space
head
head head head
Home Contact RSS Feed
COMICS   •   MOVIES   •   MUSIC   •   TELEVISION   •   GAMES   •   BOOKS
Jackson and Del Toro to Write ‘The Hobbit’
space
MajorJJH   |  

The HobbitGiven my disposition towards adaptations from books to movies, and my loathing for Peter Jackson as a result, this latest news isn’t necessarily sending me off the high diving board of happiness. Nevertheless, it has been announced that executive producer Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro have announced that they will be writing The Hobbit.

Jackson was part of the writing team for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, both of whom have also signed on to write the two planned prequels (The Hobbit and a sequel) to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.

The Jackson and del Toro have just concluded an eight-month search for a writer, finally picking themselves for three reasons. First off, they suddenly saw their busy schedules open up; two, they realized that they both loved the book; and three, they realized that in order to achieve the release dates set for the movies, the process would require people intimate with Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth.

I have nothing against del Toro, wouldn’t know where to start looking even if I wanted too. But, as Empress Eve has found out, I have a massive chip on my shoulder when it comes to adaptations of books to movies. Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was, as movies, a phenomenon. However, as adaptations of the books that they were based on, it was nothing short of a farce.

Adding that to the fact that the pair has decided that they are automatically the most in tune with Tolkien’s work, and the only people up to scratch to write it, does not bode well for me either. Maybe I’ll be surprised, but I have no doubt that there are many more people out there, more qualified in both the arenas of writing and Tolkien lore, that could have been found. This seems nothing more than a giant ego-trip.

[Source: Variety]

3 Comments »

  1. You know what man, I know all of geekdom will chastise me for this but I’m gonna say it anyway, LOTR the novels suck. I love the Hobbit and Fellowship but the rest just has way to much singing and the story drags in books 2 and 3. I appreciate that Tolkien set the standard for fantasy as we know it, and God bless him for that, but his writing does not stand the test of time. Jordan, Goodkind, Martin, now that is some quality fantasy writing.

    Peter Jackson’s LOTR far exceeded my expectations and I believe it is best adaptation of a novel ever. Not to mention 3 of the greatest movies of all time. If he would’ve stayed truer to the material as you are suggesting, I guarantee those movies would’ve done maybe half of what it did. Oh sure all the Tolkien fans would’ve seen it, but the people who have never read it or fantasy for that matter wouldn’t have seen it again and again.

    So in my very humble opinion at let me stress the opinion part, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings is much better than J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

    Comment by Dan — August 20, 2008 @ 9:31 pm

  2. I’d say it’s hard to compare the two in terms of quality because they come from two completely different periods, and Tolkien did get paid for the word. The books are classics, but not my favorite. The movies were incredible. I have no problem with Peter Jackson, but I’ve only ever really payed attention to him with the Frighteners and the LOTR trilogy, and I thought he did great with those.

    Comment by A Dooofus — August 21, 2008 @ 9:52 am

  3. I think it is generally accepted that Jackson did a good job with the LotR movies. Certainly better than any Hollywood attempt would have done. If you don’t like them MajorJJH then that is fine, but it is also your problem. You certainly can’t describe the movies as a “farce”. The movies do actually show an understanding of the mood in Tolkien’s work.

    del Toro is an excellent choice for The Hobbit. I do however have reservations about inventing a hobbit sequel out of thin air. That’s the point at which the movie franchise will go horribly wrong, I think.

    Comment by DanJW — August 25, 2008 @ 8:07 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

space
Topics: Movies, News
space
Previous Article
space
Next Article
«
»
space
space
space
Amazon.com
space
You may have noticed that we're now AD FREE! Please support Geeks of Doom by using the Amazon Affiliate link above. All of our proceeds from the program go toward maintaining this site.
space
Geeks of Doom on Twitter Geeks of Doom on Facebook Geeks of Doom on Instagram Follow Geeks of Doom on Tumblr Geeks of Doom on YouTube Geeks of Doom Email Digest Geeks of Doom RSS Feed
space
space
space
space
The Drill Down Podcast TARDISblend Podcast Westworld Podcast
2023  ·   2022  ·   2021  ·   2020  ·   2019  ·   2018  ·   2017  ·   2016  ·   2015  ·   2014  ·  
2013  ·   2012  ·   2011  ·   2010  ·   2009  ·   2008  ·   2007  ·   2006  ·   2005
space
Geeks of Doom is proudly powered by WordPress.

Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press

Geeks of Doom is designed and maintained by our geeky webmaster
All original content copyright ©2005-2023 Geeks of Doom
All external content copyright of its respective owner, except where noted
space
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under
a Creative Commons License.
space
About | Privacy Policy | Contact
space