Guillermo Del Toro has quit The Hobbit and will ramble on to other work

Over two years ago, Guillermo Del Toro, the director of Pan’s Labyrinth and also the Hellboy series among other films, was attached to direct The Hobbit. The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also by JRR Tolkien. Peter Jackson actually convinced Del Toro to move to New Zealand to help him get it onto the large screen. However, the tandem of the future of MGM Studios and the enormous commitment caused Del Toro to bring the metaphorical hammer of the gods down on the project, and a new director is being sought.

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Guillermo Del Toro hired after long debacle

After the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a Hobbit film was all but inevitable. The roadblock was the rights to The Hobbit are owned by United Artists and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, but Peter Jackson belongs to New Line and Warner Brothers. An agreement between the camps was reached to make The Hobbit film a reality, but a director other than Jackson was needed. They were seeking to invest quick payday in a director with an intense eye for visuals, and Guillermo Del Toro fills that bill with ease.

No quarter from development troubles

As MGM is still within the vice like grip of money troubles, work on The Hobbit has ground to a halt. The film is slated to be in two parts, and also the first installment was due in 2010, then was pushed to 2011, but the two installments are now scheduled for 2012 and 2013, according to CNN. Del Toro confirmed that him leaving the project has anything to do with the financial difficulties of the studio, but he will remain in no matter what capacity he can, as so much pre-production has already been done. He moved to Wellington to work on the project.

Another film trampled underfoot by studio troubles

Difficulties like plague The Hobbit put it in what is called development hell. This is where numerous projects languish, sometimes for years, before the project, be it a film, album or video game, is either released or dies. Due to the intense haze of smog around The Hobbit, 2012 is looking unrealistic.

Additional information at these websites

CNN

Wikipedia