A spokesman says “the matter of Peter Jackson directing The Hobbit films is far from closed.”
Forget it Jake. It’s Hollywood.
Peter Jackson won’t be making The Hobbit movie and other mildly disturbing news (a second ‘prequel?)
The development of LOTR
The early days of the Lord of the Rings films in a excerpt from an upcoming Peter Jackson biography:
“At one point Bob said: ‘So there’s these four hobbits, right? And, you know, they go on this adventure and none of the hobbits die?’ Well, no, we explained. Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin all survive . . . ‘Well, we can’t have that,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to kill a hobbit! I don’t care which one; you can pick — I’m not telling you who it should be: you pick out who you want to kill, but we’ve really got to kill one of those hobbits!’
Teehee!
Peter Jackson speaks
In an interview with AICN, Peter Jackson talks about the limbo that is The Hobbit. Guess what? He heard the latest rumors on the internet, along with everyone else. More hopeful is the first part of the interview, where he talks about the Temeraire books. He even mentions Star Wars and franchise-building:
What I love about what George Lucas has done with STAR WARS, which I think is really cool, is that you have the movies and the movies, obviously, are the flagships of the saga, of the storytelling, but you have the comic books and the novels and everything that fills out what happens inbetween the films and what happens in other places while the films are occurring. I love that expansion of the world. This is, to me, has also got the same possibilities. The movies can be the epics and there can be other forms of entertainment that can be running alongside the movies, expanding the world of the books and the story.
Meanwhile, they’re casting for Hobbits in London. Thanks to Yav for the links!
Good news, bad news for readers
Bad: J.K. Rowling has not written 750 pages of book 7, as reported earlier.
Good: Peter Jackson has optioned Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. This doesn’t actually mean he’ll actually adapt them, but it’s certainly hopeful. Of course, there’s plenty of reaction on Novik’s livejournal.
An extended Kong?
Oh, Peter Jackson. We’ll sit 4-hour adaptions of large tomes of fantasy, sure. Four hours of giant ape? Not so much.
Pablo Strikes Again!
Film News: Not this crude matter
Guide to King Kong for those with small bladders. Speaking of the big guy, he’s not doing as well as expected, taking in only $66.2 million since Wednesday. I’d say that’s pretty good for a three-hour giant ape movie where everyone already knows the ending.
You couldn’t pay me to see Scary Movie 4, but the posters, which parody War of the Worlds, Saw and The Grudge, are certainly worth a giggle. (Via The Movie Blog.)
Theatre owners want to block cell phones. Yeah, that’ll get folks back in theaters, I’m sure.
Zombie Thanksgiving Film News
Cinematical has seven really, really bad films for you to watch for the holiday, headed up by Howard the Duck. Personally, turkey day just hasn’t been the same since Mystery Science Theatre 3000 bit it.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire broke Spider-Man’s Friday release record.
Peter Jackson is trying to get director’s credits for two of King Kong‘s lead animators.
See a clip from The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Fan of the Arthurian legends? Check out the trailer for Tristan and Isolde. Sadly, the trailer contains an Evancesance song, but the movie does star James Franco (Spider-Man) and the smokin’ hot Rufus Sewell (A Knight’s Tale) so there’s hope. I have the sinking feeling that I’m going to come out of this one wanting to smack Isolde, though. (But hey, what’s new?)
And finally, I thought a new X-Files movie was a long shot… Now there’s a slim chance for the show’s David Lynch helmed precursor Twin Peaks to get another shot at the big screen. (Fire Walk With Me, a prequel to the series, died a quick death back in 1992.)
Giant gorillas don’t come cheap
Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake is currently clocking in at 3 hours long, and the extra time has increased the budget by a third – to $207 million. (Two hundred and seven million!) Universal Pictures will be releasing the film at the (for now) full length – no word on how much footage they’ll hold back for the inevitable extended DVD.