Yes, Virginia (and Other Assorted Geeks), There Will Be A “Hobbit”!

Yesterday, when I went to bed there were no Hobbit movies in the works. Today I wake to find that there will be two!

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.”

Jackson, who directed “Rings,” will serve as executive producer for “The Hobbit.” A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after “Rings,” despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting “The Hobbit” 50/50, spokesmen for both studios said Tuesday.

There’s bound to be some conjecture about why New Line did such an abrupt reversal after digging in deep as a tick in the summertime against Jackson’s demands. I think the most likely explanation is that New Line fouled up really badly with The Golden Compass, which put the bust in blockbuster over its two weekends. I’m not even seeing second-week trailers on the usual television channels like I would have expected if it had done even decent business. John Scalzi (via Glenn Reynolds) sees the same thing as I and notes that the flick has only taken in $40 million and dropped off by 2/3 in its second weekend. That’s the kind of bad movie mojo that could hurt them badly. Jackson can get back for them. They’ll have to wait until 2010 and 2011, but the buzz that will build during the filming and post-production work will be great publicity for New Line.

And it doesn’t hurt that by letting Jackson bring them a giant tractor trailer filled with cash they can get out from under his $100 million lawsuit.

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Category: Rampant Geekery