Stay up-to-date via RSS!

Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have officially signed on to collaborate on “The Hobbit” and its sequel with director Guillermo del Toro.

The announcement, from exec producers Jackson and Walsh and New Line president Toby Emmerich, came four months after del Toro confirmed he had signed on to direct both pics.

Jackson, Walsh and Boyens teamed on penning the three screenplay adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings.” The third pic, “The Return of the King,” won an Oscar for adapted screenplay.

The announcement said the production’s tentatively set to begin in late 2009, with the releases set for 2011 and 2012.

Del Toro is directing the two films back to back, with the first pic centered on a young Bilbo Baggins swept off by the wizard Gandalf to recover a lost treasure. The sequel deals with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Warner Bros. susbisdiary New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line and MGM, with Warner distributing domestically and MGM handling international.

Source: Variety

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro’s search for writers for “The Hobbit” and its companion film has ended, with the filmmakers deciding that no one is better suited for the task than they are.

Del Toro (“Hellboy,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”), who is directing the movies, will team with the “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker and “Hobbit” executive producer Jackson to adapt the J.R.R. Tolkien book and write its follow-up. Also joining them in the writers’ room are Frank Walsh and Philippa Boyens, both of whom collaborated with Jackson on the “Rings” trilogy.

The news caps an eight-month search for a scribe to adapt the literary classic to the big screen.

“Hobbit,” written by Tolkien for his children years before the “Rings” trilogy, follows a young Bilbo Baggins, who finds his comfortable life turned upside down when the wizard Gandalf takes him on a journey for a hoard of treasure that involves trolls, humans, Gollum and his ring of invisibility and a dragon named Smaug.

After Jackson and New Line resolved their differences over profit participation in the “Rings” films, Jackson said he would not write the scripts for the “Hobbit” movies because of other commitments. But in his role as executive producer, he does have approval over creative elements of the productions.

After del Toro came aboard the project, the two began a search for writers. Three factors came into play:

* The filmmakers saw their schedules open up.

* During the general discussions about the films, they realized how much affection they had for the material. Continued…