The Hobbit Pushed to 2012?

Due to the recent announcement that production on The Hobbit has been delayed by about three months to finish the second movie's script, the rumor mill has started that the first movie will be pushed back to 2012.

"While it is still possible that it could come out in December 2011, it looks more likely to be 2012," an executive close to the film told WaxWord.

However, The Hobbit Executive Producer and Writer Peter Jackson contradicts this statement to SciFi Wire.

"We're still working on the script, and of course it's going to be directed by Guillermo [del Toro]," Jackson said in an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire. "That's going really well, and in fact we've already delivered the first script to the studio, and they really liked it, so now we're working hard on the second script, and that's going to keep us pretty busy until the end of this year."

"There's no budget yet, and no cast, but we plan to start shooting next year, with the first one coming out by the end of 2011, hopefully," Jackson said. "And while Guillermo's making The Hobbit, I'm not quite sure what I'll be working on, as I want to make completely sure that I'm doing what I need to do for The Hobbit, and that I'll be there to help Guillermo."

"We're all on the same page [about the project], and it all starts with a good script," Jackson said. "We're big believers in structured screenplays, and the thing with our screenwriting partnership, with Fran and Philippa, is that we don't have a traditional screenplay deal with the studio. We don't have two drafts and a bunch of revisions. We refuse to put that into our contracts, as we continually rewrite and refine the scripts as we go."

The main of all this is without both scripts in the can and approved, it’s too difficult to determine who to hire, for what roles, and how to allocate the money. Right now they have an idea of the basics for creature design, begin early design work on special effects and other pre-production effort. As of now it is too early to determine if the movie will be delayed. However, if I had to place bets, I would do it on Jackson and company who are working with a team that has massive filmmaking experience at epic scale movie making which will easily facilitate making up for lost time.