Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Can Hobbit Escape Rings Shadow?

The Hero Complex blog asks a rather interesting question "Can the Hobbit escape the towering shadow of The Lord of the Rings?

The article itself provides a summary on the current status of the Hobbit reiterating that members of the Rings cast are open to returning and that principle photography is hoping to begin in April. Currently a draft of the script is expected by November. After that summary is their prediction:
This Friday, when del Toro blows out the candles to celebrate his 45th birthday, I doubt his wish will have anything to do with the box-office performance of "The Hobbit." This is a filmmaker driven by the demands of his imagination, not studio expectations. It's a good thing that del Toro will not obsess about matching "Rings" in commercial success because there's no way it's going to happen. These films will not match the massive swoon and sweep of Jackson's trilogy, and while Tolkien fans will likely love them, I suspect that a significant percentage of the American moviegoing public has some Middle-earth fatigue at this point. As for the true Tolkien devotees and fantasy diehards, I'm guessing they become gleefully divided over the Jackson trilogy versus del Toro double feature and inherit a decade of a debate like the Radiohead fans who still bicker about "Kid A" and "OK Computer."
My belief is it will always be compared to Rings and will likely always fall short. I think Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson already know this so the goal isn't to outdo the trilogy but simply tell the two best stories they can that over time will stop being referred to as a trilogy but instead five films that have to be seen together to get the full story.

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