ISUMAA

More than two years ago, Guillermo Del Toro, the acclaimed director of Pans’ Labyrinth and the Hellboy films, was attached to direct the film version of The Hobbit. It is the prequel to the wildly successful Lord of the Rings series, written by JRR Tolkien. Peter Jackson convinced Del Toro to move to New Zealand to bring the film to fruition. A new director is needed as the financial woes of MGM studios has caused too many delays, and Del Toro's role as director has been put on the killing floor.

Article Source: Guillermo Del Toro drops The Hobbit and rambles on to other work

Guillermo Del Toro hired after long ordeal

After the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a Hobbit film was all but inevitable. The hitch was that the rights to The Hobbit were owned by United Artists and parent Metro Goldwyn Mayer, whereas Peter Jackson is under contract with New Line, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. An agreement where Jackson wouldn't direct the film was made, and pre-production was begun. They were looking to invest online cash loans in a director with an intense eye for visuals, and Guillermo Del Toro fills that bill with ease.

No quarter from troubles in development

As MGM was plagued with money troubles, the work ground to a standstill. According to CNN, the film will be in two installments, and also the first was initially going to be out in 2010, but now the releases are believed to be in 2012 and 2013. Del Toro said him leaving the film is mostly due to studio woes, but will remain in no matter what capacity he can. He and his family moved to Wellington to work on the film.

Studios have yet again trampled underfoot a huge film

The live action version of The Hobbit is one of the latest projects in what is called development hell. Development hell is what it is called when a project, be it a movie or album or video game, has a real hard time getting put together and released. It seems a cloud of smog has gone up around The Hobbit, and it may take until 2012 or maybe longer before it finally is filmed and released.

Citations

CNN

Wikipedia>