to trap himself endlessly into directing and/or overseeing the same goddamn movie over and over and over. The disappointing box office of King Kong was a real worry there for a while...I'd started wondering whether it might make him reconsider his bloated, I-can-get-away-with-making-this-three-hours-long-and-overproduced-for-no-reason-except-that-nobody-can-tell-me-no career path. My god, he might have resorted to something like Heavenly Creatures, marrying his visual imagination to interesting character study. But now he can just worry about perfectly fine but not really transcendent CGI-heavy movies, cementing his fate as a corporate brand whose every new move inspires a ten-paragraph press release. Whew! Close one!

[bill]

That video is genuinely terrifying. It's not at all difficult to imagine it playing out exactly as it does now, but with corpses strewn all over the ground, and the hands and clothes of Nimoy and his brood soaked in blood.

I was so scared watching it that I pissed myself.

[scott neumyer]

I think it's GREAT that Jackson is back (in some form) for THE HOBBIT, etc, but why do I have this overwhelming feeling that he's not going to be able to just sit back and "produce."

This is going to be Spielberg on POLTERGEIST all over again.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing...

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