The Hobbit Information So Far

In an effort to catch everyone up on The Hobbit happenings, here is a summary of the information out there so far.

- Two films are planned. One is the based on "The Hobbit" book and the other fills in the gap from the end of The Hobbit and beginning of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
- The estimated budget for each film is $150 million and will be filmed together.
- The planned release dates are December 2011 for the first film and December 2012 for the second.
- Peter Jackson will executive produce the movies but will not direct.
- Guillermo del Toro, of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, is directing the movie. He was handpicked by Jackson.
- The films are expected to be written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens who wrote the LOTR films.
- del Toro has indicated that he is hoping to get Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) to reprise their roles.
- Pre-production is expected to start soon despite not having a script do to time to construct sets, props and so forth.
- Just like with LOTR, the films will be produced in New Zealand with WETA doing the effects.